"Get up!" Kelly was frightened and scared as she tried to wake her mother up. "Mommy, get up!" The house was on fire. The closest neighbor would be blocks away and she wouldn't make it to them in time. "GET UP! The house is on fire!"
Bev stirred groggily as if not to notice the smoke in the room. "Get up!" Kelly demanded. Finally, Bev sat up and looked around. She sighed, slapped her hands on her lap and stretched up. Kelly was confused by Bev's reaction. "We need to get out of here," Kelly shouted. Bev waved her hand at Kelly and walked towards the kitchen. Kelly couldn't believe her eyes. She knew she had to do something. There was fire everywhere; in the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, on the walls, on the ceiling. Kelly coughed. The smoke was getting bad which Kelly knew it meant she didn't have much time left.
She ran towards the bedrooms where her younger sisters slept. She could hear Celeste crying in the crib. "Get up! Ann, Angie, get up! Come on, the house is on fire." As soon as they saw the smoke and noticed the fire, Ann and Angie sprang from their beds. Kelly then went to Celeste in her crib and pulled down the side of the crib to get Celeste out. Ann went to the other crib where Sarah was still asleep. Sarah was fresh out of the hospital after having spent months battling bacterial spinal meningitis. To move Sarah would cause pain; Ann knew this. She tried to pull down the bar of the crib but it was stuck. She struggled and still it would not move. Ann then tried to climb into the crib to reach for Sarah. Kelly pulled her down. "No! Careful." Kelly pushed a button on the latch that lowered the bar of the crib. Ann reached for Sarah and at the bear touch Sarah screamed as though someone was deliberately putting her in pain. Ann held Sarah close to her and tried to calm her but to no avail.
"Come on, we gotta get out of here." Kelly carried Celeste and led the young sisters down the hall. Suddenly the house shook. Kelly looked up, the ceiling was about to collapse. She jumped back as just in time.
There, in the hall, Kelly thought for sure she and her sisters were done for. What else could a 6 year old girl do with sisters younger than herself? Kelly cried. She slid down the wall to the floor with crying Celeste still in her arms. Ann and Angie joined in the chorus of tears as they saw their fearless leader cry. For all they knew, dad was still at work, mom didn't seem to care and no one knew where they were at.
Then something else troubled Kelly even more than the fire surrounding her. Sarah had stopped crying. "Ann! Give me Sarah!" Kelly exchanged with Ann Celeste for Sarah. Sarah stopped breathing. Kelly tried to wake Sarah up but to no use. "Sarah wake up! Wake up! Please wake up!" Sarah became lifeless. She had breathed in too much smoke. Kelly cried, "Please God help us."
"Hello! Anyone there?"
Kelly didn't recognize the voice but it was a voice nonetheless and it belonged to someone who could possibly help.
"Over here! We're over here! Please hurry!"
Two firefighters make their way to the girls through the bedroom window.
"This is Rob, we found the missing girls. Looks like all 5 of them. The youngest one is lifeless and needs medical attention right away. Have the medical team standby. We'll bring them through the north bedroom window." Rob picks up the lifeless body of Sarah in one arm and Celeste in the other. "Girls, stay close to me and grab my jacket. We're going to go to the bedroom over there and away from the fire."
No sooner as Kelly got through the window, she saw her dad and ran right for him. "DAD!" Ann and Angie soon followed. Celeste and Sarah were taken to the ambulance right away. Sarah was revived and let out a loud cry as the pain returned.
Scott was relieved his daughters were alive as he held his daughters tightly. Bev came out of the fire truck with a blanket around her shoulders. She grabbed Ann to hug her, "Oh thank God you're ok. I was so worried about you girls." She next reached for Kelly but Kelly backed away with a serious look in her face. Scott looked on at the burning house with a distant look in his face as the house crumbled to the ground with everything he worked so hard for to provide for his family. Tears stream down his face as he thinks about all the work he had to do to provide the home, the beds and pillows the family slept on, the backyard swing set he built for his daughters to play on. All the memories, good and bad, that were invested were now in flames.
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