Fugitives

Burned

I woke up to the sharp knock at my door, "help! Please help us!" I heard. I get up and run over to my brother who is still sleeping, "Will!" I say as nudge him, "Will!" I say. "What? What is it?" My brothers blue eyes open, and he can tell that there is urgency in my tone, "what's wrong?" He asks, "I don't know" I reply "but I'm gonna find out, wake up Nathan and get Father and mother" Nathan was the youngest of us three boys, I was seventeen, Will was fifteen, and Nathan was seven. Except for our blue eyes Will and I looked nothing alike, I was tall for my age, an had brown hair that came over my eyes, Will's hight was average for his age and he had short blond hair. I ran to the door and opened it, instantly I smelled smoke and I could see flames in the distance. Is was mr Fintel. Mr. Fintel was kind, heavy set short man who had a walk that slightly resembled a ducks walk. "Which house?" I asked, for there was no reason to ask what was wrong. "The Jackson's! And it's spreading quickly!" He said frantically,
"I'll be right over!" I said "hurry! It was spread to three houses when I came here" he said, and ran off to tell other houses. I instantly ran to our barn which was in back of the house, once I reached it I grabbed two large milk pails and ran to the river, once they were filled I ran back to my house. I could see my father and mother on our front porch, with Will and Nathan besides them, "Mathew!" My father called to me, "father, the Jackson's house is on fire, I have two pails of water, I'm going over to help!" "Be carful son, I'm going to get our animals out of the way and then I'll join you" he said, "okay, there should be enough milk pails in the barn" I replied, I turned towards the fire, it was much bigger now, I started waking towards the fire, it was slow progress with the milk pails filled with water. I stumbled on the gravel road, it was hard to see in the dark, I looked at the sky which was illuminated by the fire, I could already feel a little of the heat. When I reached the fire I met Mr. Jackson who had managed to escape with his wife and son, "Glad to see you Mathew" he said "How far has the fire spread?" I asked "five houses in every direction, we can't keep up with it!" He said. Five houses in every direction.....that means the fire would have spread to the Tenly's house! The Tenly's were family friends Mr. And Mrs. Tenly were always kind, they had a daughter Ashley who was sixteen besides her brown wavy hair she looked just like her sister Amanda who was my age, she was a pretty girl with blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, we had grown up together and we were best of friends. "Are the Tenlys safe?" I asked, "I don't know." Replied Mr. Jackson, "We are trying to help everyone we can, I'm sure they are okay" he assured me, nevertheless, I was greatly concerned. I ran over to their house, trying to keep my arms which were still carrying the milk pails as steady as possible. When I reached their house most of it was on fire, "Mr. Tenly!" I yelled, there was no reply, the man that lived next to the Tenlys told me that they were all still in their house, once I heard this I started to run into their house but their next door neighbor Mr. Finn grabbed me and said "You can't go in their! They are surely dead and you will die too!" "I have to!" I yelled. "If they are in there I have to get them, and I have water with me!" He shook his head and would not let me go, but I pulled away and broke lose from his grip, I ran through their front door, their stairs were on fire so I threw some water on them and walked up them, testing every plank in case it was weak from being burned. Once I made it to the top of the stairs I yelled "Mr. Tenly! Amanda! Mrs. Tenly! Ashley!" There was no reply. I ran into The room Amanda shared with Ashley, Ashley was awake, trying to revive Amanda who was unconscious, she was beant over Amanda but when I walked in she looked at me, her cheeks were tear stained and her eyes were wild with fright, when she saw me she yelled "what are you doing here! Get out or you'll die!" "Don't worry" I said "I'm gonna get you out, here hold the water" I said as I handed it to her and knelt down by Amanda, I could see she was still breathing, I picked her up in my arms and said to Ashley "let's go, pour some water by the door, and move fast so the flames don't catch your clothes" she did as I told her and we ran down the stairs, as I reached the bottom of the stairs I heard a crack and then a scream, Ashley had fallen halfway through one of the stairs, I ran outside and laid Amanda on the ground. I took a deep breath and ran back in for Ashley, when I went back in I noticed the top floor was sagging, I ran halfway up the stairs and pulled her out, my face was burning and I was almost completely blinded by the smoke. I started for the front door, but just then the roof collapsed. I covered Ashley with my back, I felt the burning logs on my back, as its crushing weight knocked me to the ground. I was so close to the front door, I noticed I was pinning Ashley down, I used all the strength I had and I rolled over, "Ashley" I said feebly "you need to get outside, don't worry about me, just run" "no," she said " I can't leave you"
"Ashely! You have to" I replied "and I'm sorry! I'm sorry I couldn't get your parents" "It's okay Mathew, it's okay" she whispered, I saw her roll out from under the roof, only the left side of the roof had fallen. She got up and ran out of the flames, I tried to get the logs off of me, I could barley breathe, the fumes were suffocating me, I pushed the logs up with all my might and rolled to a part where the roof hadn't fallen. The house was still burning, but I was too weak to get up, I tried but my muscles gave out, and my body laid unconscious in Tenly's burning house.