Early the next morning, Fred
and I went back to where our house was. By this time, there was no crowd
forming around and the fire was obviously contained. The barrier was still in
place to prevent people from accessing the building. Fred talked to one of the
guards and we were allowed to go back to our house and see what damage had
taken place.
As we took the stairs, my
heartbeat increased significantly. For a second I thought the heart was going
to come out of the chest! The door was still unlocked just as we had left it.
The room was pitch black. The fire had raged half of the sitting area. My favorite
couch was burnt beyond recognition. The glass table in the middle of the room
was partially burnt also. Electronics and some wall hangings were also not spared.
We walked to the bedroom and to our surprise, everything was perfect. The fire
had not affected the rest of the house. I went to the closet, picked one of my
blouses and sniffed it. Although it smelled of smoke, I could feel my perfume
still. I held it tight towards the right side of my face before Fred held my
hands and hugged me. We held each other for about five minutes before letting
go.
“I am happy the house was not
all consumed by the fire. We have to look for somewhere else to live now.” He said
moving towards the bed. “The fire has left the house in a bad state
nevertheless.”
I nodded in agreement.
“I am hoping we found a house
as soon as possible. Living with Mike and Ann is straining them as they have a
kid.”
“They haven’t complained,
have they?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“It’s good then we get a
house before they do. I couldn’t sleep the whole night. The baby kept on crying.”
I said.
“He did?” Fred asked looking surprised.
“You didn’t hear? He cried
for almost an hour or so.”
He shook his head.
“Guess Ann was right. You
guys never hear a thing when you are asleep.” I said.
Fred leaned on me and laughed
a little.
“Let’s go down and see what
we can do about it.” He said.
Together we descended down
the stairs.
Fred was called again by one
of the guards. I took this moment and called my mum. I told her about the
unfortunate events and what we were looking forward to do. She was so shocked
and kept on asking if I was okay. Despite my efforts to assure her everything
was alright, she insisted on coming to see us.
“I just talked to dad. He has
offered us one of his apartments so that we can stay over there.” Fred said as
he walked back.
I didn’t know what to say. It
was so thoughtful of him but I was also a bit worried on accepting his offer.
His apartments were located on the other side of town. It was far from where we
lived and would take more than an hour to arrive to work. It was going to be a
big adjustment.
“What do you think?” I asked
Fred who was scratching his head as if he was thinking about something.
“I’ m not really sure. His
offer seems to help us at the moment.”
“I guess.” I said slowly. “Can
we talk more about this at the coffee shop. I’m hungry.”