“Shua Shua Shua”, I listen to my toothbrush scrub my teeth as I finish getting ready for the night. I look into my room as I hear my phone ringing. I ignore it and continue to get ready for bed. Everything is more quiet than usual, and it gives me this eerie feeling that something’s going to happen. Hi, My name is Gus, and I am 14. Mom and Dad are out for the night, so it’s just me here for the night. We live in a house on the corner of Maple Street.

I go downstairs for a snack, even though I just brushed my teeth. I grab some Pringles. They’re my favorite. I run back up to my room and get into bed, when all of a sudden I hear this creaking sound coming from downstairs, but I think Mom and Dad might have come home since it is 12:30am. When they go out, they usually are home about now. Anyway, the ticking noise won’t stop, and it is getting pretty loud…

I get up to go check the noise and see a light out of the window. I think it is a street light and head downstairs to stop the racket so I can sleep.

“Mom! Dad!” I yell out, trying to see if they’re home to see what the noise is. I get no response, and I start to worry about what’s going on. I see the light brightening out of the front door. All of a sudden I hear a RUMBLE and a CRASH of a dish. I go to the window to see the light and maybe see what the movement is from, and I see FIRE COMING FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE HOUSE! I rush upstairs to get my phone to call Mom and Dad to see what’s going on, and when I call them I see Mom’s phone light up when I called, Dads too. I rush to find Rambunctious, the family cat so we can escape. I search and search and feel the house moving more and more. I search to find him in my Mom and Dad’s bed. He is wide eyed and shivering with fear. I grab him and we bolt for the front door…

I get to the front door and we are OFF OF THE GROUND! We are already a good ways off the ground, and then let the cat down to safety. He gets down and runs to his house outside. I gather some things I might need and throw them down. The house is already really high off of the ground. 

“HELP, SOMEBODY HELP ME!!” I yell, hoping for the neighbors to hear me, though they are probably deaf over the rockets and the crackles of the fire under the house. I don’t know what's going on, or when this was ever imaginable, but it is, and I gotta jump, now! I jumped, and I was looking upward and the house, “It had the perfect lift-off.”  I fell straight to the ground and in a flash, everything went blank. Take this from the story, always use your time wisely, you never know when it will run out.