Sunday, May 17, 2009

My Block Is On Fire!

Sometimes horror announces itself in the smallest of ways - like when a bunch of people shouted, "Api! Api!” on your doorstep at the crack of dawn of Sunday morning.

It was 5.57am. I know it for sure cause I was wide awake. I had to pee. Little did I know, I won’t be heading to my warm bed anytime soon.

I hurried up outside to check out what the commotion was all about (please, people here in my block would yell anything to get on each other’s nerves) and to my horror I got the rudest shock of the lifetime. I saw fire. The smell of burning reached out to me and engulfed the building. The smoke had blotted out the light on the corridor.

I felt my breaths were getting shorter and felt the heavy weight of some nameless dread. I alerted Din and quickly grabbed whatever things I can get hold on to - my wallet, my car keys, my expensive handphone and a few CDs ( I’ll explain about that later).

I quickly ran to the stairs, unsure whether my feet would come into contact with the ground or if I would simply go on, right through it. My head was spinning; I thought I was going to faint.



Downstairs, a fleet of cars and fire trucks was parked around the building. They belonged to the police and fire department. The police car – blue and white with a light flashing on the roof.



Thick black smoke curling into the morning sky. I saw faces streaked with ashes and tears. The details are simply not that fascinating, it just that the sight of it tightened the knot in the pit of my stomach.



People say surprises have colorful mode of springing themselves but I could have never foreseen myself getting jolted like this - a bunch of feelings of edginess, drift, despair all meshed up together.


Thank God, no one was harms. The fire started right under the stairs. Four motocycles were burned down to charred. Twisted steel and rubbles were every where.



The cause of the casualty is still under investigation. But from the look of it, all things pointed out to arson.

Man, I feel like I am living in the Bronx.

7 comments:

Hafez Zahruddin said...

Gosh, are you alright, dude? Maybe you should start writing your own autobiography. Who knows, with all the drama, it will beat Sophie Kinsella's book.
And you know how I adore your pedometer. Don't forget to think of that occasionally, before the next commotion. Hehehehe, kidding.

looka80 said...

mus - when was this? cian ko. i wanted to say this before but i didnt want to hurt your feeling. but since you mentioned it, yup.. u are living in a bronx dude. better watch ur ass. huhu..!

Hafez Zahruddin said...

By golly, looka80! Yes! When I think of it over again, his place did look a bit like the Bronx, a bit Chinatown-ish with the freakin' barking dogs.

Mus The Great said...

guys, u dont get to diss where i live, O yeah i've been to your places and they weren't exactly Beverly hills!!

Hafez Zahruddin said...

Err... *backing off*

Fancy a feast at my place next time, you two?

Life's Like That said...

shait - it looks like ur in Bronx, alrite. scary shait.

Zetty said...

thank god u r well and alive. i tak sanggup jadik janda muda. hehe.