Little People

Fire

             Maybe it was because I was half asleep, or I had lost my vision in my sleep, but I could barely make out the outline of my dad's figure. In a split of a second I came in to the knowledge of what my surroundings came to be. What seemed the comforting warmth of the blanket appeared ever so dangerous now. The brightness around me was not due to the nightlight, and the blurriness existed not because of my doubt of  vision loss. Fire had rounded us about, reaching through the roof and wrapping everything under it's covers. Black ashes arose and tickled down on the bed like snow, early in the winter morning.

   I jumped in to my dad's arms and hugged him tightly.

             "Dad, what's going on, and where is mom? how are we getting outta here," the shock of waking up to a room burning with fire had still not set in, so it was noticeable as my voice cracked.

             "I hope Angela is safe, but I don't know much. I just told her to meet us outside and get some help. Now, we have to get out of here before the whole house comes crashing down on us," he said surprisingly calm.

             We made our way out the room and passed the hallway. Broken glass was sprinkled across the floor from the picture frames that had now been broken into pieces. Seeing how I didn't have enough time to put on my shoes, I had to dodge the shards of glass cautiously. We made our way down the staircase by sliding across the steel railings, since most of the carpet on the stairs had caught on fire. As soon as I set foot on the tiled hallway between the stairs and the living room I spotted a pair of flip-flops that I grabbed in a instant. They weren't much for protection, but at least 'better to have something than nothing'. We stepped in to the living room which was a total wreck, bright flames with colors so vibrant were coming from the sofa, we had bought only a month ago. Half the  carpet had already disintegrated  and the other half had strange fumes rising from here and there.

             A step into the room, a creak sounded. It had not came from us stepping in, but rather a different one like a whole weight shifted right above us. Maybe there was something unknown  occurring upstairs whatever it was we had no time to ponder upon it. Dad looked to the right, toward the kitchen where most of the chaos was happening. Bright light was illuminating the darkness of the living room. He had a expression on his face that was unreadable, a mixture of concern and uncertainty. As we stood, thinking of a safe way to get out of this hell house, the ceiling which was roaring with flames and was burning for quite sometime came crashing down on us. Being so unpredictable at the time threw us of balance. I stumbled backwards and almost crashed into the blazing flames. My dad on the other hand had caught himself in time, inches away from the sharp edges of the broken wood.

             "Are you OK"he asked, fear piercing through his hazel eyes. He quickly got to his feet and helping me out.

            "I think I burned my arm a little bit but other than that I'm fine," I told him reassuringly.

      "Dad, I'm really scared now. How are we going to get out of this? We aren't going to die here are we?" I had just turned 10 and seeing death up so close brought tears to my eyes.

            He curved to face me and crouched down so our shoulders were at the same level. He stared in to my eyes sensing the fear that was erupting from me. 

             "Andrew, now you have to listen to me very closely son. I know it's getting a bit too smokey in here but I need you to do something really brave for me" he said.

             "What is it daddy?"I asked him through the smoke that started to make breathing quite hard.

             "You see over there where that pile of debris is, you can catch a glimpse of a hole between those two logs. It's just wide enough for you to pass through. I need you to go out and get help for me. Can you do that for me?"he asked

             Now the smoke was really getting worse. I couldn't see much of his face and time after time he coughed really hard. He was waiting for my answer but he was asking for too much. I had no intentions of leaving him here all by himself. What if something happened to him.

           "Andrew, I know what you are thinking and I am going to be just fine " he said his voice now sounding strong even through the smoke was making him cough violently and made his eyes watery.

             "But dad....OK I will be back really fast," I reached out my arms around him giving him one last hug. I gazed into his eyes and nodded and ran towards the chaos in the living room.