Ripped Apart

Alex ran down the stairs towards his father, shrieking in delight. He ran into his father’s arms, his sister Prudence giggling behind him, rushed into daddy’s arms also. Joshua held his kids tight, inhaling the heady scent of childhood. He had been away for a trip abroad for one week, and had missed them terribly.  He looked up at Tania as she stood at the head of the stairs. Their eyes sent unspoken messages as she unconsciously rubbed her protruding belly. She was the most beautiful woman in his eyes. He was glad to be home.

Tania walked down the aisle of the supermarket slowly, pushing a nearly empty trolley. For some unknown reason, she had been having a feeling of unease and couldn’t concentrate on her shopping. She could feel a sense of foreboding, and was really worried. Her phone rang,
and she looked at the screen, it was her mother.
“Good evening mama”
“Good evening Tania, how are you”
“I’m fine ma. I called you earlier”
“yes. I was in church. Tania how is your prayer life? you need to be very prayerful.  In church today, we were told to pray for our daughters that are pregnant, and inform them to pray for theirselves too”
“ Ok ma. You know I don’t joke with my prayer life. That is all I have got ma.”
“Very good. How is Joshua and my grandkids?”
“they are fine. We plan on coming over on Saturday”
“ good. I am looking forward to that. Your father says hi”
“Ok ma. Say hello to him too”

Joshua looked up from his computer to see his wife looking at him, with a smile on her face.  He shook his head and laughed at her. Since this third pregnancy, she had always been like a mother hen, to him and the kids. Just the other day, Prudence had told her that she counted how many hugs she received from her that day, and came up with seventeen. She went on to tell her that not all mummies hug their children and that she loved mummies hugs. Joshua was a little bothered with her worrying. She had told him that she was having a sense of foreboding, and knowing his wife, he took her feelings very seriously. He was counting down to the arrival of the baby, hoping it was simply a strong case of pregnancy hormones.

Tania carressed Alex’s face as he slept. Noting how much he looked like his father. He gently sucked on his thumb, and Tania wondered how long it would be until he dropped that habit, and picked up sucking his lower lip like his father does.  A small frown creased his brows, and Tania smoothened it out. Even as a toddler, Alex had the demeanor of a man. His grandfather always said he was born old. Tania gently closed the door, and breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn’t roused him. Going into Prudence’s room, was always an indication that at eight, Prudence already knew how to get whatever she wanted from her father. As a result, she had a room fit for a princess,which she always declared she was. Her sleeping form was tangled with her disney princess duvet and her toes were peeping out. Tania knew without a doubt that her daughter had taken most of her characteristics from her. Even up to what Josh fondly calls “sleeping battle”.  Tania was one of those people who slept like they were in battle, and could wake up almost under the bed. She gently untangled Prudence and tucked her in properly, knowing it was a futile effort.

Josh felt guilty, for leaving Tania and the kids at the resort, but it was an emergency. He drove like a mad man, towards the office. It was Saturday, but he had received an urgent call from his boss, informing him that he was needed at the office for some damage control. Apparently, their competition had gained an unknown advantage over them, and they were beginning to lose clients. Losing clients means losing money and that’s were Josh came in. He is the troubleshooter for the company. After about  45minutes, he got to the lobby of the office, where a small crowd was gathered staring at the large screen television.  BREAKING NEWS:  FIRE AT THE HIBISCUS RESORT. The headline jumped out at him and he could feel the blood rush into his head.

Tania smelled smoke, and she was alert immediately. She remembered that Josh had had to leave earlier that morning, some emergency at the office. She got up from the bed, she could barely see in front of her. She reached out for her phone, and it clattered to the ground. She could not bend to reach it, and she needed to get to the kids who were asleep in another room. She carefully made her way towards the door to the living room that separated both rooms. She bumped against a table, and burst into a coughing fit. She could hear panic from other residents of the resort, and then she heard Alex crying. Adrenalin spurred her on and she got the door to their room open.  No time to waste she thought to herself. “Alex, Prudence!” she called out. The smoke had gotten worse in the less than one minute since she woke up.  Prudence was coughing uncontrollably, and Alex was crying. She got to their bed using her hands to feel around her. She thought about how they could leave the building. They were on the ninth floor. She tried to remember anything she could, on surviving a fire. She tried consoling the children
“ Mummy what is happening” Alex asked
“Are we going to die? Is there a fire” Prudence asked
“Let us try getting into the bathroom” Tania said.
The heat was becoming very unbearable and the screams around them was even worse. The smell of burning flesh was nostalgic. Then Prudence slumped. Tania screamed, and Alex started crying even louder than before . We can’t die here Tania thought to herself, as the curtains burst into flames. She tried waking Prudence up, but she remained still and lifeless. Tania's chest constricted, she could barely see around them, and Alex started wailing.
“Alex, mummy loves you. Daddy loves you too”. Tania said coughing
“Is Prudence sleeping” Alex asked still crying.
Tania dragged Prudence’s body from the bed, to the floor, the tiles were scorching hot. Then she slowly dragged her, using a blanket towards the bathroom, hoping it wasn’t on fire yet. After what seemed like an eternity, she felt the bathroom door. She tried opening it, but it won’t budge. All around them the flames were getting closer, and she was sweating like she was going to melt. She struggled with the door, and it finally gave way. The smoke from the bathroom hit her, and she fell in. Alex fell with her, as she had held on to him with one hand.
“Mummy wake up…. Wake up mummy please.. Please mummy. Prudence  stop playing wake up. Please” Alex sobbed , hitting both of them. Tania jerked awake and held Alex in her arms. Then she knelt down, and wrapped the blanket around Alex, crying uncontrollably. She looked at the lifeless body of her daughter and shivered at the thought of burning to death. Then she thought of her husband and she was glad he wasn’t here.  She wondered how he would face the reality of losing them, and her heart broke for him. We are going to die in here, she thought to herself as death stared her in the face. She held her belly as she felt her baby move.
Alex looked up at his mother, tears in his eyes.
“I don’t want to die mummy. Where is daddy? Is Prudence dead?  will I die?” he asked.
“shhh” Tania replied,
And she sang him a lullaby, wondering how her epitaph would read, and thinking of the love of her life.

The death toll was 293, and most of the corpses were burnt beyond recognition. Joshua looked ahead of him, seeing nothing. He wished he had died with them. He was inconsolable, and could not take the innocent faces of his family off his mind. He sat by their graves and wept. Life had lost its savour and his dreams were filled with agony. Sometimes he dreamt that he was burning. Those dreams didn’t haunt him. The dreams that haunt him, are the ones were he could hear them screaming as they burnt. He could feel this heart being ripped out of his chest, he continually asked why he was spared, why he was ripped apart from his family, why death let him go. He pulled on his beard, and continued his mantra. “ I died with you” he said, over and over.


Death is a reality. It is a certainty that comes with being born. Cherish the time you have with your loved ones, every moment counts. Do not take life for granted.....