Flame Of Chaos

The daily prompt topic for June 14th "Set the Fire", took me down memory lane, to the night I and my house almost became victims of fire.

Although this incident happened more than a decade and half ago, the terror of seeing myself in a burning house late in the night, is still etched in my memory.

How it happened

It was weekend, Saturday evening, and I had returned home tired and exhausted from the day's grind. All my weary body craved for was the warm comfort of my bed, but sleep will elude me if I don't freshen up first. Arrrhgh!

Reluctantly, I dragged myself to the bathroom. After a refreshing bath, I had a light dinner and settled into bed, phone in hand, surfing the net while enjoying the warm glow of the candlelight in the dark....

Next thing, I found myself in dreamland. In my dream, I was in a strange house being engulfed in flames. I was there, all by myself and didn't know my way around nor how to escape. I was trapped and as the realization dawned on me, I couldn't help but feel terrified.

As I frantically searched for how to escape, the fire raged the more, consuming everything in its path, it's fury unrelenting like a dragon at war. The air was thick with smoke, and I struggled to breath. The heat became more intense and unbearable.

Apart from the sound from my frantic footsteps as I ran to escape the fire, all I could hear was the crackling of furnitures and other properties being ravaged by the fire.

It was by stroke of luck that I managed to escape the burning house without serious injury. As I ran out of the house, terrified and screaming at the top of my voice, I jolted awake, only to realize that my dream was nothing but a terrifying reality.

Smoke filled my room, and the curtains was engulfed in flames. The carpet and food rack were crackling and spitting sparks, as if alive.

Terrified and almost choking, I sprang up, rushed to the door and unlocked it, luckily it gave way. I pushed it open and quickly ran outside, to catch a breath of fresh air and regain my calm and gather my wits.

Seconds later, I sprang into action. I grabbed buckets of water and returned to the fire. Fortunately, I managed to put out the flames before they spread to the other items in the room. The curtains, my food rack, some plastic containers were burnt, but my wardrobe and other stuffs were spared.

However, more chaos awaited me even after putting off the fire. My room was a total mess. Water from the buckets pooled on the floor, mixing with soot, half burnt foodstuffs, spilled palm oil and vegetable oil from the burnt plastic bottles.

Exhausted, I leaned on the wall, while gazing at the scene of utter destruction before my eyes. Cold shivers ran down my spine and I couldn't help the feelings of shock that overwhelmed me. In that moment, I began to wonder what could have become of me if I hadn't jolted from sleep when I did, and equally mustered up courage to extinguish the fire.

"But how did the fire start?" I asked myself. I was the only one at home. "Who then could have set the fire? I asked again.

And then a tinge of realization set in.

"Wait! Could it be from the candle?"
Like a flash, the event of the evening began to unfold. It was then that I recalled lighting a candle earlier. I had hoped to blow it out before sleeping, but unfortunately, I had drifted to sleep in the process of surfing the net, leaving the candle still burning.

Another mistake, the candle was placed on the floor in a plastic cover!
Apparently, the candle had burned out, melting the plastic cover in the process and igniting fire, which then spread to the carpet, curtain and other stuffs.
That was it!

In that moment, I felt waves of emotions wash over me. What a nightmare! The thought of the two horrific experiences terrified me the more. I was hit with a wave of guilt for being so careless and putting myself in harm's way. What if I had gotten stuck inside and gotten burnt up with everything? What if I had survived but lost everything? What if's.....?

I felt grateful to have come out alive and unharmed, although the experience left me exhausted - physically, mentally and emotionally. The rest of the night, sleep eluded me as I struggled to keep my thoughts at bay.

This incident thought me a valuable lesson about safety and vigilance plus being mindful of potential fire hazards.
Till date, I'm always intentional when using candles.

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