The most horrifying experience of my life happened about a year ago when my best friend, her son, and I were involved in a serious house fire. Not only was it the worst event I have ever encountered, it changed my life and had a horrendous effect on my friend Deb and her son Michael. .
Our two-bedroom apartment also had a living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. For some reason I slept on the couch that night. Deb and her son slept in the master bedroom that contained a walk-in closet, bathroom, and a balcony. .
About 3:45 AM, the sound of crackling noises in the outside hallway awakened me. Since it had rained earlier that night, I really didn't think much of the noise, assuming the rain was still coming down. Several minutes passed, and still hearing the same strange popping sounds, I peered out the peephole of the front door. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, I lay down once again and tried to resume sleeping. Fortunately for everyone I could not dose off. Still hearing the noise, I got up to investigate in more detail. At this point, I opened the front door and all I could see was a blazing inferno. The entire outside hallway, as well as the stairs, was engulfed in flames. .
Because the flames were so monstrous, I could not see nor could I scarcely breathe. I slammed the door and ran down the hall to awaken Deb and Michael. Considering that it was four o"clock in the morning, they were incoherent and totally unaware of what was going on. They burst from a dead sleep as I shook them and screamed at us until we were jolted awake. All they could understand was that we had to get up and get out of the apartment as quickly as possible because the building was on fire. In desperation, I grabbed Michael right away as Deb checked the front door. Surely enough, the hallway and stairway were filled with enormous flames. I could not see any possible way that anyone could safely get out the front door to escape the blaze that was about to invade out apartment.
