It was probably the most horrific night of my life. I was sitting in my apartment when i hear the most awful scream. I looked out the window and and saw smoke. The alarms in the building rang fiercely. My uncle came running out of his office. “There is a conflagration!” he yelled to me. At the time i did not know that that had meant fire. My uncle is a very mature man. He uses big words. On the contrary of his maturity our relationship has always been rather paternal. Regardless, we ran out the hallway and took all five flights of stairs down to the entrance. I saw everyone in my building, even little sally. She looked scared. Everyone in the building dispersed out of the building in large clumps. I looked around and could not find my uncle. In the corner of my eyes i saw Sally crying and looking around. Her big brown eyes were drooping nad her nightgown was thin. I bet she was cold. I felt horribly sorry for her and as much as i wanted to get out the building a ran over to her and picked her up. I don’t know how i had the strength to pick her up because i was so small at the time, but i did. I don’t think she new it was me because she began screaming hysterically and kicking her legs real hard. So hard her pink shoes went flying in the direction of my uncle who was running outside safely.

I was scared. Very scared. But, I shook of the nerves and ran out the door. It was late at night and i was tired and feeling fatigued, but i couldn’t just drop sally on the ground i had to find a safe place to keep her. I stood there holding her wile we watched the building in flames. It looks as though an entire world was disappearing before my eyes. Then i notices the Head fire chief muster up the fire fighters. There was noise everywhere. Finally i spotted sally’s father who was screaming in spanish. I ran to him giving him his screaming child. They reunited with a big embrace and tears of relief in there eyes. This reminded me of my uncle and that i still wasn’t sure where exactly he was. I looked franticly for my him. After hours of searching and watching the fire man putting out the fire, I finally spotted a fire man cleaning up the hose. “Hello young man, are you alright?” He said to me. I looked at his face. I felt bad for him. The ash marks on his face looked hot, and scratchy. “yes, i cant seem to find my uncle. I saw him leave the building but i don’t know where he went.” The fire man assured me he would find him.

I sat on the grass in front of the building and watched families reunite and go back into the building. Hugs and kisses were exchanged. I got this horrible feeling something was wrong. I turned around and saw two huge fire man carrying my uncle on one of those stretchers being loaded into a ambulance. I practically jumped out of my skin. I ran to the ambulance looking down at my uncle. He looked different. He didn’t have his same rosy cheeks like he used to. His olive skin was pale and scratched and burned. His black greasy hair was now burnt off. This man was not my uncle. This dead man, was not my uncle. I screamed and through my self on the ground pounding my fists hysterically.

I had a tantrum for about 30 minutes watching the ebullience screech off
My world came crashing down. The one person in this world who loved was in a ambulance. My head exploded my face stretched i pulled at my hair as if to throw out the horrible truth that was now in my head. I punched my chest. I stamped my feet. THe Fireman tried to grab a hold of me i was moving too much. I screamed even louder tears were covering my vision. People were starting but i didn't care. Soon the fire man calmed me down enough and brought me to the hospital to talk to the doctors. The doctors confirmed that my uncle was now gone, forever. Forever is the worlds worst world. THey guessed he had gone into the building to look for me or something and got caught in the fires. The fire man i had talked to earlier took me by the hand and walked me to his car. He told me i was to stay with him and his family for the night. I looked up at him with all the ash on him and sweat and cuts. I thought that he was also someone's uncle, someone's father, someone's husband. It was such a miracle he had lived. I thought about how his wife and children should greet him with great joy because he was still alive. They didn't. It wasn’t that they didn’t care, it was that they must have not known how serious the fire was. I don’t think the fire man noticed either. This made me cry even more.

To make this story a little shorter i went through months of therapy. The fire man’s family was very nice to me. I am now living with my second aunt. Things are getting better. I will never forget the fire man who took care of me, I will never forget his family who didn't appreciate that fact that he was living and breathing. I will always remember the scars on his face and how lucky he was to be able to feel those scars on his face, because he was alive. From that day on, i promised i would appreciate life and and all the simple cuts and bruises that i was alive to feel.