Created By

TheDragonwitch

Rate this Story

Embed

One weekend early in the morning I hear our son calling.Not paniced or anything to be alarmed at. We are used to this because they are both early birds.

Then something just tells me to listen.

I can't tell you how I still thank that little voice.

I hear my eldest saying to my youngest, "Come away from that as it is dangerous." That had alarm bells positively screaming in my head.

There is nothing dangerous in their bedroom, I know because I have made sure of it.

Jumping out of bed in my nightie I run to our door which looks directly onto their door.Licking under their closed door is flames.My first and only thought is my kids are in there!

I press my hand against the door feeling for heat. The door is cold.

My mind is now trying to think logically in my sleepy state. Heck it isn't even 6 in the morning yet.

I push the door open slowly not knowing what to expect. The door opens, there is a wall of flame, "My kids are in there!"

I can't see them past the flames but I can hear them. My heart is bursting with fear and dread. I hear the eldest telling his little brother to lie on the floor.

By now I have asertained that the bunk beds and the carpet by the door are on fire. As you open the door the beds are behind it. There is only one door. It is on the second floor with no escape out the windows either. My heart wants to stop, but I must save them NOW!!!!!

I grab a towel from the bathroom and start beating the carpet, I'm also using the door itself to try and ride the flames out. It seems like I just can't win. Now I know how he feels. I haven't called fire either, this is only to dawn on me later, right now I'm on a mission to save my kids.I finally get the flames on the carpet out, but the beds are a raging, breathing wall of fire. I grab my kids, hugging them into my body to shield them from the flames licking at us from the beds. It's so hot and big! My brain has stopped fearing and my love for them is the only thing driving me.

As I get them out the door I breathe deeply only now realising that I wasn't breathing in there, the smoke was too thick and low. If the truth be known it was most probably also too hot. Something smashes through my instincts and makes me scream for the first time, "FIRE, Get up FIRE".  I shove the kids away from me to face the giant beast that is consuming everything in it's path. Have you ever seen a fire burn so hot that it turns silk flags into ash on the wall? I saw it and it scared me.

My knight in shining armour appears and my mom. She grabs the kids and goes to her room also upstairs. I know it sounds stupid but we were all sleeping and really not thinking.

We start grabbing containers to throw water on the fire, they seem so tiny against that wall of hell. As the water lands it just sizzles up into nothing. We switch on the light in the room thinking it is still dark. We only realise later that the smoke was thick, black and as low as our heads. I run downstairs for a bigger bucket. Hoping it will work better, but it takes so long to fill and in the mean time the fire rages ever bigger or is it my imagination doing that.

I am sincerely starting to think we are going to lose the whole house. That fire is an insurmountable beast that I do not know how to conquer. I am almost prepared to give up the house, I have the most important thing, my kids. We send the kids and my mom to the garden because of our fears.

Eventually by some miracle we put the fire out. We are a mess. My hair is burnt, my body from the sparks (amazing how it didn't set my nightie alight.). Looking down I realise the extant of my injuries, leg cut from what I know not. Feet have carpet melted into them. My hubby's arm hair is burnt off. Hair singed and we are SOOO black.

Time to assess the damage and the cause.

We lost the carpet, the paint on the walls,the mattresses and not the bases.All the winter bedding. BUT we still have our kids. That is what matters the most to us. The rest can be fixed over time. No more posters or kiddies artwork. All those memories are gone forever. Clock melted,underfloor heating control just metal in the wall.

What could cause this?

I eventually get it out of our eldest that he had stolen matches and a candle and had dropped it on his bed. The top bunk. It ran down his duvet onto his brothers bed and onto the carpet. My heart bursts with pride though ironically because he saved his brother's life. He was asleep on that bed at the time and he grabbed him and moved him to safety. The youngest was about one and a half years old. He got burnt on the foot and has a genuine fear of fire. I think that fear will last a lifetime. The eldest never got hurt at all , at least not physically.

The odd occassion he still steals matches or plays with any form of fire he can find, but he is far more mindfull now. I can also see when those moods are approaching. He is not one to speak but lets things out in other ways. The worse his distress the worse the end result. Bright bunnies are not always the easiest to deal with. They don't think like the average person. We keep up as best we can and just watch him and teach him.If you can't stop them educate them is the point we have come to.

I always wondered how people overcame their fears to save someone. I  could never imagine where that bravery came from or to what extent it would go. I believe I know now, but I can tell you I never want to have to do it again. I do a lot of accident scenes, but it is so differant when it's your own flesh and blood out of your reach. I did everything I could would just never be enogh for me. I would rather die trying than have an doubt about what I could have done .

This is a true story and I can promise you that maternal instinct (be it mother or father) overides every and any fear you have. You don't think you just do. I would do it all again if I had to but I don't ever want to be in that predicament again.

Watch your children, love them and let them know what they mean to you.

(Iread a saying once that said:"Deciding to have children is to decide to let your heart walk around outside of you.