Fire

By IN
“Damn!” I cursed, as the pencil lead in my mechanical pencil broke for the second time.

I had just come home from school and was doing my homework. A weird smell assailed my nose. I lifted my head, and thought it smelled of burnt fish. I chuckled to myself at the thought of a burnt fish, and thought no more of it.

As I was pushing another pencil lead into my mechanical pencil, I heard someone screaming, “Fire! Help!”

I dropped everything and ran out of the house, only to be greeted by my neighbour, whose house was on fire. She was screaming hysterically, crying for someone to save her baby.

I asked her, “What? Sean is still inside? Where is he?”

She hesitated and then answered me, begging me to save the baby.

“Splash! A huge pail of water was thrown at the fire almost drenching me.

“Hey! What was that for?” I shouted at Uncle Lee, another neighbour of mine.

By now, most of the neighbours were out of their houses with pails of water. Thick black clouds of sooty smoke wafted through the windows and out of the house. Grabbing my handkerchief, I dipped it in a pail of water and wrapped it around my face, and charged into the house like a knight on horseback.

I had trouble locating the little baby amidst the thick cloud of smoke, and the intense heat was not helping at all. Luckily, the banshee wailing of the baby helped me in locating him.

As soon as I got hold of Sean, I ran out of the house. With a tear-stained face, his mother quickly took him into her arms and hugged him.

“What on earth?” I thought, as the flames blossomed into an inferno, causing the air to rapidly heat up even more. As I was standing too close to the flames, my skin got singed.

The mother thanked me profusely, and in the midst all the neighbours going in and out of their houses getting pails of water, four burly firemen suddenly arrived from the stairs, dragging a long hose. I was surprised as amidst all the chaos, I had not realized that the fire engines had arrived at the scene.

Soon, the firemen were in the house and courageously battling the out-of-control conflagration. After about an hour of hard work, the fire was finally put out.

My nose wrinkled in disgust, I stepped gingerly over the charred remains of what used to be my neighbour’s house. The fire specialists were sent in to investigate the cause of the fire. When I could stand the strong burnt smell no more, I ran out of the house. The firemen praised me for my quick thinking in saving Sean, saying that I was the epitome of bravery, and the mother thanked me yet again.

It was then discovered that the source of the fire was actually the kitchen stove, where my neighbour, a very bad cook, had been frying fish, and burnt it too. A spark must have jumped off and set the nearby paper towels ablaze.

“So you were indeed frying fish, and burnt it too!” I said with a laugh. Smirking, I thought to myself,” The mystery of the burnt fish is solved. Case closed.”

Due to strong burnt smell, no one wanted to go back into their homes. Everyone stood outside their flats and I stayed outside mine while talking to a friend. And that was a mistake, as unknown to everyone, a small fire, easily missed, had survived the beating, and was now hungrily spreading to the curtains.

Soon, the encroaching flames were roaring in the room, spreading to the rest of the house again.