Smoky Morning

4.00 am:

Cant sleep properly. Slept too much during the day.

*Footsteps on the stairs* .

Haish, they’re at it again ( drunk people ) . There goes our shoes ( it will be thrown off the stairs)

Too frightened to peek out , thought i was a defenseless, weak woman.

Who are they? – We always thought it was the tenants from upstairs, exams just finished, they attended Oktoberfest, and the serials of shoe throwing incidents happened when they started moving in. Besides, who else have the key to front door?

4. 05 am:

Fire alarm went off.

Argghhh. Its 4 in the morning dammit. Thought it was another drunken masterpiece and decided to ignore it, albeit unsuccesfully. Probably beared it for 10 minutes or so.

4.15 am:

Priya was woken up by the fire alarm. Now only have the courage to go out as well.

“What was that?”

” I dunno, it happened last semester once, but it was during the day, and it was a  prank. But never at this godly hour..”

Opened the blinds. Heart skipped a beat.

“Shit. Oh God, theres SMOKE!”

Hurriedly opened the door. Priya ran out to check out the situation.

“FARAH! Get your stuff! We gotta run.”

Grabbing fiasco ensued. Grabbed wallet. Grabbed jacket. Laptop? No time.

Ling. We’ve forgotten about Ling.

Knocked hard on Ling’s room before barging in.

” Run, get ur stuff ,”

Actually had the time to put on boots. Temperature was bone chillingly cold in the minus twenties.

Tried knocking on next door’s neighbour. No answer. Come on…come on… come on.. open the bloody doOOR!!

I’m sorry, gotta move.

Smoke too heavy couldnt even see the front door. Wondered about the yellow powder lining up the staircase. . Powder instantly recognized as the stuff inside fire extinguishers. Someone had tried to put out a fire. It was not hot, why? Why smoke heavy on the ground not up? Where is the fire?

Smoke smells awful, but no carbon smell. Why? Shit , couldn’t breath.

“To the hotel!” exclaimed Priya, bringing me back to reality. So priya’s in slippers and shorts, in the minus twenties cold.

Hilton receptionist let us in andd we persuade him to call the Fire Department.

” Can you just please come to 543 Sherbrooke East, across Berri. There’s smoke everywhere, i dunno…, there’s just smoke everywhere, can you just please come??”

Wow, Priya is actually shaking.

Ling and I decided to inform the landlord one block away. Encountered the two Spanish Guys upstairs only in PJ’s staggering outside.

“How did you guys woke up?”

” Well, i smelt smoke in my sleep!”

“We tried to wake our neighbours up opposite to us, but they didnt answer.”

They gave me a disbelieving you-dont-even-wake-us-up?-what-if-I-didnt-smell-the-smoke kinda look.

Decided to not divulge the truth that we suspected that they were the culprit all along.

Spanish Guy A started to broke into run towards the landlord house.

“IT IS F****ING COLDD!!”

He was only in PJ’s.

Spanish Guy B said ” I rescued everything”

He only brought his camcorder.

Firemen squad with three tanks in tow roll over. Meanwhile, me and Spanish guys arrived at landlord house only to found that it was locked and no one answered the bell.

“OPEN THE DOOOOR!! I NEED TO GET IN!!< ITS TOO COLDDD!!”

Spanish Guy A is reaallly freezing. I felt really sorry. It was a very, very cold night, morning.

**********

Probably the most interesting part of the incident was how efficient Priya at times of crisis ( it was a marvel to see her work), due to the fact she was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that someone tried to burn down our place.

Actually, the most interesting part was when one of the firemen armed with an axe, looking all heroic and ready to face any locked doors slipped when going up our staircase. Such paradox.

No, the most interesting part was how the neighbours opposite our unit woke up when the firemen woke them up, got out fully clothed in scarf and boots and skullcaps.

Well, come to think of it, the most interesting part was how the two Spanish guys that we suspected behind all the malice that our shoes have to go through all this while turned out to be false. And they left another roommate in their apartment. ” I hope he’s safe”, they said.

Interestingly too, i left my passport, and pondered wether to save my laptop instead.

Another interesting thought was i am hopeless at crucial moments. I started thinking too much and contemplated too much.

Priya went to see the landlord. The landlord assured that it had happened before at his hotel and no, nobody was trying to kill anyone and yes, a new lock will be installed at the front door. She doesn’t want to move out anymore now shes assured that her life is no longer in  immediate peril.

Ling has a Math Analysis exam next morning, poor her.

I went back to sleep and woke up at 11.00 am.

P/s : Bye Montreal. My new semester is screwed.