Terror covers our faces as we watch our house burn to the ground. The fear of the unknown swirls through all of our minds. As sirens approach my heart starts to sink. At this moment I realize this is not just a bad dream, but real life. Less than an hour ago I woke up to the sound of an explosion and an eerie feeling in the depth of my gut. I ran into my parent's room and woke up my mom. Frantically she opened her eyes and pushed the blankets off her body. We sat in silence for a moment before hearing what resembles the sound of a shotgun. With a sigh of relief, my mom said it was only my uncle Joe hunting in our backyard and proceeded to cocoon herself back in her sheets.

Then I trudged back to my bed.  Darkness surrounded my body as if it were a blindfold shadowing me from the horror outside, yet the smell of smoke overwhelmed my nostrils and I felt my gut sink deep into my stomach. I raced out of my room and sprinted down the dimly lit hallway back to my parent's bedroom where the darkness returned and encompassed the entire space. I fumbled over the scrambled shoes to turn on the light. As the room begins to glow, I whisper to my mom, “I don't think it’s Uncle Joe outside.”

Finally, she abruptly got out of her bed and marched down the hall. I knew something was wrong when I heard a loud gasp come out of her mouth. She turned to me with a look of fear and told me to run upstairs and wake everyone up. She did not need to say what was happening, I already knew. The time came to a  halt and everything began happening in slow motion. I felt as if I had left my body, nothing was processing and I couldn't think straight. I felt like I was watching movie that I didn't know the end of. I don't remember waking everyone, I only remember ending up outside and seeing our house in flames.

As my mind replays the event over and over I am brought back to reality by the screech of tires rolling into our driveway. Within seconds a large man bolts through the door. Pounds of heavy flame retardant clothing encase his body as he enters the area taken over by flames. Time stands still as I wonder if I will ever see this man again. Minutes later, he reappears out of the smoke and flames he limps over to the ambulance parked horizontally from flames. He jerks the oxygen tank over his mouth and begins to breathe heavily. As the oxygen rushes through his body his breathing lowers back to normal. With his still semi limped walk he paces over to me and asks in a deep heroic voice “Are you alright?”

I am at a loss for words and the heroic fireman can tell. He begins to kneel down in front of me and hands me a picture frame. I glance down and realize it is a family picture from inside our living room. Not only had this man risked his life to put out our fire but he grabbed a photo of my family as well.  I look up to ask why he had thought to grab this picture, instead of just getting out of the smoke infested air. Before I could say anything he says “The only thing that matters is you are all safe and alive, family is what matters, and the rest will all be figured out.” I clutch the frame in my hands and know that no matter what comes next, everything will be okay as long as we have each other.