Dream On

Chapter Five

A few minutes later, I heard the sirens wailing in the distance. Standing on the sidewalk of our burning house, I felt a few hot tears slip down my cheek. Beside me was a duffel bag full of my clothes, memories, and everything else that I needed. 

Isaac stood next to me, his arm wrapped around my shoulder. His stoic expression and tensed figure made me shake a little. At his feet was another duffel bag, similar to my own. "It's gonna be okay," he repeated over and over again in my ear. "It's gonna be okay."

"No, it's not," I whispered.

Frank was still in the kitchen, determined to prove that the house was not burning down. I had tried to get him out, but after two minutes of bickering, I decided to at least save my stuff and my brother. "Is he still alive?" I whimpered, scared of what might have happened.

"I don't know yet, Talia," my brother replied uneasily, using my childhood nickname. "But you and I have to stay together and let the fire department do their job."

At that moment, a fire truck pulled up in front of our house. "Step back!" a fireman shouted from behind his mask. "We've already evacuated your neighbors," he motioned to the gathering crowd behind us, "just make sure that you're out of the way. Is there anybody in there that I should look for?"

I nodded and replied, "My stepfather."

The fireman looked me in the eye. "I need more details than that. Where did you see him last, and what really even happened?" He waved for the rest of the firefighters to start spraying the house with the hoses.

"Well, I was making dinner," I began. "Then I went upstairs to try and do my homework. I heard the timer beep, so I went downstairs to pull out the noodles that I was cooking. Then," I sniffled. "My stepdad wanted to check my homework. I told him that I needed to get the noodles, but he kept arguing with me and I couldn't get to the door because he was blocking the way." I few tears slid down my cheek.

"Go on," the man prompted gently.

"After a few minutes of arguing," I continued. "I heard the smoke detector go off, and my stepdad ignored it and told me to show him my homework, but I told him that I wasn't done yet. Then, I walked into the kitchen to get the noodles, and they were burning and there was a fire in the kitchen." I shrugged. "It all happened so fast. After that, my stepdad stayed in the kitchen to prove that the house wasn't burning down and he could stop the fire. After the fire got bigger, I stopped telling him to get out and I just told my brother to pack up and get out of the house."

"Okay, that was a good decision then," the fireman commented. "Then what?"

"While I was packing up my stuff, I could still hear Frank, my stepdad, in the kitchen. Then I called the fire department and my friends, and Isaac and I ran out of the house when we saw that the whole kitchen had been burned down. I couldn't find Frank anywhere, but I just kept running until we were out of the house. And now," I finished. "Here we are."

"Alright, so I'm going to check in the house for your stepfather since the fire is mostly put out. However," he continued. "Your house is pretty much completely burned down, so I think it would be best if you and your brother stayed at a friend's house for now. Is your mother here, by any chance?"

I shook my head 'no'. "She's in Hong Kong on a business trip right now, she won't be back to visit for another month, at least."

"Well then, I suggest that you call a friend and ask if you can stay at their house. I'm going to go check for your stepfather now, and you and your brother can make a decision," the fireman said, nodding before jogging to inspect what remained of the house.