Shannon turned on her heel and ran out into the street. She stopped and had turned back toward the house when a loud explosion erupted from the rear. "Oh my God!" Shannon yelled. She started to run around to the side of the house but huge flames were shooting outwards and upwards from the area where her back porch had been. "Mom, Dad!" she screamed into the night. Shannon couldn't see anything in the wreckage and she almost caught herself on fire when a man's arms grabbed her from behind. "Stop!" he yelled in her ear. "The fire truck will be here any minute!" Shannon tried to wrestle her way out of the man's arms but he held on to her tight and pulled her backwards away from the house.
A crowd started to form near the Opportunity Shop and the sound of sirens could be heard from where Shannon stood. They whined louder and louder until they appeared on the street before her house. It seemed like total chaos had broken out as the firemen raced with their hoses to the rear of the house. Another fireman ran to the front of the neighbor's house and attached the hose to the fire hydrant. In a few moments the men had a large fountain of water pointed at her back porch and they wrestled the snake of a hose in an effort to control the blaze.
The sheriff wasn't soon far behind and he arrived with the lights on the top of his car flashing. Thankfully, he had his siren off and the growing crowd dispersed to allow him to park his car close to the house. "Where's the O'Reillys?" he asked the fire chief. Shannon stared at him and knew he would be turning to face her any moment. "I don't know where the other two are," and he nodded towards Shannon. She knew the two men were talking about her parents. Her mind started to race and she thought it just wasn't possible that they were actually in that fire. It wasn't possible to have this many bad things happen in rapid succession.
The chief pointed at Shannon and the Sheriff made eye contact with her. He purposefully strode up to her and the man who was now holding her close. "I'll take it from here Fred. The man who had been holding her was their next-door neighbor, Mr. Bickham. He slowly let go of her and turned away with tears filling his eyes. Shannon was left standing alone in the side yard of her house staring at the blaze as if in a trance.
