Home Invader Short Story

The home Invader
When I think of home the first word that pops into my head is safe. This particular night my home was anything but safe. It felt invaded, the safety of my house felt taken from me. Yet it was standing right in front of me, all was well with it, until that night. The night that seemed to change everything for the eight year old me. It seemed like nothing could ever be the same. I was so paranoid that I would never be able to sleep again, because of what happened right inside my home. I can remember thinking if I could ever get over this, would home ever feel safe again. It was early April of 2008, just like any other Wednesday for our family. We had a routine day of school, followed by a normal Wednesday night church. The only thing I can remember that was different was my dad (who is the pastor at our church) had a meeting afterwards. Which caused him to get home later than usual. The ride home was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact nothing unusual even occurred until everyone was home, almost ready to sleep. I was sitting in my room as I, …show more content…
My dad checked out the door leading to the garage. He touched it and hissed in pain at the heat up against his bare hand. Then he opened it, to my horror the smoke barreled inside to our home. Nothing I could tell myself could waver my belief. The house was on fire and we needed to get out now. I sprinted up the stairs in a panic, telling my other brothers “the house is on fire we need to leave now!” Thoughts ran through my head rapidly. I could not decide what to do first. Just run out or grab objects that are important to me. My mom directed my panicky eight year old self out the front door into the crisp chilly night air. My brothers followed, but one ran back inside as we had forgotten about the cat. We all fled the house and ended up standing next to the street in our winter coats, watching the large cloud of smoke that hovered above our house, even visible in the black