I want to talk about today.
Today at 02.00 in the morning, I suddenly wake up. Not because the sound of the alarm or a kick from my deep-slept daughter. I suddenly awaken by nothing and smelt a distinguished burnt smell - plastic. I was half-awaken half-asleep, due to thirty minutes before, I still cleaning up my son's ass due to his diarrhea. He also had a distinguished fever too and seems weakened by it on the day prior. I get out from the bed slowly, and rechecking every nook of the apartment that might producing the stinging smell. My first suspect was our white small vacuum cleaner that kept being charged overnight - it was unplugged and resting beautifully behind the bookshelf. I try to look on every electrical sockets on the wall, nothing seems and smells wrong - they working as usual. I opened the sliding door to the balcony, expecting there's someone out there burning tires or something made of plastic and slips the pungent aroma inside - the air that night is clear and fresh.
I want to check the corridor outside. But as I reached the door handle, I hesitate myself. I retreated.
At first I think everything were fine, it's just my nose acting weird or it might just because the leaks of the dream I had before, which I totally didn't remember what it is.
Then I walked out again to the balcony, and shift my vision down below, to the entrance area.
People gathered. Some were shouting something. Commotion happened down below. There must be something going on. And my first idea was "ah the fire alarms are acting up again, waking everyone up."
Then I decided to open my apartment door that leads to the corridor and the elevator.
Faint white mist hovering on the corridor, and as I opened our door, some slithered in, reaching the open air through our unit, passing the sliding door to the balcony and to the open wild.
There's fire in the building.
I wake up my wife and our helper. "There's fire". My wife grab my son while I grab my daughter.
I learned and believe when there's fire, we can't use elevator to go down to the ground floor - there is a huge possibility that it just fuck the machinery. I order my family to stay at the balcony for a while, especially for the kids. The fine white mists of smoke now vigorously slithering inside to our unit, making it like several years prior when I'm still alone, vaping endlessly, creating a hazy fine white mist inside the unit. Back then, it was the aroma of sweet, now it was burnt plastic.
The fine white mists slowly turned more grey as the time goes by. My wife panic and called his brother. My sister called in also in panic, but she still had his boyfriend at her place, so I said just rely on him. I need my head straight for my own family up here.
I panic inside. I just don't want them to know that. As I wrote this, just a few minutes ago, a siren of firefighter can be heard in the distance. I also still had that jittery on my body.
When there's a smoke, then there's a fire. We wanting to go down to the ground floor with emergency stairs, and as our helper opened the separator door to the main corridor, thick grey smokes bursting in, hitting her and my wife face real good, giving them coughs. Some already linger and slithering through our unit wanting to escape.
We can't run through the main corridor to reach the emergency stairs, we had children. If it's just only me and my wife and our helper, we can just run it through. But the children, they are my main concern. They still need us to be kept safe. And we still don't know the source of the fire and where the fire breaks.
We got informations from my in-law (my wife's brother) that the fire breaks at the lower level. While we are at the pent, no wonder the smokes rushes up. My sister called me, said that the elevator can be used to go down. I hesitate for a while, and after asking my wife readiness to use the elevator, we went through.
We safely reached the ground floor. the time was 02.40-ish or something like that. I don't remember shit. All inside my head is my family is safe. My sister and his boyfriend already there, she mad at me because I took things too easy.
We waited for several hours, even the time for iftar is coming. I drank a bit of water for my suhoor meal - I know I can survive with it because that what I usualy takes. And slowly, but surely, my wife having panic attack.
She panic and panic and she went black-out. Her brother trying to waken her up. People offers oxygen can and wheelchairs. I rejected them because I know she will waking up soon and back to her normal. But this is different. She took more time to regain strength. She didn't lost her consciousness - she can heard everything that we said, she just lost all her strength on her body.
Eventually I asked for a oxycan, wheelchair and ultimately ambulance to the nearest hospital. Our daughter's scared for her mother, and she started to cry. Our son cried as we climbed up the taxi that come through - the ambulance took way more time to arrive.
We left my wife's water bottle on the floor as our taxi went, along with our children cries fainting and emerging with the machine roars.
We went to the nearest emergency, and she got the treatment. Turn out while we try to entering the taxi, she can't breathe at all - she felt like everything swollen up on her throat. She believe this is her final time.
Our children were safe and sound in my sister's unit. The elevator that brought us down, which right after we arrive at the ground being turned off, turned back on again and people went back to their units. I called my mother three things : there's fire in our apartment building; me, my wife and her brother are at the hospital due to her short breath, her grandchildren are safe on their aunty's unit.
Things are better. My wife slowly calm, but her lab checks indicate that her potassium's level is below normal, that might be the trigger of her blackout. She refuse to became an inpatient - she want's to see and belong with her children. She just want to go home.
At the time we at the hospital, a man rushed in. By his voice, a senior citizen with acute short breath. He was nebulised and his family arrived. His wife cried and cried. The Doctor in charged spoke to one of his family member. We don't want to hear any single convo they had, but it happened next to us. Only separated by quite thick layer of curtain and intensively beeping sound of heartbeat monitor.
My wife's infuse solution took the last drop as the beeping on the next bed getting louder and shouts and clamoring happening. I went out to the administration, and finalized the payment. And as I walked back in, the situation next curtain are more that before. Me, my wife and my in-law decided we leave the room. I can see the unsettling feeling on both of them, while for me, I had a flashback when my grandmother was at her last minutes.
I gather the prescribed meds for my wife at the second floor, and as I went down to meet them, I also heard commotions.
Across the room from us, the family of the man next to us were taking seats. The familiar voice of his wife breaks with cries, a man that I assumed was his son, keeping her accompanied while texting and calling through his phone, his grandchild was sitting down on nearby couch. Our taxi arrived, and we left the hospital with a faint knowledge that a person next to us, presumably passed away.
We arrived at our apartment, saying thank you and goodbye to my in-law for his help and assistance, seeing our children and they taking a long meaningful hug to my wife, especially our daughter that been scared as hell something happen to her mother. My mom arrived several minutes later, with foods. None of us are taking the fast except me and my mom. Then me and my wife took our son to the doctor to cure his diarrhea (which amazingly having such speedy recovery later this day thanks to the meds the Doctor gave to him), and we went back to our unit until now.
As this post is written, my wife, my son and my daughter are fast asleep. I don't think I can sleep tonight. After hearing the distance-siren of the firefighter, and the paranoia I still had on me - all the what ifs, I don't think I will. My wife said she had the trauma - I said try to ease up on yourself. While myself, I don't think nighttime will be the same from now on.
I took double dose of neurobion forte to ease my self up. I think it won't work.