Park Forest Times

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Burning Flames By: Abby Hulek

“EVELYN!” Alarms blared around me. Heat burned my face, waking me from my slumber. It was early enough to still be pitch black and it was hard to see what was going on. My vision blurred and an overwhelming sense of panic danced through my veins.

“EVELYN! PLEASE!” My mother yelled again, despair creeping into her voice. It was distant and almost impossible to hear with the screaming alarms.

Wait. Alarms? I rubbed my eyes groggily and focused on something red dancing in front of my eyes.

FIRE.

My nose burned with ashes and flames. I was breathing the deadly smoke.

“MOM! DAD!” I screamed, terror filling every inch of my body. Unbearable heat filled the stuffy room, making me push my covers off hurriedly. My feat burned against the hot carpet and I squinted through the gray fog. 

“EVELYN!” I heard a fire truck roaring in the distance. My head swam with fear. My breathing became ragged. I stumbled out of my bedroom and down the stairs. My ears rang as I tried to find the way out.

“MOMMA!” I saw a limp body lying on the ground by the doorway. Tears slipped down my face. “NO MOMMA! GET UP! YOU’RE OKAY! LET’S GET OUTSIDE!” I fell to my knees, my eyes burning with tears. She couldn’t be gone. I started to wheeze and I hugged my mom, my ashen tears staining her clothes.

“LET’S GO! MOM!” She wasn’t moving. She wasn’t gone though. She couldn’t be.

“EVELYN! EVELYN!!! GET OUTSIDE NOW!” My dad staggered around the corner heading for the door.

“DAD! WE HAVE TO HELP MOM! PLEASE!” I wiped my wet face on my hand with a whimper. My dad’s eyes grew dim as he looked at her body crumpled on the ground. All of the happiness faded from his playful blue eyes. His comfortable posture stiffened.

“DAD! WHAT DO WE DO?” I screamed. My heart broke as I looked at his face.

“GET OUTSIDE. NOW.”

“Dad! We have to do something.” My voice cracked and more tears poured down my cheeks.

“OUTSIDE.” Anger rose into his voice. I had never heard my upbeat dad angry. I ran out the door, knowing I was making the biggest mistake in all the eight years I had been alive. 

After minutes passed, I started to run back into the house, fear pulsing through my body. A fireman grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

“It’s too dangerous.” He said with a muffled voice, coming from under his mask. 

I snuck around the side of the house, trying to avoid the firemen, and I burst through the glass door. Smoke clouded around me and red flames licked at the walls. I wobbled over to where I had last seen my mother and I found two limp bodies sprawled on the floor.

“No…” I breathed and everything faded into darkness.