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» 038; where did the party go
At 9am on September 8, 2013, my family lost our house to a fire.
Yes, that is what caused my sudden disappearance for the last month. It wasn't because of some rash decision to get away from the internet, nor was it because I needed a break from everything. It was because of a tragedy that had taken us all by surprise.
First things first, my entire family is all right and so is our maid and our dogs. Everyone got out of the house before the fire or smoke trapped us in and there were no major injuries sustained from the fire. All our belongings, however, literally went up in smoke.
Here's the full story:
I had woken up around 8:45 that Sunday, and had gotten water from the dispenser a meter away from where the fire started. There had been no signal of a fire starting up, nor any trace of smoke in the air. I had gone back to my room and was chatting with Shannon when the net had gone out a little after 9. I thought it had been a power outage but immediately crossed out that possibility after I switched on the lights and found it to be working. I figured that a wire must've tripped but I was sorely mistaken upon opening the door of my room.
I was greeted by a cloud of smoke brushing past my face and into my room. In a panic, I closed the door and reached for my fire extinguisher but decided otherwise upon hearing my mom shouting, "Get out! Get out! There's fire!"
Immediately turning to my sister, who had slept in my room and only awoken 5 minutes prior to the call, I shouted at her, telling her to run out of the house as well. When I began running out of the door myself, I felt our dog brush past me, hopping onto my sister's bed in sheer terror. I scooped her up into my arms and ran for dear life, down the hallway and past the living room.
There I saw my dad battling against the blowing inferno with a fire extinguisher but even then, I knew that he wouldn't win. The fire had grown too large by then. I ran out of the house, coughing up a storm as I clung on to the dog, waiting for my mom to get out. She made it out safely, though she and my dad rushed back into the house once more to get the keys to the cars, to move them out of the driveway. It was then that my sister started bawling, crying that our other dog hadn't gotten out.
There was no way we could go back into the house to look for her. The smoke were too thick and fire was quickly making its way into the living room, towards the front door. We called out her name repeatedly, hoping that she would somehow make it to the door herself. It wasn't until 10 minutes into the blaze that she ran out of the open front door. But instead of running towards the gate, she ran to the side of the house and by the fish pond. I pushed the other dog into my mom's hands, said that I was going after her, and ran back in, not waiting for her consent. I chased after our dog, hoping the entire time that the roof won't fall onto of me as I ran after her. Coaxing her into my arms, I scooped her up as well, and ran back out the gate. By then, the fire had made it to the front of the house, causing the glass of the windows to burst.
The fire truck finally arrived a minute later but it was too small to battle the flames. The following fire trucks came within another 10 minutes but I knew that there was no saving our house.
Fire out was declared at past around 11:30am. Our neighbors houses were spared and no one was hurt besides a small burn on my dad's hand. We still do not know the cause of the fire though it is very likely to be electrical.
I have pictures of our house burning (c/o our neighbor) but I'm not sure that anyone wants to see that.
Many people came to our aid during the fire (with clothes, food, words of comfort, prayers, and even dog food), and even the time after. My family stayed at a relatives for a good portion of three weeks, only having moved into temporary housing (provided by my dad's company) ten days ago. I think I accepted our loss the fastest among my family, but there's still some part that's still reeling about the situation that we've found ourselves in.
Since the fire, I could probably count the amount of times I've gone online in both my hands thus my scarceness. I borrowed my cousin's laptop on and off for the three weeks we stayed with him and we just recently acquired a communal laptop for my sister, my mom and myself. Everyone's so busy with the laptop that I feel like I've spent the least amount of time with it in between sleeping and the temp work that I've been doing. And it's going to be like that for a little while.
And... I think I've covered everything. I don't really know anymore. If you guys wanna ask anything, just shoot.
Yes, that is what caused my sudden disappearance for the last month. It wasn't because of some rash decision to get away from the internet, nor was it because I needed a break from everything. It was because of a tragedy that had taken us all by surprise.
First things first, my entire family is all right and so is our maid and our dogs. Everyone got out of the house before the fire or smoke trapped us in and there were no major injuries sustained from the fire. All our belongings, however, literally went up in smoke.
Here's the full story:
I had woken up around 8:45 that Sunday, and had gotten water from the dispenser a meter away from where the fire started. There had been no signal of a fire starting up, nor any trace of smoke in the air. I had gone back to my room and was chatting with Shannon when the net had gone out a little after 9. I thought it had been a power outage but immediately crossed out that possibility after I switched on the lights and found it to be working. I figured that a wire must've tripped but I was sorely mistaken upon opening the door of my room.
I was greeted by a cloud of smoke brushing past my face and into my room. In a panic, I closed the door and reached for my fire extinguisher but decided otherwise upon hearing my mom shouting, "Get out! Get out! There's fire!"
Immediately turning to my sister, who had slept in my room and only awoken 5 minutes prior to the call, I shouted at her, telling her to run out of the house as well. When I began running out of the door myself, I felt our dog brush past me, hopping onto my sister's bed in sheer terror. I scooped her up into my arms and ran for dear life, down the hallway and past the living room.
There I saw my dad battling against the blowing inferno with a fire extinguisher but even then, I knew that he wouldn't win. The fire had grown too large by then. I ran out of the house, coughing up a storm as I clung on to the dog, waiting for my mom to get out. She made it out safely, though she and my dad rushed back into the house once more to get the keys to the cars, to move them out of the driveway. It was then that my sister started bawling, crying that our other dog hadn't gotten out.
There was no way we could go back into the house to look for her. The smoke were too thick and fire was quickly making its way into the living room, towards the front door. We called out her name repeatedly, hoping that she would somehow make it to the door herself. It wasn't until 10 minutes into the blaze that she ran out of the open front door. But instead of running towards the gate, she ran to the side of the house and by the fish pond. I pushed the other dog into my mom's hands, said that I was going after her, and ran back in, not waiting for her consent. I chased after our dog, hoping the entire time that the roof won't fall onto of me as I ran after her. Coaxing her into my arms, I scooped her up as well, and ran back out the gate. By then, the fire had made it to the front of the house, causing the glass of the windows to burst.
The fire truck finally arrived a minute later but it was too small to battle the flames. The following fire trucks came within another 10 minutes but I knew that there was no saving our house.
Fire out was declared at past around 11:30am. Our neighbors houses were spared and no one was hurt besides a small burn on my dad's hand. We still do not know the cause of the fire though it is very likely to be electrical.
I have pictures of our house burning (c/o our neighbor) but I'm not sure that anyone wants to see that.
Many people came to our aid during the fire (with clothes, food, words of comfort, prayers, and even dog food), and even the time after. My family stayed at a relatives for a good portion of three weeks, only having moved into temporary housing (provided by my dad's company) ten days ago. I think I accepted our loss the fastest among my family, but there's still some part that's still reeling about the situation that we've found ourselves in.
Since the fire, I could probably count the amount of times I've gone online in both my hands thus my scarceness. I borrowed my cousin's laptop on and off for the three weeks we stayed with him and we just recently acquired a communal laptop for my sister, my mom and myself. Everyone's so busy with the laptop that I feel like I've spent the least amount of time with it in between sleeping and the temp work that I've been doing. And it's going to be like that for a little while.
And... I think I've covered everything. I don't really know anymore. If you guys wanna ask anything, just shoot.