SAlvirez MAGAZINE 1 | Page 4

Farmhouse Fire

I didn’t know waking up at seven o’clock in the morning hearing my mother crying on the phone would be the worst day of our lives. It was late in March 22nd, 2007; I was a typical ten-year-old girl, with no care in the world, going to school and hanging out with friends. Thinking nothing bad could ever happened to me or anyone I love, but I was wrong.

My mom came into my room, with tears streaming down her face, couldn’t barley even get her words out properly. She looked me in the eyes and said, “The girls are gone...” My whole body stopped functioning, and I looked at her and asked, “Cheyenne?” She nodded while still crying. “Hunter, Rae’ven?” She cried even harder. And right then before I could think and process all this through my head, I started to ball my eyes out. I felt like a part of my world had collapsed. A part of my heart had broken into a million of pieces, considering of how close I was with my cousins. Later in the morning my mother had left to go to Wisconsin for the funeral and my stepdads mom came to babysit us and get us ready to head off for school.

The girls were sound asleep in their beds, while my aunt was at work and my uncle Donnie was attending some funeral plans for his father who had just passed away. My aunt Tara had gotten a call to come home immediately. Their house got caught on fire, flames brazing everywhere throughout the house. Firefighters were everywhere, putting out the fiery flames to try to save the girls. Unfortunately it was too late, and my aunt’s world had changed completely that day.

As of this day we don’t know what exactly happened that caused the fire, but news reporters say it was just an old farmhouse and because of that something could have gone wrong with the electrical wiring. Others say that the storm the morning of could have been the cause of the problem too. Either way I wish it never had happened.

After this all happened I felt empty, my family had lost three very special people and it would take time to heal the pain in our hearts. I went to school, acted like everything was fine, but it wasn’t. I wasn’t in my sad phase anymore I was angry. I was so angry I would brush off everyone who would talk to my friends, my teachers, and me. I didn’t know how to cope with such a tragic loss. So one day I talked to my mom about it, and we looked through old pictures. She told me if I needed anyone to talk to I could always come to her. It felt good talking to someone about all these emotions brewing up inside. It took some time but I finally accepted that things have changed and no matter what I cant bring them back.

I’m seventeen now, and to this day it still hurts when March 22nd comes around. It’s been seven years, and I will never get over of what happened. I miss those girls every single day, but I’ve become a lot more excepting and I learned how to cope with the way things are. It’s made me become a stronger person and because of that I am very thankful for all the good times I spent with them before they passed, and those memories will be cherished in my heart for the rest of my life.