I stood there on the barren street, helpless. Sirens wailed in the distance, but nothing mattered to me anymore. Before me stood a house. A house that once stood proud and tall. But as it was engulfed in flames, the very structure of my life began to fall apart. I am a father of 1 child, a baby girl, 3 years old. My baby girl was still inside the collapsing structure. As the screams of my family pierced the surrounding area, all sense of sanity evaporated from my being. I needed to save my daughter, I would not let her be taken from me. She's mine, nothing could take her. Ducking through what used to be a door, I stepped into the oven. I began to sweat almost instantly. Flames licked the walls and traveled around the rooms. The stairs had been rendered useless, as had the house supports. The roof was about to come down on top of me, on top of my baby girl. No, I could not let that happen. Summoning the willpower of a Russian army, I banished my fears and plunged into the fiery mouth of hell. My hair sizzled and my skin burned, I carefully picked my way through the house. Not long after, I found myself lost. The fire threatened to eat me alive as the smoke choked me to death. An endless torrent of coughs was enough to end my petty existence. No. Not now, not yet. I would save my baby, I had to. Pushing myself to my knees, I crawled my way deeper and deeper into the house. I heard a crash to my right and the crackle like that of a campfire. That's when I heard it. The angelic voice of my baby girl.
"Daddy?"
She sounded terrified and feeble. I could barely make it out over the sounds of my world falling apart around me. Arriving at her side, I swept her up in my arms.
"It's okay honey, daddy's here. Daddy's gonna get you out alright? You're going to be fine."
Sandpaper assaulted my throat as I spoke. Even so, I needed my baby to hear me. I need her to know that she'd be safe. With her in my arms, I turned and began heading back in the direction I came.
"Daddy.."
Her voice hitched. She wheezed like an old man gasping for his final breath.
"Daddy's here. I'm getting you out."
Even as I spoke the words, me steps faltered. I stumbled and gently laid my baby girl on the hardwood floor.
"Daddy, fire is hot. Why do I feel so cold?"
I would not cry. I couldn't. Not in front of my baby.
"Don't worry baby. You're just tired. You're just gonna go to sleep. Just like any other night."
My daughter kept her gaze fixed on the ceiling as I spoke. Her lower lip trembled. Blood trickled from the corner of her small lips but she didn't seem to notice.
"Daddy? Please..."
I fought to keep the tears from falling. Why should I cry? Everything is going to be okay. I found her, it'll be okay.
"Yes honey, I'm here. Anything baby anything."
She looked over at me with a sense of hopelessness in her stare.
"Stay with me until I fall asleep?"
The tears fell. A loud snap echoed throughout the house.
"Of course I'll stay. I'll stay forever, I'm here. It'll be okay."
I wrapped my hand around hers and stared to sing an old family lullaby. My daughter's eyes closed and a small smile crawled across her face. Then, the last breath of life evanesced away. My beautiful baby girl was gone. More tears fell. Another crash from close by. I covered her with my body and curled in a fetal position. A section of the room fell again. The roof gave in and collapsed in on itself. The world went in slow motion. At the moment before death, like my daughter, I smiled.
