House In Flames
“Ma’am, are you ok?”, he asked. He started to take her away from the door. “You have to help”, she explained frantically, “Please help him! There’ssomeone still in there!”.
Sean looked at the house as the flames crawled up the walls. His heart raced as the moment that would change his life forever was sure to follow.
Delivery Man
It was a Friday evening and Sean Tucker was working his last hour of deliveries. Working for Amazon, there’s never a dull day but Sean could have never expected something as crazy as this.
Sean was a hard worker and paid his way through college with his delivery job but he was also more than ready to move on with his life and leave this job behind.
A Bad Day
Sean drove all around Texas, loading and unloading boxes all day long. You needed to be strong for the job and as a gym enthusiast, Sean was fit but even he got exhausted after a day's work.
But today wasn’t a good day. He had a lot of heavy packages to deliver and sprained his neck. He was counting down the minutes until 5 pm.
End Of The Day
“When you hear a sound like that, you can’t just walk away and ignore it”, Sean said. He was looking at the reporter. His face still painted in disbelief.
His neck ached as he reached the end of his day. He was making his way to the last house on his list of deliveries. It was a nice day, overcast with sunny spells.
Strange Sound
He got out of his car and started to walk up to the house a couple of doors up and that’s when he heard it. A strange sound that sounded like an odd cat’s meow.
At first, he ignored it but when it happened again and the sound became more distinct, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked around. His heart began to race as he realized what it was.
No Cat!
As the noise continued, Sean realized that what he was hearing was no cat. It was someone screaming. He stood frozen on the sidewalk before he began to walk towards the noise.
He hoped it was just some kids playing but something deep in his gut told him that this wasn’t a joke. And he was right. Something was very, very wrong.
Shocking Scene
His pace was quicker now as he rounded the corner of the block. The screams were getting louder. Then he saw something that made his eyes widen with shock.
A woman ran out of a house. She was screaming, her frame bent over in exhaustion and shock. She turned around again, attempting to go back into the house but her body wouldn’t let her.
Burning House
She stood at the door, screaming someone’s name and coughing. Sean wondered what on earth was going on. Then he saw the smoke. It was seeping out the side windows and making its way to the front door.
Without thinking, Sean dropped the package in his hand and ran over to the woman.
Danger!
“Ma’am, are you ok?”, he asked as he brought her away from the door. “No!”, she screamed, “Please help him! There’s a man still in there!”.
Sean looked at the burning house. The flames were getting stronger and stronger as the smoke became more black and aggressive. Then it went from bad to worse.
Jumping Into Action
He told the woman to wait there and his feet started to move before he understood what was happening. He ran into the burning building and shouted for the man’s reply.
He heard a faint voice and desperately followed it, fighting through the thick smoke. The man was sitting in his armchair. He needed help but his reaction to seeing Sean startled him.
Reluctant
Sean urged him to get up but he was reluctant. He needed his walking stick and asked Sean to get it. Sean took a quick look across the smoky room before realizing they had no time.
He told the man that they needed to leave now. Carefully, he helped the old man up and continued to support him as they walked out into the hallway towards the door. But there was a problem.
Snail's Pace
The old man was walking so slowly that Sean worried they wouldn’t make it. He seemed so delicate that he couldn’t force him. After all, he wanted to save him, not hurt him.
At the time, it felt like the longest walk he had ever taken. Slowly but surely however, they made it out. And just on time too as the flames followed close behind them.
Gratitude
The woman waiting outside raced over to the old man and embraced him in a sob of tears. Sean looked back at the house from a safe distance with the survivors and couldn’t believe what he had just done.
The woman walked over to Sean with tears of gratitude and thanked him. “We owe our life to you”, the woman said. But other people had something else to say.
Online Praise
Once the story reached the media of Sean's heroic act, he got nothing but praise for his fast-acting, selfless rescue.
Afterall, it’s not everyday that a stranger would put their life on the line for someone they didn’t know. Sean was called for an interview and this is what he said…
Good Karma!
Showing his compassion and strength of character, he told the reporter, “when you hear a sound like that, you can’t just walk away and ignore it”.
“I still can’t believe I really went into a burning building but I’m not a hero. It was just instinct. Many other people would have done the exact same thing”. But we’re not all too sure. What we are sure of however, is good karma coming his way!