My parents came inside from the night-stricken backyard. Despite the Pepsi in my dad's hand, the look on his face made my heart skip a beat.
"Hey, there's a pretty big bug on the stairs, can you-" I began, about to ask him kill it, being a wimp myself.
"That's the least of our worries right now," he said, with a sarcastic little chuckle that I've heard before. It always means the same thing - 'This is not good.'
"Uh-..." My voice trailed off as he passed a hand over his face. My mom's mouth was in a hard, straight line, and her blue eyes were worried and distant, seeming to reflect what I knew she had just seen outside.
"This is discouraging," my dad finally admitted, giving me and my sister a half-smile. I glanced at my younger sibling; her face was panic-stricken.
"That orange glow and black smoke behind that hill-" he gestured toward the northeast "-that we thought was going away...well, it's bigger," he said, somewhat bluntly and icily.
"You should probably go get some clothes together and whatever else you want to take," my mom put in quietly.
I stood up silently, my heart pounding, about to head upstairs to obey, already mentally packing...images raced through my brain, uncomprehensively, like photos of my possessions. But my mind was hysterical; the images were blurry.
A cry made my jerk my head sideways. Tears leaked out from my sister's large brown eyes, her face screwing up like when she's about to burst into tears when she throws a fit...but this was different.
"What-..what's wrong?" My mom asked gently, putting her arm around my sister's shoulder.
It was a few moments before she replied, "I'm...I'm scared!" in a wail. And that was definite fear in her shaking voice.
Minutes later, after consoling my sister when I put in, "When you came inside, the look on your face said 'we have to leave now,'" I was in my bedroom, glancing around at all my possessions like a frightened chipmunk. I didn't know what to grab...all the while, the smell of smoke wafted through the house like a haunting ghost that softly wailed, "Hurry...hurry..."
This is a bit of what I just wanted to do. This is a 'true story,' so to speak, based on what was going on at my house right before we evacuated. There's a wildfire in the hills around my house; this took place about 2 nights ago.
It's almost word for word, but I couldn't remember exactly. Might do more.
Please comment.
-- Edited by Tutelasoul on Tuesday 1st of September 2009 06:43:47 PM
Yes, we are fine, just mentally exhausted and wanting to go home. :| Evacuated two nights ago, but it wasn't mandatory then. But the next morning at 2 AM, we got a call that said it was mandatory. So we were glad we already left instead of having to pack at 2 AM. Been hanging out at a family friend's house...
