I was about seven years old, with my older brother who was nine at the time, and my younger sister who was four. We were dropped off at my grandparent’s house to spend the night.
    

“Alright kids, be good for your grandparents.” Our mom said.
    

“No promises!” I said. Trying to cause problems, like I always do.
    

My mom was extremely sick at the time, so she had to stay home alone. My dad was in some other state for his job. There were about five dogs, and six cats in our grandparent’s house at the time. Two of the dogs were our own pets. Once my siblings and I were dropped off, we handed our basket of clothes to my grandpa. He took the basket away and put on the kitchen stove for the time being.
    

“Your guy’s things are in the kitchen.” Our grandpa told us.
    

“Okay!” We all replied. Not caring about that for the time being.
    

We were all settled in, until our grandparents told us that they were going to go run some separate errands. It may be weird that we were left home alone at such a young age, but they knew we could handle it. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? So, at that point my siblings and I were left home alone at the house, with five chaotic dogs, and six curious cats.
    

The old dusty clock in the dining room read 3 o’clock so I decided to head up the rickety wood steps. I was searching for my brother and sister when I noticed a door that was closed. I heard the TV blaring through the door, so I knew my siblings must’ve been in there. I walked in to see my sister and brother sitting on the couch, with their eyes focused on the show they were watching. I sat down next to my sister. No one noticed so I started to talk.

     “Hey guys, want to go play outside?” I asked.
     No one replied so I repeated a little louder.
     “Hey guys! Want to go play outside!?”
     My sister took her eyes off the TV and looked at me.
    “Eh, I guess so.” She said, with a monotone voice.
    As soon as we stood up there was a scent that came to my nose.

    “It smells like someone is making cookies!” I said. This time my brother turned his head.

    I walked towards the closed door leading to the hallway, and opened it seeing clouds of smoke filling up the whole house. I hesitated then said,

     “Guys! There’s smoke everywhere c’mon!”
      My sister and brother came out of the room together and realized that we had to get outside.
“Duck under the smoke.” My brother said.

We stumbled down the steps until we reached the clear glass sliding door leading to the backyard. Once we got out, we looked at each other wondering what we were supposed to do next.

     “What are we going to do?” My younger sister cried.
     “I got a phone on the way out.” My brother replied. Me and my sister never even thought of doing that.
     “Ok guys, I’m going to call 911, you guys just sit on the swing over there.”
   

 I headed toward to the swing with my sister tagging along behind me, when suddenly my brother ran back inside the house.
     I ran over to the door, and yelled.
     “What are you doing!? Come on outside again!”
     A few seconds later my brother ran out, struggling to catch his breath.
     “There was a dog right next to the fire, I had to chase her upstairs.” My brother said.
     “Wow, that was really scary!” My sister said.
     My brother started to call 911, so me and my sister headed to the back of the yard.
     There were a couple of neighborhood kids noticing that we were having issues.
     “What happened?” One of the kids asked, sounding nervous.
     “There is a fire inside our house!” My sister told them.
    

The neighborhood kids didn’t know what to do, or even think while me and my siblings were pacing around the backyard, trying to fathom what had just happened in the house we were in just a few minutes ago. While me and my sister were talking to the neighborhood kids, my brother called 911, telling the police where we lived, and what was going on.

     “911, what’s your emergency?” The person on the phone asked.
     “There is a fire our house!” My brother said, talking so fast the person on the phone barley understood.
     “Okay, where are you at, and what has happened.” Asked the woman on the phone.
   

  While my brother was having a conversation on the phone, me and my sister were walking around the backyard, waiting for our brother to hang up the phone and tell us what was going to happen, and what he was told on the phone.
    

“The police are going to come very soon.” My brother said.      “In the meantime, we will have to just sit here and wait.”
    

All our minds were racing about what just had happened. Nothing like it has ever happened to any of us. Ten minutes later, three fire trucks, and a police car showed up. At my grandparent’s house, they have a gate surrounding the backyard, (so the dogs wouldn’t get out) that we had to be lifted over by a policeman. We were put in the backseat of a police car, waiting patiently, just wondering what was to happen.
    

I remember talking to my siblings, just waiting for someone to come to the car and explain to us what was going on.
    

“Well, we made it out alive!” I said happily.
    

“Yeah, I can’t believe that just happened to us.” My sister replied.
    

Eventually the door opens to the backseat and a policeman appears. He has a large bag with him filled with stuffed animals. He told us that we did a great job, and did the right thing when we were in the fire. He let us each pick out a stuffed animal, (for doing the right thing) and said that we could come out now. We walked out of the car into the fresh breeze of the fall day, following the policeman to where he wanted us to go. My grandma came out of her car rushing to give us all hugs, assuring that we were okay. We were driven home to our house, just to see our mom lying in bed as sick as a dog. We told her the whole story, telling every detail until the story was finished.
    

“Wow!” Our mom said, with a scratchy sound in her voice.
     

Once we finished talking to our mom, we went into the kitchen to get something to eat. We were exhausted from what had happened earlier in the day, so we went to our rooms and fell asleep as soon as we got to our beds.
    

I learned a lot from that day, and I will never forget what happened. I now know to cherish every day I am alive, because something could one day happen, and it will all be over, and I will wonder where the time went.