When I woke up I thought it would be a normal day. I woke up out of bed and I was ready to eat a late breakfast, it was 11:42 AM. 8 minutes later I had partially finished what my mom had made me and started to hear a fire alarm going off. My mom had said that it was the neighbors next door until we started to hear more fire alarms going off. My mom finally decided to open the door and see what was going on. The lady next door opened the door. I saw the smoke crawling through the door and roaring fire behind the woman. Kathy ran to go wake up my dad, and my mom hurried to get the birds and grabbed phones, keys, and chargers and we ran outside. As we ran we saw the smoke going everywhere, and my mom told me to call the fire fighters and tell them that the house is on fire. In 2 minutes or less the fire fighters came and almost everyone was outside the building, but there were people stuck on the top. The smoke from the fire below was crawling through the roof and went into the top apartment. The people that were on top threw their daughter down and she hit herself on an air conditioner, but she was alright. In the end they brought a ladder, and everyone got out safely. The fire was put out in 5 minutes because it had spread to the top as well.

It was around 12:00 PM when my friends decided to come and check on me because we were outside just waiting and seeing what was going to happen. My friends were there until it got dark, but my family was there the whole time. The neighbors next door were taking care of everyone that was outside, and they brought out clothes and blankets. My mom’s friend said that it is fine that she can take care of the birds because we didn’t have a place for the birds to stay, so we said thank you so much. We had ended up staying at my godparents house for the night and then staying there for a bit. In the beginning we didn’t know what to do and kept questioning ourselves. What do we do? Finally, we went to our cousins, but it was a win-win for each other because they were moving out and we were helping. Since they let us stay we had a place to stay, and we had also helped them move to their new house. We ended up staying there for 3 months, and they played a big role in my family. Ever since now I have been the most grateful I have ever been. I know to feel grateful for everything now, especially a house.

© Carlos. All rights reserved. If you are interested in quoting this story, contact the national team and we can put you in touch with the author’s teacher.