1 8/25: Last Day of Summer - Alixandria Thomas

"Dad!" I scream out to him as the fire roaring threatens to burn my skin. Our two-story house is on fire from something in the oven that burned and caught fire on the wall, which caught onto the rest of the house. My dad is right in front of me, except under a very big block of wood. The fire between us is what's stopping me to help him out. "Sweetie, I need you to get out, ok?" he says to me while straining to get up from under the fallen debris. "No, Dad! I don't wanna leave you! I need you!" I retort back to him.

Before I can say anything else, two firefighters come into the house in their neon yellow and orange suits with helmets on. One of them grabs me while the other tells the first one to get another firefighter in the house. While the first man has me in his arms, I start kicking and screaming, begging him to let me go. "NOOOO! PUT ME DOWN!! I WANT MY DADDY!" He doesn't listen to me but continually holds onto me. I watch as a third firefighter runs past us to help the second one with my dad. I suddenly can't see anymore as the firefighter that has me turns me around so now my head is on his shoulder. As he runs to the exit of the house, I keep screaming out 'daddy'. I only stop when we're out and my mom now has me in the clutches of her arms.

I turn around just to see the other two firefighters running out of the house. But not with my dad. I start to run back, but my mother grabs me to hold me back. Both of us and the rest of the firefighters and EMTs watch as the house burns down and water from different angles is being sprayed at it. "NOOOOOO!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I sit up quickly in my queen-sized bed, my legs now under my sky blue and dark pink duvet cover, as I realize I'm breathing heavily and sweating on my skin. I start to cool off as I feel the cold air hitting the skin of the upper half of my body, my black bra being the only thing I'm wearing other than my blue shorts. I look around my room, from the window on my left with the window seat teeming with little pillows, along to where I start some of the posters of my two favorite artists, Ariana Grande and BTS. In the corner is my full-size mirror with its pink frame, and now that I look in front of me, I see more posters of Ari and BTS. Along with those posters are childhood and memory pictures of me, me with one of my best friends, or me with both of them. In the right corner, there's the room door painted in blue coating, matching with the blue-coated walls. As I look completely to my right, I see my dresser with its mirror attached to it, but I can't completely see it though.

In front of my dresser is my mom, Alexia. She has her silky black hair in a bun and it looks like she put on a little bit of makeup. Maybe she's going somewhere since she dressed in a floral blouse and some dark blue jeans. But then again, maybe she's not, 'cause she doesn't have on any shoes. She must've heard me in my sleep because she's sitting on the bench that goes along to my dresser. She's also set a glass of water beside my charging phone on my nightstand, which is to the left of my bed.

"Nightmare again?" she says, finally adding to the sounds of my heavy breathing that are now calming. I take the glass of water from my nightstand and I sip some of it before sitting it back down where it was. "Yeah," I tell her. Almost every night I have the same nightmare of 10-year-old me and the house fire that killed my father. It haunts me still even though I'm 17 now. The only picture I have of him now is glued to the side of my dresser mirror, when I had just turned 10 on my birthday, March 22, and I went to the firefighter station my father worked at where I had the best day ever. It showed me and him standing side by side in front of a firetruck. And it was the only time where I wore his firefighter hat.

"Well, I made breakfast for you. It's your favorite, waffles & scrambled eggs drenched in syrup. I wanted to let you know that before, but I saw you twisting and turning in your sleep again, sleep-talking, too." She got up off the bench and pushed it back under my dresser. Before she left out, I called out to her. "I'm gonna go out to Blue Winter Beach today. With Khalil & Chan-hee. Is that ok with you?" After she thought about it for a bit or at least acted like she was, she told me yeah. "As long as you're back before your curfew. And just so you know, I'll be going over to Mei's house, so you can just drop me off and then take Chan-hee with you," she said, then leaving out the room and closing the room door behind her. Chan-hee and her mother lived right across from us, so it was easy to get to her.

My curfew is 11 P.M., but I'll probably be back before 10:30 as always. I move my duvet cover off of me, my legs now being exposed to the cold air. I get up to go to my dresser and decide what my outfit should be for today. I end up getting a burgundy red turtleneck and a pair of dark denim blue jeans. I grab the other things I need and then go to take a shower. During that shower, as I let the hot water warm my body up, I think of what Chan, Khalil, and I would do today before going to the beach. Chan & I will probably decide to go to the mall for some new clothes. Maybe we'll go to the movies, but what will we see? 'Venom?' 'Angry Birds 2?' Yeah, we're still kids, but we'll grow up eventually. Ooh, or maybe we'll see 'Hobbs & Shaw.' I always did like 'The Fast & The Furious' Series, but Khalil will have a problem with seeing it like every other action movie I wanted to see.

After that, I put on a tan-brown pair of boots and then look at what I've got on in my full-sized mirror. I put my black and multiple-streaked dark blue hair into a high ponytail, so it really makes my outfit pop in my opinion. 'Everything looks good. There's one thing missing, though...'

I go over to my nightstand, grab the golden necklace inside its drawer, and go back to my full-sized mirror. When I snap the latch in its place, I stare at it, tracing the heart-shaped locket. I open the inside of it and look at the picture of my dad. This necklace was the last thing he ever got me for my birthday before his death. Whenever I look at this, I remember the words he told me when he first gave me the necklace: This is to remind I am always here with you, no matter what.

I close the locket, grab my phone from off its charger, my blue-and-white slingover purse, walk out the room, remembering that phrase my dad had told me, and go down the stairs to eat my breakfast before leaving out with my best friends. But, little did I know, that I would realize something later on with them.