Random Snowflakes: Alab part 2

Tonight, I experienced being in a state of panic.

No, it's not the "oh, no, I have an exam in 5 minutes and I know nothing!" kind of panic. It's the mind-numbing, immobilizing, "I gotta move and I gotta move NOW!!!" kind of panic. And it caught me when I was calmly washing the dishes.

I got home from work feeling exhausted for some reason. I got changed, and was about to sit down for a few moments when my dad called me for dinner. So, sighing, we went to #29 to eat dinner, which I had no appetite for, no matter how yummy it looked. I just felt so freakin' tired.

I got up to wash the dishes, and my dad went back to our house with the left over food.

About one minute later, he came back, saying, "May sunog sa 'tin?"

I froze. "Huh?"

My first thought was that our house, #40 Golden St., was on fire. But since my dad was still somewhat calm, I ruled out that possibility.

"May nasusunog sa 'tin," he repeated as he led us (my mom and I) outside, and pointed just above the roof of #29. To my horror, I saw a red glow, bright against the darkness of the night, right under a billowing pillar of gray smoke.

The good thing was: if it was our house that was on fire, I would've seen flames instead of a glow.
The bad thing was: the glow meant nothing else but a house on fire. And since it was a BIG red glow, that meant it was close.

My mind shut down, and at the same time, it went into overdrive.

How to help my neighbors? What to do? Has someone called the fire department? Should I get pails of water? How near is the fire from our house? Who's going to splash the pail of water the fire? Should I get stuff out of our house? What stuff should I get first?

When I regained my control over my muscles, I ran for the bathroom and turned on the faucet to gather water. As my mom tried to move our refrigirator, I went to her office at the end of the hall. That room was just one firewall away from the burning house.

I disconnected the two computers, taking great care in running to and from our house (#40) with the parts. I vaguely heard hurried footsteps on the roof right above my head. People were trying to put water on the fire from our roof. Somewhere in between, I cleared the way for my Kuya JB and my dad, who were trying to move the speakers. After that, they went to help people put water on the fire.

Also somewhere in between, I yelled at and almost kicked at my dog, who was pretty much confused with the chaos, for standing in my way.

In the background, I heard the sirens.

FINALLY.

This was the first time I've seen eight fire trucks up close and personal.

After a while, my dad made me go back to #40 and keep watch. We were able to get the two Behringer speakers, two computer sets, one mixer, one refrigirator, one microwave oven out of the house.

I couldn't find my dog anywhere for about five full minutes. But I eventually found him under the dining table, and he won't come near me. Argh. Poor Coffee. So I crawled under the table and hugged him, trying to calm him (and myself) down.

After a few minutes that seemed to be an eternity, my brother came back into the house and told me that the fire was under control. Thank God. It didn't reach #29.

Deciding that distraction was the best therapy, I went to wash the dishes that my dad was able to bring home before the fire.

Yeah. I like washing dishes.

After that, I went to sit at the foot of the stairs, the contents of this blog entry already coming to mind. Coffee went to sit beside me. The fire trucks left a while later, and the subdivision was quiet again. It turned out that the source of the fire was a cassette player left turned on. The effects of adrenalin ebbed away, and I found myself (and everyone else) throughly exhausted.

I turned on the PC and started writing.

What a day.

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Yes, we actually took pictures once we were sure we were safe.

Standing at #40's gate. That's #29 right there. The house with the white lights.