Reflecting on that night, the night my life changed, I was not saved that night, thankfully I crossed that milestone many years ago in my life, I was awakened. I was awakened to realize true inner beauty, adrenaline, assurance of my faith, pain, the definition of family and friends, love, mercy, safety, sacrifice, fear, hope and, what I will always remember most, God's way of calming the storm.
On the night of January 9, 2011 my life was forever changed. I have forgotten the person I used to be as I am blinded by this moment that made me a better person, better child of God, stronger woman, and changed my perspective on life in a matter of seconds. I had recently moved into a new apartment as I began to cook my very first meal in my little kitchen. As I began to cook dinner, we were having steaks and french fries, I chatted with my roommates over the counter. I was letting the grease heat up on medium, as we were in no hurry, when Brandon, my boyfriend (I will talk about him a lot. He's the best!), left to walk down to on-site laundry facility to finish a load we had previously put in the wash. Not a minute after he walked out of the door, I was still talking to my roommates, the pot of grease simply bursts into flames. Singing my face and hair, the cabinets above the stove immediately caught on fire. My baking soda and salt were above the stove, growing up that is where my mother had always kept them. We didn't have much cabinet space in the tiny apartment. I knew better than to throw water on a grease fire. And there I was burning, yet calm and collective as my kitchen was engulfed in flames. I calmly and, thinking back, subtly put myself out. I simply took my bare hands and wiped the flames out. There was no fire extinguisher to be found in the apartment or out of the apartment. At this moment I found courage within myself, I had no idea I possessed.
Chris, one of my roommates had opened the door to let all of the smoke out and I grabbed a towel and oven mit and put the pot outside. After getting the burning pot of grease out of the apartment, I finally realized I was burnt and my skin was still sizzling. I went into the kitchen and with a gallon pitcher filled refilled and threw on the flames in the kitchen until I could no more. I suddenly could not stand the pain any longer, I yelled for my roommate to get me out of the kitchen. The hallway was the way out of the kitchen, it was also where the front door was located and was still on fire. While, Alyssa, my other roommate continued to panic, Chris pulled my over the kitchen counter and into the living room where the fire had not yet reached.
At this point I was realizing just how bad the circumstances were, as I laid on the back porch in the snow, attempting to cool off with the door cracked enough to converse with Alyssa but not wide open as we did not want the fire in the hall to spread, I yelled and yelled for Brandon, he was still at the on-site laundry facility. As I laid there and Alyssa called 911, I was beginning to become frightened. The series of events was coming back to me and, though I knew I had done the right thing by doing my best to put out the fire, I was afraid of what was to come because of my actions. The apartment was still on fire. The fire department was on their way.
By the time the fire department got to my apartment I had made my way from the back porch to the shower. I put cold water on my skin and watched layers and layers sluff off of my arms. As I stood in the shower with my clothes on, the curtain open and the cold water hitting me, my face and arms could not feel the cool temperature they were still burning. As I starred into the mirror my face continued to get brighter and brighter red and my arms were as white as the snow I had laid on earlier. And I started to panic, partly because my skin was clogging up the drain, partly because I was afraid I was going to look like Michael Jackson and mostly because I was uncertain of what was to come.
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