Humans of LPHS: Lauren Parker

“On Monday September 25, at three in the morning, I woke up to my house in flames. I remember grabbing my cell phone and the blanket I sleep with every night and running out of my room. Looking at the back of my house on fire had to be one of the scariest moments of my life. As soon as I opened up my bedroom door, I was slapped in the face with heavy clouds of smoke. I went to grab my cat, Mak, but he ran away from me. I knew I did not have much time to sit in my house; I knew my family and I had to get out. I went to the front door and unlocked it, running out towards the street. My parents did not follow me out, so I started running back towards my house looking for them. They were standing in the center of my burning living room with panic in their eyes. I screamed at them, saying ¨What are you guys doing? You need to get out!¨

We all then ran out of the front door and stood in the middle of the street with no shoes on, half-awake, and watching as our entire home with all of our belongings burning. I look back on that night every second I get a chance to be alone with my thoughts. I wish I was able to save my cats, none of my things survived in my room after all of the smoke and water damage, and I think about how lucky I am to have my mom and dad. This night changed my life forever in many ways. I can no longer light a candle anywhere near me because I get worried it will catch anything around me on fire, I think about how lucky I am to be alive and how lucky I was to make it out in time, and most of all, I think about how life is so short, and you never know when your last day could be. I am so much more thankful for my parents. Without them, during everything that has happened to me, I don’t know how I would have done it. Most importantly, I learned that stop, drop, and roll actually doesn´t work, that actually having batteries in your smoke detectors is important, and that family is the most important thing.”