Rebirth

It felt like a new life. I was just married and making my way to the big city with my newlywed wife. I had known her since I was a kid. We lived out in the county and our parents had been friends for a long time, so we saw a lot of each other. Growing up we would run amok outside, play make believe, and sometimes watch tv together, although most of the programs were newly made interactive, which meant you could talk to it and stuff, but our old small tv was outdated and you required a special wall sized tv to get anything out of it. I was raised in a community of farmers where we would grow massive amounts of crops that I never thought would be used up, I thought we had enough to feed the whole world. It was never a lot of work growing the crops, they were “modified” as my dad used to say, so they were insect proof, weather proof, and could grow under any conditions. Me and my wife were moving to the city because right about the time we were married, the government was trying to buy out our land. They had just invented a machine that could do all the farming by itself. We did not want to give up the land, but we were getting paid less and less for what we were growing, and the government offered us a hefty amount of money, and said they would help establish us in the nearest city. So here I am on my way to the city with my wife, ready to start anew.

The first thing I noticed when we entered the city was that all the houses looked the same, not that they were not nice, but it was strange having each street looking the same as the next. The driver pulled up to our new house, identical to the ones next to and across from it. 

“Here you are,” The driver said

“Your home sweet home. I'll be helping you guys get settled in and if you have any questions or concerns I'll see what I can do.”

“Thanks Rick.” I said to the small man in a suit, who had greasy slicked back brown hair and glasses all too large for his face.

“You're welcome.” he said as he opened the car door.

“Phew” my wife said as she got out of the car and proceeded to stretch.

“My legs are so stiff from being cramped in that car for so long.”

“Yeah” I agreed

“It was pretty stuffy”

We followed Rick up to the front door where there was this strange black pad.

“This.” He said, gesturing to the same black pad.

“This is pretty nifty”

“Well” my wife said

“What exactly is it?” 

“It is a locking device” he said proudly as if it was the most interesting thing in existence. “All you do is put your hand up to the pad, and it either unlocks or locks the door for you.”

“Well that is interesting” I said, trying not to sound uninterested. We were from the country, but it's not like we have never seen technology before. Rick seems to think we were still using candles to light our house, and had to catch our dinner every night.

“Just put your hands up to the pad” he said.

“Once it beeps you're good to go, I'll go get your stuff from the car while you two do that” So we did just that. When he came back with our two suitcases of everything we brought with us, he told us everything else we needed to know and went on his way.

The house was small but cozy, we had one bedroom to share that was littered with our belongings, as we were in the middle of unpacking, which was attached to our one bathroom. Our kitchen opened into the dining room, and along the side of it was our living area. I was standing in the bathroom looking at my reflection. I had dark brown eyes, so dark that at times they looked black, like my thick eyebrows and black hair that was usually slicked back. I had a defined face with sharp features, that almost had a fiery look to them. All on top of my muscular body and broad shoulders.

“Kattie!” I hollered.

“Where did you put the bathroom supplies?”

“I put them all in a bag under the sink for now” She said as she seemed to glide into the bathroom. As she entered  I was reminded of how lucky I was to have her, she was beautiful. She had fiery red hair that was naturally curly, and dropped down to her shoulders in ringlets. Contrary to me she had a very soft welcoming face, and her eyes always had this mischievous sparkle to them, like she was planning something hilarious. She had rosy cheeks that were always a light pink, and turned to a bright red when she was flustered. Her energetic personality drew people to her like a magnet, and once they got close she trapped them with her sense of humor and revitalizing smile. I could not help but smile at her when she entered.

“What is it?” she inquired

“Why do you have that dumb look on your face?”

“That's a little mean.” I said jokingly.

“I actually think my face is quite intelligent. Besides, I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have such a beautiful wife.” To that she simply shook her head and smiled back at me. I then went and caught her in a passionate embrace, and I could feel her hot breath against my neck. We made eye contact for a second and then we did the same with our lips. We made our way into the bedroom where I pushed her slender body onto the bed, the room was ablaze with passion, and then she looked up at me and gave me one of her magnetic smiles, and as it drew me closer to her, just before our lips were going to meet again that's when.

“You have a guest.” A robotic voice that sounded as thunder in the heat of the moment, echoed across the house.

“What in the blazes is that!” I nearly yelled out, frustrated from getting interrupted.

“You have a guest.” it repeated. Kattie sat up and let out a long audible sigh.

“You have a guest.” it repeated as if trying to get on my nerves.

“I think we have a guest honey” she said in a low note showing that she was disappointed as well.

“It's okay, we can continue where we left off later” she said, noticing my frustration. I took a deep breath and agreed.

“You have a guest.” the voice called out once again.

“Kattie.” I said.

“If that thing goes off one more time we are moving back”

“Well then” she said in between a giggle.

“We should see who this guest is soon”

“You have a guest” This time she broke into a laugh, and I soon followed.

“Hello!” Rick said in an all too cheerful voice.

“I am here to get you into your new career” 

“And what would that be?” I said, still feeling frustrated from getting interrupted previously.

“Well we think that you would make a great fireman.” he added extra snaz onto the last word as if I was a child trying to be tricked into liking something.

“When you're ready we'll get you an introduction to the job.”

“I'm ready now.” I said having the mood killed already, I was fine on leaving and getting this done with.

“Honey, is that fine if I go along and leave you to finish unpacking?”

“Yeah” she replied sweetly.

“I’ll be fine by myself for a bit, I'll get to organize things before you have a chance to mess them up.”

“Well then” Rick interjected

“Let's get this show on the road.”

“See you later Kattie” I said.

“Have a good time Beatty, I love you”

“Love you to” I went and kissed her on the forehead, then made my departure with Rick.

I was sitting in an office across from a strong looking man, with black hair and eyebrows, sharp features and a blue-steel shaved but unshaved look.

“Nice to meet you” He boomed in a low commanding voice.

“People call me Maxwell. I am the leader of these men at the station. The captain of the firemen if you please.”

“People call me Beatty.” I said trying to seem tough.

“Now, I don't wanna seem stupid but what exactly is a fireman, no one has yet to explain it to me.”

“Ahhh that's right you're from the country aren't you?” he said

“I can't blame you for not knowing son so I'll give you a quick rundown. Our job is to find people who are hiding books, then we go to the books burn them, and then burn down the houses that had books in them.” I guess he could tell I was confused by the look on my face, so he went into further detail.

“You might be thinking that's a bit much for having words written on pages right?” Which was true.

“Well books are illegal for a reason, they fill people's minds with crazy thoughts, and make people unpredictable, you never know when someone with verses in their head can crack and do something crazy. But you will find that out soon enough there boy. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but that's all for today. Your training starts tomorrow, be here at eight o'clock tomorrow morning.” I left the office more confused than when I entered but I was sure that I would understand it more tomorrow.

When I got home Kattie had dinner made for me, and when I went to find her she was in the bedroom that was illuminated by candles, and there was soft music playing in the background. She was sitting in the bed in her bathrobe, and she patted the bed beside her beckoning me to sit next to her, and I did not hesitate to join her.

“Why don't we continue where we left off?” She whispered into my ear, her hot breath sending a tingling sensation through my body. So then we did just that.

The next day I was at the station, and they gave me my Uniform I was to wear when I am out. I noticed an emblem with the digits 451 on them. I asked Maxwell what it meant, when I got the chance.

“That my boy, is the degrees in Fahrenheit at which books burn” he said proudly. The next little while he showed me and two other new recruits named Nathan and Brock around the station. They both had black hair dark eyes, broad shoulders and a muscular build, as did everyone around the station I noticed.

“Excuse me sir.” Brock chimed in

“How do you even find the hidden books?”

“A well timed question my boy, we are just about there,” he replied. We made our way into a storage room of sorts, with what looked like a small shed to one side Maxwell walked up to it and announced.

“That is how we find books.” he gestured to the opening of the shed. We leaned into it and what I saw frightened me a bit. Inside the 'shed' was something that loosely resembled a dog but was metal and and eight legs sprawled out beside it, and it murmured an incessant growling, from within its barrel of a body.

“That is the Hound.” Maxwell explained.

“It can smell books from miles away, and not just books if i might, we can make it sniff out whatever we would like.”

“Fascinating” Nathan said.

“I would be afraid to have it after me,” I stated.

“As we all should.” Maxwell said with an unnerving grin.

My training was to last for a month. After that we are sent on our first job, the days went by quickly. Kattie was doing side jobs here and there but was never quite satisfied with a job so they were finding new places for her to work. Once I worked with the firemen long enough I would earn a big enough salary for the both of us to live off. We still had quite some money from selling off our farmland, but it would be dumb to stretch that money as far as it can go and worry about future income later.

My first job is tomorrow. I was nervous but thought I would do well. Kattie came up to me when I was lost in thought.”

“Honey?” she asked

“Yes, what is it?” I said.

“Well, while you were gone someone came by today, and they were telling me that we should get a wall tv for our living room. Everyone I know has one, and I tried it before and-”

I cut her off.

“You want one?” I said.

“Yeah I do, I'm sure you will have fun with it too though, the man that came by said he will give us a fifty percent discount, isn't that great?” I let out a sigh.

“How much does it cost, and where would we put it?”

“It is still kinda pricey, and we would put it in the living area of course.” she said. Pricy was an understatement with a fifty percent discount it would still use up half of our savings. But if it made her this happy I was fine with it, I would start making more money soon anyways.

“Alright, I'm making you help the people install it, or whatever” I said.

“You're the best honey.” she said. 

“I know I am, I’m also tired and need some sleep for tomorrow, big day you know.”

“I know honey, goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

The alarm rang. It was finally time, me Nathan and Brock, led by Captain Maxwell, got into the truck, nicknamed the Salamander.

“This is it boys, the time is now!” Maxwell bellowed from the passenger seat.

“Lets see you put what you learned into action, don't disappoint me now!” He turned to Brock, the driver.

“Let's go.” he said, and off we went. 

We got to the house 10 minutes later, the procedure was drilled into my head from all the training, me and Nathan went and broke the door down and looked around, I saw an older looking man who was standing in the kitchen next to the furnace with books in his hands. It seemed to me like he was trying to dispose of the evidence. Before he even got a chance to react or defend himself I charged him, knocking him to the ground sending the books flying in all directions. I then proceeded to lock his arms behind his back despite his protest.

“Nathan!” I bellowed

“Start with the kerosene, I'll bring this guy outside”

“Understood” he replied as he started spraying the flammable venom around the house. I picked up the man and started to drag him outside.

“STOP IT” he screamed.

“You don't know what you're doing, have you ever read a book! Do you know what's actually written there!” I could not believe what he was saying, this man must be crazy, if he has read books he should know that they are nothing but lies, and evil designed to ruin your mind. It is almost pitiful that he is in such a state. I understand now, this is why books must be burned. I took the man outside and gave him to Maxwell.

“You should have heard the nonsense this man was spouting!” I nearly laughed.

“I now understand why we do this.”

“As I'm sure you would.” He grinned.

"It's something you have to experience to understand.” Just then Nathan came outside.

“All done sir, it's all ready to blow.” He said with a wicked grin on his face.

“I think I'll let Beatty have the honors.” Maxwell said. I walked up to the shattered doorway, and I could smell all the kerosene, it was like a living smog waiting to engulf everything around it. I lit a match and threw it into the doorway, and as it hit the floor it gave birth to a torrent of flame that set about consuming all around it. I was hit with a rush of heat, that was strangely invigorating, that feeling combined with dancing flames, made me smile from ear to ear.

“Beatty!” Maxwell’s voice snapped me back into reality.

“Get away from there or you will burn up like the books.” 

“Captain!” I said, the excitement still heavy in my voice.

“I never expected it to be this enjoyable!” 

“Its surprises us all Beatty” he replied. I looked at the spectacle and was pleased to see the house start to come alight, burning like a beacon in the dark of the evening. I looked over at Nathan and Brock and by their expressions, they seemed to be enjoying it just as much. I started to notice that other people were coming outside to watch as well, and I was glad for it, everyone should enjoy this.

When I got home I saw lights flashing across the hall, and when I went into the living room I saw that where one of the walls used to be there was now, a massive TV blaring in many colors and in the middle of the room sat Kattie intently watching it. I approached her from behind.

“Now that is impressive!” I said.

“Ohh!” She jumped, “When did you get here?”

“Just now, did you not hear me coming in?”

“No I'm afraid not, I lost track of time watching TV, and I even forgot to make dinner, I'm so sorry I don't know how that happened”

“That's okay, you can start on it now, I won't be going to bed for a while. I'm still a bit riled up from tonight.”

“How did it go! Did you mess anything up? she teased.

“As a matter of fact I did not, it went very well and the captain let me start the fire.” I said very proud of myself.

“How was your day?”

“I got a crew of people in here shortly after you left and they had this done in just over an hour! I'm afraid I spent all day watching the wall though.” she said with a frown, I could tell she was disappointed with herself.

“It's okay you just got it, it looks really fun, and the colors are really bright on it.” Her face lit up when I said that, and I'm sure soon she would not use it nearly as much, for all things grow old eventually.

“Thanks for understanding, you're the best.” she said, with a smile.

“I know I am.” I smiled back. 

“But look, you can talk to it, and it talks back to you, the people even remember you, it's like they are… They are” She pursed her lips together and put a finger on her chin searching for the right word.

“Ahhh that's it, they're like a family!” Something about her last statement did not sit well with me.

“Here come try it with me!” she exclaimed.

“Not right now, I’m going to go take a bath” I said. She giggled,

“I think that's a good idea as well, I can smell you from here.”

(3 months later)

Things were going good, it was a pleasure to burn. Kattie made some friends to watch her tv with her, she has not really stopped watching it like I thought she would, and she now wants another wall. I'm not to sure about it though, I don't think that much tv is healthy, but I have been out most days and have not been spending a lot of time with her recently so I suppose she has nothing else to do. I was heading to work one morning when my car broke down on the side of the road, I would have to walk to work. It was a chilly morning, and my breath was puffing out of me like smoke out of a chimney. As I was walking I saw the strangest thing, there was a grown man wearing a white bathrobe sitting down on the sidewalk blowing on a dandelion. I decided it was best to ignore him and keep going to work, I was already going to be late. Unfortunately as I passed him he called out to me.

“Hello Mr. Fireman” he said cheerfully.

“Although I'm sure I'll regret it, might I ask what you're doing?” I said dryly. 

“What does it look like I'm doing?” he said just as cheerfully.

“Making a fool out of yourself, now go home before they throw you in a crazy home.” Completely ignoring me, he said.

“Did you know that you are supposed to make a wish when you blow on a dandelion?”

“No I did not because that is idiotic, now I'll be on my way” as I was leaving he shot a question at me.

“Mr. Fireman, what are books like?”

“They are dangerous things that poison people's minds!” I shot at him.

“It must have been horrible reading one then.” he said.

“Are you dumb? Of course I have never read a book.” I said agitated by this crazy fool who was wasting my time.

“Mr. Fireman, how do you know they are so bad if you never read one?” he asked as innocently as he could. I stopped, I had no response, and that made me even more angry, I knew books were bad, they had to be, otherwise why would the firemen exist.

“My captain told me about them” I said finally.”

“So then has he read them?” I stopped again, I pictured the strong Maxwell, and tried to picture a book in his hand, and I could not, but then how would he know? All of this was confusing me, and the confusion was leading to anger. I did not have any answers, even though I felt that I should.

“Shut it old man!” I barked at him.

“I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but I could get you arrested”

“For what, being a pedestrian?” he said with a raised eyebrow.

“I could if I wanted to!” I snapped at him.

“Do you have any kids?” he randomly said. It caught me off guard and I thought of Kattie and how we used to talk about kids, I reflected on the recent times and grew sad thinking about how little we have spent time together recently.

“Kids are great! Not that I have any myself.” he cut of my train of thought.

“I have a niece though, a cute little girl, smart too. Her name is Clarisse, isn't that pretty?”

“Goodbye old man, I have to get to work.” I said hurrying off before he could say anymore of his ramblings. As I was leaving he shot after me.

“Good luck getting all those nasty books!”

For some reason that old man's words stuck with me throughout the day, haunting me. When we were at the next house I was on kerosene duty and as I went into the bedroom I saw a book lying face open on the floor, and that old man's words came to me again. I don't know what came over me but I grabbed the book and hid it in my jacket. 

When I got home I went to the bedroom straight away passing by Kattie who was absorbed by the tv. I threw the book on the bed and began pacing around the room. I felt sick to my stomach about what I did. But I read the book anyways, it was a poetry book, and nothing I read made any sense, I could not understand why we were going to such lengths to burn this gibberish and why people try so hard to read this nonsense, nothing I knew made sense anymore. I read the book three times before Kattie turned off the tv, and I panicked and threw the book under the bed. As she entered the room, my heart jumped for I thought I saw a stranger. Kattie’s usually rosy cheeks were now pale, her bright eyes were vacant, and seemed to be lost in a far off place. I hoped she was just tired. Those words of the old man returned to me again, and I thought about kids.

“Kattie?” I whispered.

“What is it Beatty?” she groaned. That was strange, usually she called me honey, or sweety. 

“Do you want to start a family? As in have kids, I'm sure it will be better that your fake family”

“I-I, don't know about that.” she replied coldly. I forced out an awkward laugh because I thought she must be joking but her silence told me otherwise.

“Goodnight Kattie” I said, but got no response. Later that night I was tossing and turning as lines of poetry were going in and out of my head and mixing with the ramblings of a crazy old man.

I don't know why I did it but I did it. I stole another book, and then another and then another and then another, every time I read a book was hoping it would help me understand, but it made me more and more confused. Some books were about nothing, some were just lengthy stories about people, some books were full of false information, for example one book had information on Ben Franklin, who was the first fireman, but it said all these other make believe things about him. I went in a downwards spiral from there, and eventually it started showing in my work. Maxwell noticed and called me into his office.

I was sitting face to face with Maxwell in the same office we had met. There was an awkward silence in the air as I waited for him to talk.

“You feeling okay son?” he asked.

“Yeah I'm fine, just sick.” I said not even believing my own words.

“You read some books right?” he said coldly. His words pierced me like an arrow. I thought no one knew I worked so hard to keep it a secret, but he must have known the whole time.

“Yeah, I did.” I said weakly.

“It happens to most of us at some time in our career, we want to understand what it is that we are destroying.” I was stunned, does that mean even he did this, was it normal then.

“How much trouble am I in?” I asked.

“None whatsoever, just return the books you took and we can burn them together.”

That relieved me but for some reason I could not agree to give them up, I felt like I was on the verge of connecting the pieces, and that after a little more I could finally understand what it was that made books the much hated but still sought after thing that they are. The idea of coming so close, and then giving up all that work was painful.

“I don't understand it.” I said.

“I have read a lot of books now, but none of it makes any sense.”

“That's just how books are, son.” he said.

“But what's so bad about them, it's just gibberish anyway! Why did I spend the last Three months burning houses because of some rhyming lines, or stories about travelers!”

“It's not supposed to make sense” he said.

“It just confuses people. We are here to make sure everyone is happy, they don't want to bother with those useless things that make no sense to them.”

“I refuse to accept that, I don't see how books would do anyone harm!”“

Boy.” he said slowly, stretching out the word, his voice starting to rise.

“Just behave and hand in the books like a proper man.”

I don't know what kind of fire started in me, but it was growing bigger and more bolder. I have never disobeyed one of Maxwell's orders before, but I did now.

“I refuse!” 

Maxwell was silent.  

“I'm close to something Maxwell, soon I'll be able to understand what it all means and the-”

“NOTHING!” he yelled, as he jumped out of his chair.

“It means nothing! I thought you of all people would understand! Books make people unpredictable! Just look at you! You would never, ever disobey me before! A man with a book next door is more dangerous than a man with a gun. I'll have to teach you the hard way son, what books cause.” He got up and set off the alarm.

“Let go have some fun.” there was not a hint of friendliness in his voice.

I was geared up and the salamander, with Brock, Nathan and Maxwell. Strangely Maxwell was driving and Maxwell never drives. I knew where we were going, but I felt so helpless I just went along with it. I was wondering how Kattie would react, I don't know what we are going to do after this, we can't move back to the country. I guess I could try and find new work, that is if I'm not in prison.

“Here we are.” Maxwell grinned at me.

“Give Beatty the Kerosene.” he said to Brock.

“He will do this alone." The door opened up, revealing a frightened Kattie.

“What happened, what's going on.” she asked. Maxwell boomed.

“This man has been hiding books and now it's time for him to pay” Kattie gasped and put her hands over her mouth.

“It can’t be, Beatty how could you!” she screeched, and went to stand beside Maxwell looking at me in disgust. 

“Go on, do it.” Maxwell commanded. 

And I did just that, I was overwhelmed as I went through my house, unleashing a downpour of kerosene upon the place I had once called home. I felt like crying, I felt like screaming, I was in agony but could not express it. I was done. I left my house one last time. As I came out Katie was frantic.

“What about the family! What about the family?” she quickly shot at Maxwell.

“It goes down with the house” he said.

“No! Not the family.” She rushed back inside before I could stop her, as I tried to go after Maxwell grabbed me.

“LET ME GO!” I shouted.

“KATTIE COME BACK! KATTIE!”

Nathan and Brock came up behind me and held me down, I looked up to just to see Maxwell lighting a match.

“No! Stop it! You can't do this, she is still inside!” I demanded.

“I think it's nice that she wants to die with her family,” he said in a mockingly sincere voice. And then he let the match fall.

It felt like forever. A match. That's all it was. It was falling. Time seemed to stop. Will the match ever hit the ground? I don't know. A match. It was still falling. It felt like forever. It hit the floor. And I watched as everything I had in the world burned up before my very eyes. “MAXWELL YOU BASTARD!!” I screamed and with a sudden burst of strength I broke free of Nathan and Brock's arms, and punched Maxwell in his temple so hard he fell to the ground. I was immediately restrained by Nathan and Brock. I did not care, I started sobbing uncontrollably. As Maxwell slowly got back on his feet and punched me in the nose with all his might, I could feel hot sticky blood pouring out over my mouth and chin. And then I was quiet, I was too tired to cry any longer, too worn out to scream, too hopeless to be angry.

“Do you see now Beatty?” Maxwell grabbed me by the hair and forced me to look at my inferno I once called home.

“This is what books have done for you.” That's right, if I never had taken that book I would have never lost my entire life. It's all the book's fault, and that crazy old man, I should have arrested him, I should have killed him. I don't have anything left anymore. Books must be evil, that man must be evil, his niece, what was her name, Clarisse, she is evil too. It’s all so sad, I should've seen it before. I was blind. It's kinda ironic in a sad way. I burst out into a fit of hysterical laughter and the thought of all I did was for nothing, it was so pitiful it was funny. My laughter threw Nathan and Brock off, but Maxwell joined in on it, and we laughed like hyenas.

“You know Beatty I'm supposed to arrest you, but I'm an old man now I need to be retired, I actually needed to retire a while ago, but I needed a replacement, lucky me found the perfect guy.”

(7 Years later)

“Captain Beatty.” One of my underlings said,

“You need to give an introduction to the new member of the firemen.” I had forgotten about that.

“I'll be right there” I responded, and I did just that. When I went to sit down there was a young man with black hair, black brows, a fiery face, and the all too familiar, blue-steel shaved but unshaved look. 

“Before we get started I want to let you know that it's going to feel like a new life, you will be rebirthed by fire, like the phoenix on our uniform.”

He looked nervous and uncomfortable. I enjoyed it.

“What's your name son?” He responded, nervously in a monotone voice.

“Montag, Guy Montag.”

(Bonus)

This was a prequel that I wrote to a story called Fahrenheit 451. I did it for a school project in like grade 11 or something. If this seems like a cool world setting make sure to check out the original story.