HiveComb

Well, we never meant any harm, we just wanted to save a chick. Well, this is a true story, and it was the first that came to mind immediately I see the topic, I wonder how something so innocent led to one of the most terrifying days of my teenage years, that day, our entire building almost burn to ashes, because of a matchstick and this little chick.

Let me walk you through, then I was about seven years and my older brother was just 11, he just celebrated his birthday then. We were in charge of this chicks, we rare broilers, layers and all, but my mum also have some of this local chickens, and then she was pregnant and almost due, so we were in charge of taking care of the chicks.

This particular day, one of the chicks had gone missing, we looked for it and couldn't find it, we started hearing its faint voice somewhere outside, we looked out and heard it more clearly, how did the chick get here, its in the staircase area, you know that steps always in the corridors of storey buildings, that's our staircase, and that particular one is rarely used, it housed torn mattresses, old sofas and all, it was a place for abandoned, spoilt and useless belongings.

My brother told me to go get a matchstick so we could light the area and find it. I am just seven years, what should I have done, he's just eleven, what more do you expect, I didn’t think twice, I went up to get the matches, and handed it to him, he struck it, and in the tiny glow, we saw the little chick shivering beside a torn foam. Wow, we were so glad, my brother grabbed it and we ran back upstairs to tell our sleeping mum about this huge success, it was a rescue mission and we succeeded.

Well, unknown to us the matchstick hadn’t died completely, he had dropped it carelessly among the dry, dirty foams and all. Some minutes later we began to smell smoke, we thought mum was cooking and had slept off. Just as we were about waking up mum since the smoke is koe heavy, we heard people screaming, so loud. We started hearing fire fire fire, even with that, we never knew we were the cause not until we opened the door and we got blinded with this thick, black smoke.

The staircase was on fire, and this fir had spread like it was more than just a matchstick. The whole stair was on fire, no one could come up, no one could go down. And we lived on the top last floor. The heat was unbearable, the smoke was much and the fire also is making its way up to our flat. My mother who was heavily pregnant had run from one end of the house to the other, later she just sat down looking, what can she do.

The smoke was already setting in and everybody was panicking, we went to our front door and looked down, people brought out their mattresses and lay them down, we were asked to be jumping one after the other, if we go with that, what about my mum even me, I don't have the mind to jump from the third flat down. My dad was not around but people have already call him to inform him, they also call the firefighters, but they said there was no fuel in their truck. Is this the end for us, how do we get out.

We could see people bringing out drums and big bowls filling it up with water, but the more water they pour the more worse the fire became, it was as though that water was fuel, it kept raging. At some point, I thought we wouldn’t make it out. I and my brother clutched my mother's arm, crying.

Whent they discovered that water wasn't helping, one of our street neighbor who owned a shop down the street ran to get big bags of detergent. He mixed it with water and began to throw it on the fire. Slowly, the fire began to ease bow. People joined in, and everyone was throwing the soapy water from every angle, the flames died down just enough for us to climb down through the blackened, thick, smoky staircase. I held my mum’s hand tightly as we descended.

The staircase, the foams, the broken chairs, the ceiling everything was burnt, even the walls were scarred with smoke. Well, the firefighters finally arrived, all was calm then though, they only went up to help check of the fire was totally out. My dad got home shortly after and gave us the beating of our lives, he beat us mercilessly, well I wasn't angry, I knew we deserved it.

We were just teens, curious and reckless, unaware of how fragile life could be. We did not mean to destroy anything or set the house ablaze. We were just kids, trying to play hero by saving a chick, but in trying to save something so tiny and small, we almost lost everything, everything that mattered to us.

It’s been years now, but I still think about it, I still remember it so vividly. Not aall lessons comes from classrooms or advice, some come from real life things you personally experience, the kind you can’t forget.

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