Serenity Falls
“Kenleigh, wake up, Honey.” The desperation in my father’s voice next to my ear startles me awake. My eyes snap open. Black marks cover his handsome face, and his chest heaves up and down as if he’s just run a marathon. To see the normally strong man that I know completely paralyzed by fear is such an odd sight. Grasping my hand, he pulls me out of the bed, saying, “Stay low to the ground.”
On my hands and knees, I can see the flicker of an orange glow from the crack beneath my bedroom door. “Daddy, what’s going on?” Panic begins to take over. I know I need to move, but fear has me frozen in place. Tears well up in my eyes as my room fills with a thick, black cloud of smoke. Our house is on fire.
As he slithers across the floor in a low, army crawl, my father looks back over his shoulder, coughs from the smoke, and yells above the blaring fire alarm. “Kenleigh! You need to hurry up! Follow me.”
“Daddy, I can’t. I’m scared.” My voice cracks from the horror that is now my reality. Tears glide down my face. I know we can’t make it down the stairs because of the flames outside my door, but I can’t stop wondering what will happen if we can’t get out the window.
“I know you’re scared, but I promise I’m going to get you out of here.” My father tries to keep his voice calm so that I won’t panic any more than I already have. Jumping to his feet, he yanks me off the floor by my arm, throws me over his shoulder, and runs toward the bay window in my room. “Lift up the back of my shirt and put it over your face, Honey. Try not to breathe in the smoke,” he says through a heavy cough. I watch through the small gap between his arm and his body as his shaky hands unlock the window in my room. When he pushes it open, thick plumes of smoke travel in the direction of the outside, seeking its escape.
After dropping me to my feet, he grabs onto my shoulders and between deep coughs says, “We’re going to have to climb down.” Shoving the windows open wider, he looks out, craning his neck in different directions. I know he’s trying to gauge the best way to get down. He grabs my hand and pulls me toward the window. Because heights terrify me, I dig my heels into the carpet to keep him from pulling me to my death. “Damn it, Kenleigh! We don’t have time for this. We have to get out now!” He shouts over the ear-piercing screech of the smoke detectors.
As he snatches me and places me in front of him, he looks me in the eyes. “You’re going to have to climb down the gutter, okay?”
“I can’t… I can’t do it. What if I fall? Where’s Mom? I need Mom!” I scream, shaking my head adamantly.
“She’s already down there waiting for us. Now, please, Kenleigh, we have to go. I’ll be right behind you.” I watch as my father’s tears leave trails through the black marks on his face as he begs me to do what he told me.
“Okay,” I whisper. Edging my way closer to the windowsill, my dad holds me around the waist. I lean out the window, grabbing onto the rain gutter that trails down the side of our summer lake house.
“Put your feet right there on the brackets. Good, just like that, Kenleigh.” He reassures me as he lets me go. “Now go ahead and start climbing down. I have to wait until you’re at least halfway down before I can climb out.”
I take a deep breath. I can do this. I have to do this. Slowly, I start sliding down the gutter when a loud pop startles me. Looking up, I see my dad making his way down, too. The gutter loosens beneath my grip as the brackets jerk, one by one, from the siding, and another loud pop sounds out in the night. Quickening my pace, I jump the last couple of feet down, land with a thud, and fall back on my behind.
Before I have time to move, I’m lifted off the ground, only to find myself slung over my dad’s shoulder again. The movement of my father sprinting across our front yard bounces my head against his back, and a sigh of relief escapes when I realize that we are all okay. As he places me on my feet, I hear the loud sirens of the fire trucks and ambulances just as my father screams, “FUCK!”
“What is it, Dad?” I look around to see what has made him react this way.
My father doesn’t swear much, but when he does, you know that something is seriously wrong. When he cups my cheeks in his hands, I see the fear etched all over his face. “Stay right here, Kenleigh. I have to go back in and get your mom.” He looks back over his shoulder toward our smoldering home. “I guess she ran in when she realized it was taking us too long,” he coughs out as he turns back to me.
My eyes widen in shock. “Daddy? No, you can’t be serious. You can’t go back in there.” My voice shakes as my body trembles. I see our house. Flames shoot out in all directions. The siding is melting. Parts of the rough have begun to cave in.