Fire

We had just settled in for dinner with Fred when we heard a loud scream. It was coming from nearby. Shocked, we looked at each other then headed to the window. I could see a crowd forming near the entrance of the flats where we live in. I rushed out of the door to get a good view.

Fred followed me and together looked towards the ground. The group of people who were crowding there kept on shouting at us but we couldn’t hear. So I followed their hand gestures and noticed they were pointing to the third floor of our building. I looked down and saw a huge black cloud of smoke coming out from one of the windows. My heart skipped a beat.

“Oh my God!” I shouted.

“What?” Fred asked obviously he had not gotten a clue of what was going on.

“The building is on fire. Check the third floor.” I said tagging his shirt.

He checked it. Shocked, he grabbed me and forced me to enter the house.

“Grab whatever you have valuable and let’s get out of here!” he said rushing to our bedroom. I followed him sobbing silently.

I remembered that my wallet, phone and some personal items were still in my handbag. I grabbed it and ran to Fred who was inserting his wallet to his back pocket of the trouser he had.

“What about our clothes, electronic, jewelry…..” I started.

He held me by the shoulders and shook me. “Kate, we have no time for that. Let’s go downstairs and wait for the firemen to come.”

“But…”

“No buts. Please let’s go!”

We ran downstairs by this time the smoke had already almost covered our floor. It was really hard to see the stops but we managed. We joined the crowd that had formed already. I noticed that most of them were my neighbors. I asked around what was happening and I was told that the fire had started in the third floor. No one seemed to know the cause. So we all stood there for what seemed like eternity before the fire truck came. The firemen tried their best to put off the fire but unfortunately, it had engulfed much of the floor. Our house, which was on the fourth floor, was not yet severely damaged but we were advised not to stay in their since it was unsafe.