Almost Burnt Alive

One hot day of August, I was left home all alone. I decided to go to my next door neighbor so she could teach me how to light a fire. I hated summer and I hated visiting my grandparents in the summer just because of all the animal work we did for almost three months. It wasn’t even a secret anymore. They all knew but I had no choice.

My neighbor’s daughter was the same age as me. I must be fifteen years old back then with a slim body and long black hair tied tightly in a ponytail. I happily entered her house and I saluted her politely. She was busy
working and did not seem very happy to see me. It was a weird family I must say and very secretive. If you were not welcomed, they wouldn’t bother hiding it. At times they would
completely ignore and leave you all alone to play in another room. I never wanted to go to their place but I had no choice because my grandmother would force me to go anyway since they were kind of related. In fact, my grandmother would take me to their house and say, “here is my granddaughter, play with her too”. As a teenager, it used to be the most awkward moment for me because I preferred to be all alone at home and play with my puppy and dolls instead of spending time with these children and feeling left out.

However, this time I went there myself because I wanted her to teach me how to light the fire as I wanted to cook lunch for my family. “Monica, can you please teach me how to light a fire?” I asked the girl. She must be happy that I wasn’t asking for much so she taught me.

I stood in front of the blazing stove in the summer outside the house attempting to light fire. I nicely arranged the cobs first then some tiny pieces of wood on top and I tried lighting them. It didn’t work. Then I dipped it in gas and the cob caught fire a little but immediately extinguished. I bravely took the entire gas bottle in my hands and I splash it into the extinguished fire.

A huge flame came out of the stove right towards my face. I only had half a second to turn to a side and cover my face with one hand. Part of my chin was burned, my left hand and my left leg too. My ponytail didn’t escape the ill fate either. I screamed sharply and jumped off my chair.

I instantly felt my leg and hand on fire and a burning sensation was eating me inside out. I ran into her house, took the ten liter bucket filled with water and poured it onto my head. For two minutes the burning disappeared since the water was cold. I was screaming in pain nevertheless I ran out of her place and wanted to call my grandmother home. She knew what to do. She always had her empirical remedies that helped. I could hear Elena, another girl, laughing behind me while I was desperately running, but she probably didn’t understand what was going on.

The summer heat was burning my leg even more. I was feeling the burning sensation on all of my left side but the leg was overpowering all the other pain. There was a fountain In front of my house, so I immediately threw a bucket inside and attempted to take some water out. Oh God! I wasn’t good at that either. The bucket came out empty and I felt like I was burning alive. I threw it in again, and after the third attempt, I got half bucket of water. 

In my head I was thinking of ways to bring my grandmother home as soon as possible since it was only noon and she would stay until dawn on the field. An idea ran through my head. I threw some water on my leg, ran into the house, took a towel to soak it in water, wrapped it around my leg and ran to my brother who was out with the cows half way from where my grandma was with Monica’s brother.

Running faster than ever as if I was running for a marathon, I reached my brother and I told him to go and tell grandma that I burned myself and to come home as soon as she can. He didn’t know the seriousness of the burn, so when my grandmother asked him how bad I  was burned, he said, “Ahh not bad. There is just a little redness”.

I ran back at home even faster than before because I needed cold water since my leg began to sting me more and more as the towel warmed in the sun. I don’t think I have ever felt worst than that day.

My grandmother eventually arrived home at dawn and when she saw the burn, I thought she would faint and I will have to rescue her too. She immediately prepared her magic potion and in two minutes, the pain was almost gone.

Sigh. I was left with a big mark on my left leg and my hand for nearly ten years but it faded slowly. Luckily, the face was not affected much so no marks were left there. With time the marks have almost disappeared, but the memory is still alive, and the thought that it could have been worst makes me shudder. The moral of the story is to never underestimate anything and believe your children when they tell you something. Most importantly, never light fire using different methods that we are used to today in our daily lives all by yourself or with only children around.