the secret of silver lake

Unforgotten memories

Maggie grabbed my hand and pulled me close to her. More screaming came from inside the window. The women were now hanging out on the ledge to escape the smoke. One woman made her way out onto the sill, looking back and forth for an escape.

"NINA! LILLY! NINA! I looked around as I heard my dad's voice calling me and Mommy's name.

"DADDY!" I screamed as loud as I could, hoping that he would hear me over all the other nosie. "DADDY!" This time, he turned his head to look at me. His eyes wide with panic. He ran towards me, weaving his way through the people as they watched the main house start to catch. He wrapped me in his warm arms around me as I cried into his chest. He held me for a moment before pulling me away by the arms and looking me in the eyes.

"Where is your mother, Lilly? Did she come outside you?" His voice was scratchy as he spoke. His bluish gray eyes looked into mine, searching for an answer. His face was dirty from ash that now fell from the dark cloud above us.

"The doggies brought me down the stairs. Well, mommy was sleeping." I told my dad between sobs, as his eyes shot to the main house.

He stood fast, looking over the crowd of people. A loud, terrible scream erupted from the crowd as the woman who had worked her way out on the sil of the window had jumped. She was lying on the ground, looking up at the sky her legs twisted funny and not moving. This made my dad look towards the widow.

"SOME ONE GET A LADDER." He yelled as he ran in search of one. There, on the far side of the building that had yet to be touched by fire, was a group of men standing at the bottom looking up a ladder to an empty window. A scrony man to skinny for the clothes he was wareing. "My lord, please hurry! The fire will reach you soon!" his voice shaky with fear. he gripped the bottom of the ladder, causing his knuckles to turn white. The man's dark hair only made his face appear white as though he stood close to deaths door.

"Nonsense, I will not be leaving without my things if you want me to hurry, come and help me!" a voice boomed from inside the window followed by what look like scrolls falling.

"WE NEED THE LADDER THERE ARE WOMEN TRAPPED," my father shouted at the men as he rushed toward the ladder. I watched as he pushed past the skinny man to pull the ladder away from the window. "WAIT, the lord has yet to come down." He looked at my father, then up to the window. "HURRY, MY LORD, THERE IS NO TIME TO WASTE!" He called up the ladder. The man looked at my father with sympathy in his eyes, showly returning his eyes to the window. Then suddenly, he shot up the ladder and through the dark opening into the room.

"About time," a voice spoke, the disgust clear in his tone. After a few minutes, there were things falling from the window. More paper came followed by packages of clothes.

My father looked at the men, blocking his path to the ladder. "Only a rich man saves materials items over the LIVES OF OTHERS!" A growl escaping his throat, a light blue aura surrounding him so strong it made the men begin to back away. I had never seen this side of my father. "Daddy," I whispered as tears began to leave clean streaks down my soot cover face.

"Please Hurry," urgency heavy in the skinny man's shaky voice as he spoke, as a large plump man positioned himself on the ladder to climb down. I watched as a fat man in nicer clothes than I had ever seen before struggling down.

A scream so loud all other sound was silenced, echoed from the window. I looked quickly, and there clinging to the widow frame was my mother.

"MOMMMMYYYY!" I screamed as I turned to run only to be caught by Maggie's strong hand grabbing my arm to stop me. The smoke billowing out the window seemed to wrap my mother in an embrace like she was an old friend. My father must have heard me call up at her. He was no longer by the ladder but under the window holding his arms out.

"JUMP NINA! I will catch you, my love, " shaking her head hard white streaks running down her cheeks,tears and sweat from the intense heat. "Nina, look at me, my love jump now. I am here. You can do it. I know you can, NINA NOW LOVE!! JUMMPP!" Holding his arms up, incrougeing her, she slowly moved from her positioned spot.