They lit bonfires every year but for her, it was never enough.
Margaret Cole blows into her handkerchief, exhaling softly through her nose. They were more than heroes, they were legends.
And to think she lost two men in her life that day.
It was the sixteenth of July just like today.
She'd woken up like every other day to wash her dad's car and prepare his favourite meal; scrambled eggs and toast.
Her baby sister, Meredith, was snoring softly in the room adjacent to hers. She was only a four-year-old with jet-black, bouncy curls then. Now she's almost Margaret's height, her straight hair sitting prettily on her waist.
Everything had seemed perfect that day. Until 6pm.
She'd just returned from picking her sister up from daycare. Her dad wouldn't be back till 7, so she decided to prepare macaroni and cheese for Meredith while she had a quick bowl of oats.
She'd need to bathe her sister and read her a story so she could concentrate on editing promotional videos for her company, but while Meredith sat over her plate of Mac and cheese, she heard a shriek for help.
Asking Meredith to sit still, she’d ventured outside to see what was going on, then she saw it. A blazing furnace was literally sparking up two houses away from hers.
She rushed back into the house to call her dad. He wasn't picking up. Her dad only never took her calls when he was driving.
In panic, she decided to reach out to Daniel, her best friend who lived two blocks away.
Luckily, Daniel responded and asked her to leave the house as soon as possible.
“But what about everything in the house? Dad's work documents? Our school certificates?” She'd asked. She could already hear that chaos was brewing outside and people had begun running helter skelter.
“Just leave it, Mag. The most important thing is that you can get out of there with Meredith without getting hurt.”
So she did as he advised. Sometimes, she wonders what would've happened if she'd done things differently.
“Maggie?” Margaret wipes her eyes and turns around to give Meredith a huge smile. She promised never to cry in front of her sister.
“Hey! I thought you were with your girls”
Meredith shrugs. “I was. They just got annoying”
Margaret raises a brow. “Joan and Jessica never annoy you. What happened?”
She shakes her head, a distant look in her eyes. Margaret knows that look. She's hurt.
“They said they can't understand why we have to honor this stupid tradition every year.”
“It's not a stupid tradition, Mer. Daniel and our father gave up their lives to save us.”
She nods. “I know. I told them.” She huffs in frustration. “If it weren't for dad neither of them would be alive today.”
She's right. After Margaret left the house with her sister that evening, her father returned home from work. When he saw the chaos in the neighborhood, he called her back.
“Dad! Are you okay?” She'd asked. She had a sleeping Mer on her back, on foot to Daniel's.
“Yes baby. Where are you girls? The entire neighborhood is covered in smoke and there's panic everywhere.”
“I called Daniel, I'm on my way to him. I needed to get Mer out of there so I could return for our certificates.”
“Great, great. Once Mer’s out of danger, I need you to call the cops. I heard fire service are on their way….”
There was a loud scream over the phone. It wasn't her dad though, but it was too close by to be ignored. Margaret's dad hung up and went to check it out.
She knew her dad was okay so she headed straight for Daniel's. When she had Mer tucked in by Daniel's mom, she immediately wanted to hurry back home but Daniel stopped her.
“Meredith would need you when she wakes up. I'll make sure to get your certificates out.” He promised.
That was the last time she saw him alive.
He'd gone and not finding her father, went into the smoke filled house himself. He took out every single document and certificate he could find, but he didn't make it.
The smoke did a lot of damage to his lungs and after receiving treatment for three months, he gave up on his life.
Margaret wipes the corners of her eyes as her gaze falls on the twins.
Her father died for them. They were both trapped in the nursery and no one could get them out because the door was jammed. He went over, broke the window and climbed in.
He handed both of them to their mother through the window but before he could climb back out, the house exploded with him in it.
Her dad and Daniel had died so she, the twins and Meredith could have good lives. Even if she was the last person who believed in it, she'd make sure that every year, she'd be remembering the fallen.
“Come on, let's go home.” She says quietly to her sister.
Interlocking their fingers, Margaret and Meredith bow their heads to the pictures placed on either side of the bon fire, then head on home.
Image is not mine
