When Love Takes You In (Jennifer Lawrence)

Up In Flames

I was tossing and turning in my bed.  I couldn't shake away the feeling that something was wrong.  Then I felt a shift.  I was on the top floor of our house, so I figured it was just the house settling.  When I did some research on the place, the house was over twenty years old with some remodeling!  I thought that was pretty cool.  I rolled over in my bed.  It was probably just my stomach hurting a little from all the pop corn I ate during the movie.  I had my water bottle over on my desk.  I swung my legs over and went to go get a drink.

I almost had a heart attack next.  The floor was blazing hot and the middle of my floor fell out!  I screamed and all I saw was orange.  I was hyperventilating.  The house is on fire!  "Mom!  Daddy!" I screamed out.  I wanted them to come rescue me.  I was on the top and they were on the bottom floor!  They wouldn't be able to get me.  But I had to get Stella!  How do I get her?!  My head was racing with thoughts, then I heard a scream.  "Sissy!  Help me!" 

Stella!  I stayed against the wall of my room as I shimmied to the hallway.  Stella's room was next to mine, I could get to her.  I was crying as I avoided the flames.  I could feel the floor get hot.  As I reached Stella's room the stair case and hallway collapsed from the flames.  "Mommy!  Daddy!" Stella screamed as I got to her.  She was sitting in her bed, shaking and wide eyed.  "Are you okay Stella?" I asked her.  She shook her head 'No'.  I looked at her arm and she had a burn mark on her arm, then I saw the flames that started to crawl through the door.  

I grabbed Stella and scooted to the farthest corner of the room.  I was holding my sister close and crying my eyes out.  I wanted my mom and dad!  I wanted to get out!  I couldn't get out without help, not with the stairs being gone.  "Is someone up there!" I heard someone shout over the crackling of the flames and wood.  "Please save us!" I screamed.  Stella was covering her ears, not wanting to believe this was happening.  We just moved in!  This can't be happening!  I wanted this so badly to be a dream.

"I'm coming!" I heard the person yell.  Could the firemen be here already?  Who called?  Know what?  I don't care!  I wanna get out of here and be with my mom and dad!  The flames were starting to get closer and could feel a tingling sensation on my arms and legs.  I had to get away, I had to get Stella away!  I pushed her behind me and scooted to a different part of the room.  As we did this, the floor started to crash down.  "Hit the deck!" someone yelled.  I imagined it was the firefighters.  I screamed and held my crying sister tighter than ever.

As the smoke cleared a little, I saw two people.  A woman and a man.  The man looked much older than the woman.  The woman was probably in her 20s, and the guy was probably in his 50s.  They weren't firefighters?  "Are you guys okay?" the guy was yelling.  "Where's my mommy and daddy?!" Stella cried.  "Somebody else is here!  Blaine, someone else is in there we gotta keep looking!  Dad, get them out." the lady yelled.  "Jen no!  Get out with them, make sure they're okay." the guy yelled.  This lady's name was Jen...gotta remember that.

"Okay.  Girls come here, are you okay?" Jen asked.  "We got burnt.  It hurts!" I whined.  I was still separated from Jen by a wall of burning wood and smoke and flames.  "Please...you gotta jump.  I'll catch you I promise!" Jen called.  I was shaking, I didn't wanna go anywhere.  I wanted this to be fake!  "Stella...I'm not gonna let go...I promise." I whispered as I jumped from the burning platform that was once Stella's room.  I could feel hot and sticky blood running down me and Stella.  It was paining me to see my baby sister hurt, but my own pain was hurting just as bad.  

"Come on we gotta get out.  My brothers and dad are gonna get your guy's mommy and daddy." Jen said.  Jen picked me up and held me close.  I still had Stella, who was now sandwiched between me and Jen.  I was crying as I stared back at the house.  My mom and dad...where were they?  Jesus, please get them out!  I kept mumbling quiet prayers and I heard Stella saying "Jesus, save mommy and daddy." over and over again.  It was heartbreaking.

I could hear the screaming sirens of the ambulance and fire trucks.  I watched the men in yellow uniforms spray out house with their big hoses.  "Where's my parents?" I asked Jen when stopped for a minute.  "They're gonna find them." Jen said rubbing my back.  "Ma'm we have to take the to the hospital." a paramedic said.  She was African-American and looked really pretty.  "Are you..." the paramedic started to ask.  "Yes, I am!  Bigger problem!" Jen yelled.  I didn't know what was going on, but I did know that the paramedic was lifting me onto a gurney and Stella onto another one.

"Get the to the hospital!  We're looking at at least second degree burns!" I heard being yelled.  There were so many other things being yelled out.  I wanted to go back to sleep.  No, I wanted Stella.  "I wan my sister!" I started crying.  The nurse on the scene pulled Stella's gurney over to mine and then we both laid down on one rolling bed.  They lifted the bed into the ambulance, and the last thing I saw was Jen's terrified face.  "I'll come see you!" she shouted, before we got closed off.  And with the bright lights of the hospital van, all I wanted to do was cry myself to sleep.

I closed my eyes and hugged my sister tighter.  When I woke up...everything we be okay.  I'd be with my sister,  I'd see my parents again, I'd thank Jen for helping us, and then we would start looking for a new house.  It would stink that we were in the hospital getting treated for burn wounds, but we would still all be together.  All four of us as a family.  Then we could start over again.  Yeah...everything was gonna be okay...I hoped.