I was awake, but my eyes were still closed. Feeling hot, and sweaty, I pushed the blankets off my arms and shoulders, trying to cool off. It hadn’t occurred to me that it was winter, not summer. Realizing something wasn’t right; I opened my eyes, and froze. An eerie crackling noise filled the room. Flames were erupting from my door, dark smoke drifting around the room. Small flames flickered across the carpet, turning it black. I knew that unless I wanted to be burned alive, I had to get out.
Climbing out of my soft bed, and being careful not to step on the burning carpet, I headed towards the window. I pulled up the glass to find my self-trapped by the screen. I grabbed my bedside table, and rammed it through the screen, ripping it open. As I swung my leg over the side of the window, and dropped into the yard, I was really glad we didn’t live in a two story house. I didn’t really know the people very well, but there was a light on in their house, so I rushed over and started abusing their doorbell. After I explained what was going on, they’re eyes grew wide in panic as they raced for the phone.
Before they could stop me, I charged back to my home. I circled the house in panic and frustration; peering in any windows with the blinds up, trying to figure out where else the fire had spread. When I reached my little sister’s bedroom window, I saw that no sign of the fire had reached her room. To my relief, smoke wasn’t visible in the room. Lannie was sleeping peacefully with our orange tabby, Sonny. After I finished banging on the window, Sonny’s round head popped up, looking at me. I wondered if he was smart enough to realize there was a fire, but either he wasn’t, or he was still mostly asleep because he laid his head back down again.
I pounded my fists against the window until finally, Lannie sat up. It didn’t take her long to catch on, and soon we had broken her window and were deciding what to do, the large cat in Lannie’s arms.
Suddenly, with wailing sirens, a fire truck and ambulance were parked on the side of the road. Before we knew it, they had hooked up a large hose to the nearest fire hydrant and firemen were entering our burning house. The neighbors who had called them stood outside with us, not knowing what else to do.
Emergency workers were all over us, making sure we didn’t have any burns, even though I kept ensuring them we didn’t.
When the fireman finally dragged our parents out of the house, we barely had time to talk to them before the Emergency people left us, crowding around them instead.
Still clutching Sonny, who simply blinked sleepily in Lannie’s arms, we made our way to our parents. They were glad to know we hadn’t inhaled as much smoke as they had. After the fireman had put out the fire inside our house, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that probably most of our belongings had been either burned or soaked. But as all four of us stood in our yard, holding our cat, I realized that everything important had survived.