Cries of alarm and deathly fits of coughing, intense heat, the taste of burnt wood and flesh and smoke... The charming facade of an apartment building had been turned into a flaring inferno of hellion proportions. Some folks fled the scene while others less fortunate were trapped in a fate most would rather drown than face.
Screams were lost to the roaring of flame and the bone sharp cracks of heat seared support beams crashing through blaze eaten floors. But there was one cry that rang out in blind terror that shrieked above all the noise and destruction.
"Mama, daddy! Maamaaa!" The peal was fierce and built from young lungs not yet deep enough to hold much more than infantile howls. Harsh, crying coughs interrupted the babe's screaming, but didn't deter her carillon wails. A streaking passerby stuttered to a halt, half caught between the instinct of flight and the sudden, new urge to protect. The man fidgeted, his smokey brow bright and wet and shining as haggard breaths filled the whole of his ears... it even drown out the roar of fire.
The one thing it didn't drown out however was the small voice down the flaming hallway so high pitched with need and terror. With his vision tunneling, the man made a decision and turned to face it.
He ran down the hallway towards the screaming child.
Crashing through the door, his eyes were wild and searching as she raised his smoke stained arm to covering his face. Eyes red and squinting, thick nose running, he stumbled through the wreckage of the apartment, unsure how much longer he could manage... It was in that moment of uncertainty that the man's heart stopped with a frightful realization; he couldn't hear the child's screams anymore. They'd stopped.
Seized with a sudden ferocity and zeal despite his stinging body, the man continued his speedy search, ignoring the blister of his hands as they pushed back star hot closet doors and fever pitched furniture. He'd nearly given up hope, but there she was in a far corner caught in the spill of smoke charred blankets from a tiny bed. Without hesitation, unsure of her life or not, he scooped up the girl and made back through the door with her smallness braced to his chest.
By the time he reached the air outside he knew it was too late, not for her, but for him. He died numb and regretful for all but the child in his arms.
"Hey I need some help over here! This girl's still alive!" Came the bellow from one of the many rushing onlookers to the fallen man with his precious bundle. Unconscious but still clinging to life, the little girl wheezed painfully as a few searched about for the girl's parents. Hearing their death, but not the family name, it was the small, smudged glint of silver about the child's delicate throat that caught an attendant's careful eye.
Penelope
The small, delicate pendant about her neck said her name was Penelope, and it's identifying scripture was completed with the sweet outlines of a rosebud. The name carried with her from person to person as her smallness was lost to the safety of so many eager hands.
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http://www.jmbtraining.com/images/class%201%20FR%20fire.jpg
Screams were lost to the roaring of flame and the bone sharp cracks of heat seared support beams crashing through blaze eaten floors. But there was one cry that rang out in blind terror that shrieked above all the noise and destruction.
"Mama, daddy! Maamaaa!" The peal was fierce and built from young lungs not yet deep enough to hold much more than infantile howls. Harsh, crying coughs interrupted the babe's screaming, but didn't deter her carillon wails. A streaking passerby stuttered to a halt, half caught between the instinct of flight and the sudden, new urge to protect. The man fidgeted, his smokey brow bright and wet and shining as haggard breaths filled the whole of his ears... it even drown out the roar of fire.
The one thing it didn't drown out however was the small voice down the flaming hallway so high pitched with need and terror. With his vision tunneling, the man made a decision and turned to face it.
He ran down the hallway towards the screaming child.
Crashing through the door, his eyes were wild and searching as she raised his smoke stained arm to covering his face. Eyes red and squinting, thick nose running, he stumbled through the wreckage of the apartment, unsure how much longer he could manage... It was in that moment of uncertainty that the man's heart stopped with a frightful realization; he couldn't hear the child's screams anymore. They'd stopped.
Seized with a sudden ferocity and zeal despite his stinging body, the man continued his speedy search, ignoring the blister of his hands as they pushed back star hot closet doors and fever pitched furniture. He'd nearly given up hope, but there she was in a far corner caught in the spill of smoke charred blankets from a tiny bed. Without hesitation, unsure of her life or not, he scooped up the girl and made back through the door with her smallness braced to his chest.
By the time he reached the air outside he knew it was too late, not for her, but for him. He died numb and regretful for all but the child in his arms.
"Hey I need some help over here! This girl's still alive!" Came the bellow from one of the many rushing onlookers to the fallen man with his precious bundle. Unconscious but still clinging to life, the little girl wheezed painfully as a few searched about for the girl's parents. Hearing their death, but not the family name, it was the small, smudged glint of silver about the child's delicate throat that caught an attendant's careful eye.
Penelope
The small, delicate pendant about her neck said her name was Penelope, and it's identifying scripture was completed with the sweet outlines of a rosebud. The name carried with her from person to person as her smallness was lost to the safety of so many eager hands.
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
http://www.jmbtraining.com/images/class%201%20FR%20fire.jpg