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Pavel Pavlov, 17 years old, is participating in the 6th International Literary Creation Competition, from Sofia, Bulgaria. He is guided by Prof. Nina Markova, 33 High Language School Saint Sofia. We are grateful for the participation and wish him success.

THE HEROES OF THE NEW TIME

I woke up, it was a dark night, and in the silence I could hear the sound of breaking windows. Mom got up and opened the window, looked outside and it seemed to her that the garbage truck had stopped. I smelled something burning and thought that someone had burned tires again. Then suddenly thick smoke came from the left side of the window. Mom got scared and immediately closed the window. We ran into the living room to wake up Dad, but then I saw that a lot of smoke was coming from the open balcony.  

Mom and I ran to the front door to ring the neighbors, because we thought the smoke was coming from their apartment. But when we opened the door, thick smoke also came in. We immediately closed the door and ran into the room, where we locked ourselves.

We were very scared, trapped on the top of a nine-storey building. We didn’t know what was going to happen, where the smoke was coming from, or how to get out. We were very scared because we didn't know what was going on, what this smoke was from, why it was coming from both sides of the apartment, or how to get out. We were on the top floor of a (nine-storey building) 9th floor building. We couldn't get out through the windows, we didn't know how to get through the door in the dark through the thick smoke without suffocating, nor where the fire was, whether we would be able to get down to the first floor.     We couldn’t get out through the windows, and we didn’t know how to get through the door in the dark – through the thick smoke without suffocating, nor did we know where the fire was or whether we would be able to get down to the first floor. 

We were trapped, and the uncertainty of what was happening made us even more afraid.

I told my mother, trembling, that I didn't want to die, but she didn't answer me. For the first time, she didn't try to calm me down, because she didn't know if we would be able to save ourselves.

The apartment filled with smoke, we started opening the windows and breathing in air with our mouths open, then we quickly went home, because thick smoke was coming in from there again. My father was walking around the apartment and didn't know what to do. My mother tried to go into the bathroom for wet towels, but as soon as she opened the door, she saw thick smoke and immediately closed it.

Now the only place where we were hiding, my room, began to fill with smoke and that's when we really panicked.

We were running out of air. The horror of the fire was taking over us. The feeling was terrifying. We were trapped, from which there seemed to be no escape.

And then we heard my father calling us. He had opened the door to the apartment and was talking to a firefighter. He was telling him to get out of the apartment.

It was very dark, we couldn't see anything, the smoke had penetrated everywhere. Mom had wet towels that we held in front of our faces so that we wouldn't suffocate, and thanks to them we managed to get out of the apartment.

Then in the dark the Fireman appeared, wearing a gas mask and a flashlight, and took me by the hand and led me down the stairs. A few floors down the smoke had cleared, so he went back for my mother and father.

We were saved, we were already outside and breathing. Then we saw that an entire apartment on the first floor had burned to the ground, the windows had broken from the fire, but people had been saved, it was full of firefighters and on both sides of the block they were extinguishing the fire, there were police and ambulances. They examined us because of the smoke we had inhaled, and everyone in the block was already outside and saved.   

I will never forget that night and my hero – THE FIREMAN.