The Fire

If you're reading this, you heard my apartment building caught fire today and now I am homeless. Seriously.

At approximately 2:30 PM today, I was lying in bed reading a book, which was completely odd, because I ordinarily go home and take a nap. Anyway, Gati and I are chillin' (Gati is my cat, in case you didn't already know) and I hear what I think might be a familial dispute. It sounds like some parent is screaming at their kid as they are spanking them (might I add the kid is howling it's head off.) I initially thought "stay out of it" until it sounded like someone threw something (or someone) against a wall. So I got out of bed to look out the window to see if I needed to open a can of whoop ass on some child abuser. There was nothing to the right, but to my left, flames and smoke are shooting out of my next door neighbor's patio window about 6-8 feet away from the building!

"We gotta go!" I yelled at the cat (yes, I really said it out loud) and I ran to grab some pants and shoes. Got the pants on, grabbed a pair of shoes (can you believe they matched?) grabbed the cat, my purse and my laptop. Oh, and the book? It's still in my hand, too.

Well, the cat got away. By this time, a different neighbor is pounding on my door. I open the door, give her the laptop, toss the shoes off the balcony, throw my purse and book on the floor outside the door and go back for the cat. I figure I only had this one last chance, and if I didn't get him then, I was gonna have to leave him.

Gati had taken to hiding in the box spring of my matress after the move (we've only lived here two months.) During the move, the fabric that covers the bottom of the box spring had torn and he made himself a little hammock out of it. Well, he hid in his hammock. I couldn't reach him. So I ran around to the other side of the bed, praying he wouldn't scurry back to the other end. He didn't. I had to punch a hole in the fabric (thank god it was non-woven) and I just grabbed him. He was not happy. I ran out of the apt, grabbed everything I threw outside, then ran to the neighbor holding my laptop. When I reached her, we could see that the upstairs apartment RIGHT next door to me was completely engulfed in flames. About this time Gati scratched and writhed, peed on me, then bit me and ran away. I could do nothing but watch him run.

I got my shoes on when I realized I still had this stupid book in my hand. Well, it wasn't really a stupid book, it's "Naked" by David Sedaris, which is freaking hysterical. Patrick gave me this book about a hundred years ago for my birthday or Christmas or something like that. I needed something to read the other night so I picked it up. To my surprise there were little notes throughout the book that said thing like "You can always dance with me" and "I only wish I wrote a note as good as you," which sure are nice to see once in a while. Anyway, I digress...

Once I got the shoes on, laptop on shoulder, book in bag and found my phone, I tried to call someone to come get me or stay with me or whatever you do in times like these. Neither of the other "Musketeers" were answering. So I called my mom, but only after I looked up to see the window next to mine (um...right next, only like three feet between them) billowing with smoke. Ok, not billowing, what is worse than billowing? I tell her the building is on fire, to come get me. She can hardly hear me. I'm crying, there are sirens in the background, people are screaming and it sounds like five hairdryers are blowing on face. By now we are hearing minor explosions (aerosol cans? What explodes in a household fire, I have no idea....the apartments are all electric, so it can't be the gas lines.)

Once mom was able to decipher my sobbing, she said she'd get me when I yelled "oh, shit, MY CAR!" My car was parked right in front of this building. So I run to my car, which is being showered with ash. I start to move it when the fire trucks arrive. Lucky for me I moved it because they used that spot for the hose. Anyway, I can't sit still so I get out of the car. It's amazing how you want to see if your stuff is going up in flames or not.

Now the smoke is shooting out of that window next to mine and I can't tell if it's starting to leak out of my bedroom window. In my mind I could see the adjacent wall beginning to go up in flames, igniting my bed and linens, my clothes in the closet, etc. I was really starting to get nervous. I had to keep telling myself "it's only stuff, it's only stuff" but dammit, I had just hung pictures on the living room wall two days ago. I'd only lived here two months and now everything I owned was about to go up in flames. The guy downstairs says "I just went in and touched the walls, they are cold, they're cold" which calmed me a bit, but I knew that if my apartment didn't go up in flames, the smoke damage would be enough to wipe it out.

I finally got a hold of Kelly, who came right down. By now, I can't complete a sentence because of inhaling smoke. The police kept shooing us away...how come the smoke didn't bother them? The only thing I can think of is that I'm panting because I'm crying and I'm also breathing through my mouth. My throat hurts and I can't stop coughing. When Kelly arrives, she gets me in the paramedic van, where they put me on oxygen and take my vitals. After about 15 minutes of that nonsense, I was ready to move on.

So Kel and I go sit in her car. About this time, I see the apartment manager. I chase him down. He's like "no worries, you're in the other building," and I'm like "uh, NOT." I teased him "that last apartment complex of yours I lived in I was almost blown up by a meth lab (meth lab story later), and now this? What, was someone BBQing on their patio?" Sure enough, they were. Uh, hello, that's ILLEGAL. Can you say fire code violation? I hope they get fined, sued etc.

My mom works about one hour away. That hour flew by, especially since Kelly was with me. When she showed up, she teased Curtis, the manager, too. We tried to stay in good spirits. My mom tells me "I want you to think about how thankful you should be. There is always something to be thankful for. Now you get to go shopping for all new clothes to wear to the Ron Clark Conference." We both laughed and cried over that one. I was just laboring over my lack of professional attire for this conference. In fact, I bought a pant suit at Walmart on Saturday that I haven't even removed from the bag. Now it's probably ruined.

So almost four hours later they won't let us return. My mom convinced the police to escort me into my apartment for my medication and my "gadget bag" which contained the school video camera and digital camera. That's it. I have nothing else except all the things I ran out with. Oh, wait, not even that. The cat ran away.

I'm so worried that Gati won't find his way home. Or, if he does, I'll be at this damn conference and won't be able to let him in. He's never been outside this apartment before, so he's left his scent nowhere except the what dripped on the ground when he peed on me. I'm worried the 100 degree weather will get the best of him. I only hope he finds some water and a cool place to rest.

I've called in sick to work so I can make arrangements with the insurance company to come see how bad the place really is. The news is reporting that only four families were displaced, but they wouldn't let us back in. Since I didn't wait around I don't know if they let the other four of us back in, but I couldn't have stayed anyway, the smoke smell made your eyes water.

I imagine I'm going to stay with a friend, in a hotel or just stay with my mom. I just don't have time for the two hours of commuting that would take....I have to finish my grades at school, check out the seniors, get my room ready to lock up for the summer, and pack for the conference. I just don't know how I'm going to get it all done.

I can hardly keep my eyes open now. I am going to go to sleep. I hope I can actually get some rest and not worry about what will happen to me tomorrow. Or the next day. At least I know the day after that I'll be in Atlanta....