She just lay on the bed, her mind soaked in thoughts. She just tucked her son in but sleep eluded her. She was trying to find solace from her thoughts in sleep when she heard an ear-splitting exploding sound. She sprang up from her bed, her heart racing as she tried to figure out what that was, then her son came to mind.
She dashed to his room to wake him up but to her dismay, he wasn’t there. She searched frantically for him, as fear choked her, she was about to call out to him when she began to feel light-headed and almost collapsed to the floor. She held on to a chair and that was when she noticed that the room was engulfed in smoke. Her legs felt like jelly so she laid on the floor, she became disoriented and didn’t know where she was.
The smoke in the room became a thick fog and she couldn’t see clearly. Her eyes burned from tears and smoke, as feelings of helplessness, pain, anger and frustration warred in her. She was about to let go, she figured that either the heat would turn into flames and kill her or the smoke would murder her.
She was about to accept defeat when the image of her son came to mind, he was so pure, so innocent, so young, she couldn’t bear to let him just wither away. With renewed determination, she tried to clear her head and think, she thought he might in the kitchen so she crawled towards to the kitchen because her legs still felt like jelly.
In the kitchen, she attempted calling his name but her voice sounded weak and foreign even to her. She was thinking of her next move when a thought occurred to her. She remembered that in movies, a wet cloth could reduce smoke inhalation. She managed to crawl to the sink, using the kitchen island and sink as pivots, she stood up.
Though the kitchen was foggier than his room, she was able to feel her way to the tap and towel and wet the towel. Pressed on her nose, she inhaled from the wet towel.
Slowly the fog in head began to clear faster and she began to think more clearly. She was thinking of next line of action when a strange force lifted her off the ground and was pulling her away. She screamed though her throat was parched, kicked the air and tried to wriggle free but the force was too strong and it pulled her away from the burning two storey building. The force turned out to be her neighbor and everyone else prevented her from going in to save her son.
Distraught and petrified, she begged a fireman to help her rescue her son but he told her that it was damn too risky and volunteered to escort her to a paramedic. As they walked towards the medic, she suddenly shoved the fireman and ran back into the building. The ground floor was not yet on fire but was covered in thick smoke, thankfully the stairs were also fire free, so she ran up the stairs, sped past the fiery inferno on the first floor and reached the second floor where the rooms were starting to join the fiery party.
She raced to her apartment and opened the door and suddenly shut it for fear of the fire entering. Her room was still in thick fog, she ran to the only toilet in the apartment and there he was, her beloved son, passed out on the toilet seat as his head tilted backwards. She carried him, out of the toilet, and towards the door.
When she tried to open the door, there was an explosion and she hit the floor with a thud and lost consciousness. She opened her eyes to a bright white light and smells of drugs. She turned her head slowly and saw her son resting his head on her bed and sleeping silently and clutching a paper. Slowly and almost painfully, she removed the paper and she was able to read “I will never leave you mom.”