It was a warm summer’s day, everything had seemed to be normal. Neighborhood kids and teenagers playing out in the , our parents talking on the side, birds chirping… Then all hell broke loose. Somehow, it seemed like the lot had been turned into a fiery pit of despair in a matter of seconds. Both of our parents had been so busy helping other children, that they forgot about their own.

“Gale! Come on!” A black hair teen yells to a boy stuck underneath a fallen fencing.

“Andrew, I-I can’t! My leg!” The blond boy cries out to the other boy.

Andrew attempts to lift the fence, avoiding the flames. Gale reaches out to Andrew one last time before another piece of fence falls. Andrew sits in horror as he listens to his friends screams come from the fire, slowly fading with time. He didn't even notice when his mother pulled him from the area and back home. He had luckily been pulled away unscathed. 

His mother speaks to him in a soft and caring tone, "Andrew, sweety, what happened? Where is Gale?"

Andrew's mine flows through a thousand responses, each one worse than the last. "Gone."

"Gone, gone where?"

He looks down at the floor, "In the fire... How did it start?"

His mother's face drops as well, "It was a dry brush fire.."

"Why didn't anyone notice.. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE HELP?!" Andrew yells. His mother jumps a bit from the sudden tone change. He stomps off to his room, locking the door behind him. The teen takes a knife that had been left in his room because of an afternoon snack and sits on his bed. He pulls up his sleeve and shakilly places it over his arm. "Would he have wanted this..?"