The Storm

Untitled Part 2

I retreated to my bedroom, hoping to escape the despair that filled every room on my first floor. I sat down on my bed with my thoughts, reminding myself that it could be so much worse. What if I lived on the beach block? I thought to myself. I had friends that lived in the houses right along the beach; Those were the houses bound to get damaged the most. I've seen the aftermath photos of tragedies such as this and worried that our small town would be diminished to nothing more than photos of the rubble that the storm so graciously left behind. I shook my head, telling myself not to think like that. I walked over to the window once more and peered outside. 

The blaze from the window that was once at a distance seemed to be growing bigger and closer. I found it quite terrifying that a fire could spread so quickly in just a few hours. My parents had read on the news that the pub down the street had caught fire, setting the entire block of houses ablaze. We had attributed the red and orange lights that danced upon on the rooftops to the fire but had no idea that it was getting closer to us.

I could still see the pub in my mind, the blue awning with big white letters that read Harbor Light Pub so clear it was as though I was standing right in front of it. It was in the heart of Rockaway, at the end of 129th street, practically the only block in our small town with stores. My friends and I would walk to 129th street every Friday afternoon after school, excited to order a coffee from Dunkin Donuts that we were never allowed to get when we were with our parents. I walked past that pub every Friday afternoon, my Dunkin Donuts coffee in hand. It was a place filled with smiling parents laughing over a few beers, taking a much-needed break from their children. 

Sadly, this was not the first tragedy this pub had endured. In 2001, not long after 9/11, a plane crashed on the same street as that pub, killing over 250 people. Rockaway, such a small town filled with so much love, but also with so much tragedy. 

Nervous that the fire was going to spread to our backyard, we decided to leave our home. We knew that we had to get out of there while we still could and not take our chances in a battle against fire. Our friends lived in the house a few blocks away; Far enough from the fire, but still close enough to travel to in these conditions.