Model Essay III

Night of Horror

Written by Qiancheng (2004 - Now a student in NUS (High))

I had just fallen asleep when I heard cries of “ Fire! Fire!

I leapt out of bed, and rushed to the window. Thick smoke was billowing out of my neighbour’s flat. Pale in the face of death, I stood petrified and snorted contemptuously for a few moments. Then after regaining composure, I dashed to the next room and banged on the door.

“What’s the matter?” roared my brother. “House on fire?”

“”It will be, if you don’t wake up!” I shouted and ran to the next room.

Soon the whole family was awake. My father took immediate control of the situation. “Our neighbour’s flat cannot be saved,” he said. “But the fire is likely to spread here. We can get as many things as possible out of the house to safety for we are lucky to live on the ground floor.”

My younger brother immediately ran out with the waste paper basket! My eldest brother dashed out with a bag, and then returned for the television set. He was an ardent television viewer. But the set was too big for him to carry so my father and I helped him. The thick smoke from our neighbour’s flat urged us to hurry up with the arduous work.

I carried out the most of my school books, and those of my brothers and sisters. I helped my mother to carry out her kitchen utensils and the new gas stove. My father and my two elder brothers stumbled out with the refrigerator. Soon more than half the household things were a safe distance from the house.

Sirens wailed down the street and announced the arrival of a fire engine, an ambulance and a police car. While some of the firemen used a hose to put out the fire in our neighbour’s flat, the others drenched our house to prevent the flames from spreading to it.

My neighbour’s house was in complete ruins by the time the flames were extinguished. When our house was out of danger, the fire engine went away and the ambulance sent a casualty to the hospital. But there was no sleep for us that night. For some time, we talked to our neighbours who left a little later to stay with one of their relatives. Then we began a massive clean-up of our house, and it took us several days to get back to normal once more. That night was analogous to a horrifying nightmare and we wished that it would not happen again.