For those of you who don't know my story, I will share it here.
(Not to be all melodramatic, but it’s probably smart to grab some Kleenex before reading this.)
The evening of December 14, 2009, was like any other. I picked Ayllissa, my 12 year old stepdaughter, up from school on my way home from work. When I arrived at home a few minutes after 6:00, I was greeted with a flying tackle from my four year old, Joshua. He wrapped his arms and legs around me and yelled "I MISSED you today, Momma!!!!" and gave me a huge kiss. My husband, Charlie, was in the kitchen cooking dinner, Italian sausage, and macaroni and cheese. His mother, Karen, was in the living room with my 8 month old, Emma. When I walked into the living room (of course with Joshua attached to my leg), she started screeching in her walker, and banging on her toys. I leaned over to kiss her, and to greet her “Well, hello, my princess! How are YOU today??” And to my delight, she let out a “Mama!!!” It was the first time she had ever said my name, and it completely made my day. There was a fire roaring in the fireplace, something we delighted in having, since it was the first house we had ever lived in with one. (We had just moved into this house at the end of November. It had a huge yard, and was located in a quieter area than the house in the city we previously lived in.)
We all sat down at the table to eat dinner, and we finished around 8:00, so I sat Emma down with a bottle, Joshua curled up with his blanket, and Ayllissa went to her room to do her homework. Charlie, who had been running ragged the last few weeks, sat down on the couch to relax. Since everyone was occupied, I went to the kitchen to begin cleaning up the mess from dinner. In the meantime, Emma fell asleep on the couch, so I carried her up to her crib, and laid her down for the night. Joshua was starting to drift off, too, so after I knew Emma was deep asleep, I took him up. We went through our evening routine, which involved reading several books, and then giving him “animal kisses”. It was something that had started a few months before, he would name an animal, and I would give him the kind of kiss we thought it would give. Well, being a silly four year old, he quickly tired of the animals, and started calling out all sorts of things that made noise. For example, when he asked for a Lightning McQueen kiss, I would make a noise like a car revving, and zoom kisses all over his face. This one was his favorite, and he liked to get 4 or 5 different kisses each night. So, all of this went off smoothly, and I returned downstairs to get Ayllissa to bed, and to spend some time with Charlie. Charlie was half-asleep on the couch when I returned downstairs, and the fire had almost died out. I decided to check up on a few things online, before going to bed, since it was still kind of early, and I wasn’t really ready for bed yet. Around 10:00, I got super-tired, and woke Charlie up. I went upstairs to start getting ready for bed, and he stayed downstairs for a minute, to make sure the fire was out. We ended up going to bed around 10:30.
What I thought was quite awhile later; I woke up to what I assumed was Emma crying. She had been teething the last few days, and wasn’t sleeping well at night. So, I laid there and listened for a minute and heard nothing. A quick look at the clock told me it was somewhere around 12:20. I don’t remember the exact time. I thought to myself “Oh, great. Another one of THESE nights”. I had gotten so accustomed to getting up every few hours with Emma, that my body automatically woke up every couple hours, whether she was crying or not. So, I thought, “May as well use the bathroom, since I’m up anyway”. So, I got out of bed, and when I stood up, I felt really disoriented. I chalked it up to poor eating habits of the last few days. But then, I noticed how DARK it was in my room. It was never this dark, because there were streetlights outside. And mind you, all of this is happening all at once. This is only a matter of a few seconds from the time I stood up. I hadn’t even taken a breath yet. I know that because I remember very clearly the first breath I took. I took it as I began to step toward the doorway. And as soon as the air hit my mouth, I knew something was wrong, very wrong. It smelled HOT. Like how electronics get when they start to overheat. And the air hit my lungs like a brick, and I panicked. Fire has always been a HUGE fear of mine, and any small smell always made me flip out. So, I said “Charlie! Charlie, there’s something wrong!!” and even though I didn’t say it very loud, the panic in my voice must have cut through his deep sleep, because he immediately sprang out of bed. “Jesus Christ! Hit the floor! Get to the window!! NOW!” came out of his mouth as he ran for the door. I did what he said; I dropped to the floor and crawled as quickly as I could to the window. I was in shock. My worst nightmare had come to life, and my house was on fire.
I fumbled with the latch for a few moments – or likely seconds, but for the rest of this story, I am lost on the actual time it took for everything. I know the times that they told me later, but time meant nothing to me at this point. I was choking and gagging, and starting to get hysterical. I finally was able to fling the window open, and I leaned out it, took a breath of fresh air, and started screaming at the top of my lungs. “HELP! Someone PLEASE, HELP!! My BABIES!! I need HELP!!!” And I kept screaming and screaming, and hear my husband somewhere behind me, let out a terrible sound. It was like a half-scream, half … I don’t even know what. It was a very primal, guttural noise that scared the living hell out of me. I knew then, this was not going to end well. My neighbors had run out of their house, and were scrambling for ladders. One of them was getting a ladder for me, but everything was so horribly hot behind me, I thought the fire was in my room, and I knew I needed to get out of the window NOW. I was lowering myself out, when they got the ladder underneath me. I hit the ground, and they grabbed on to me. I saw Ayllissa come around the front of the house just then, white as a ghost, saying “MOM, what is HAPPENING???” to which I replied “I don’t know! The house…the house is on fire”.
(For the next section, I am going to tell it in present tense. I remember it all very clearly, and am going to write as it plays out in my mind)
Neighbors are coming up to me, asking me what the layout of the house is, where I thought Charlie was, where the kids were. I feel as if I am calm this whole time, while I am giving information, but I do believe I was in hysterics. I tell them which windows were the kid’s windows (Josh and Emma shared a room), and I can hear someone on the phone with 911. The woman who helped me out of the window is trying to get us up onto her porch, and I turn to look at the house. It’s a blazing inferno. Flames are shooting straight out of the windows on the front of the house, it was like nothing I have ever seen before. Christina, that’s the name of the woman who got the ladder for me, is slipping slippers onto my feet, and onto Ayllissa’s. I tell them I need a phone, I need to call my dad. They take me into their house, and I sit down on the couch and dial. It goes straight to voicemail. I dial my stepmom’s number. Same thing, straight to voicemail. I panicking this whole time, and I keep redialing, even though I am not getting anything different. I try to remember my brother’s number, surely he is still awake. But I can’t remember it. Thanks to technology, I read it once, stored it, and never saw it again. An idea occurs to me, and I dial my boss’s home number. I know he lives close, and he can keep trying to call Dad for me. I need to be there for my kids when they get out of the house. I get his wife on the phone, and am hysterical. She calms me as much as she can, as much as was needed to get the information she wanted. She’s telling me to hang in there, Brian is getting dressed, and he will be right there. She wants Dad and Sharon’s numbers, so that she can continue to try and call them for me.
I can hear sirens outside this entire time, and one of the neighbors, Jeremy, comes flying in the house to get their kids. The fire department is evacuating their house, since it’s so close to mine. They’re worried about it catching fire, too. We’re being escorted to another neighbor’s front yard. Blankets are being given to us, and the firefighters are there now, asking me all sorts of questions. “Where do you think your husband is??” “Where are the children?” One of them kicks in the front door, and is met with a rush of flames. “This isn’t a usable entrance! Is there a back entrance? A low roof?” All of these questions, and I still can’t get a hold of my Dad. And where is Charlie? He should be out of the house by now, where are the kids? A detective is in front of me now, telling me to have a seat in the back of his car. Ayllissa climbs in first, and I sit down next. I am dialing Charlie’s mom now, and I get his sister, Carol. I think I woke her up, because it was very difficult to try and get through to her what is happening. I look back at the house, and they pull a rescue truck in front of me, blocking my view of the house. The detective is asking me all sorts of things, too “What time did you go to bed” “Was there a fire in the fireplace” “what time did you wake up?” “What made you wake up?” And I’m trying to answer his questions, and talk to Carol all at once, and I look up, and see Brian. I hung up on Carol, since she’s not understanding me anyway. He looks at me and says “What’s going on, hon??” And I burst back into tears and tell him “Charlie and the kids …. They’re still inside. They haven’t gotten them out yet.” Brian glances at the house, which I still can’t see, and drops his head, and says “F**k…..” And I know then. There’s no way that anyone can have survived being in the house this long. I started coughing a lot, so they bring a paramedic over to me, and in my odd mental state, I think to myself “God, I hope Karyn is working this tonight. I need her.” And to my relief, when I look up, it IS Karyn. I say “Oh, thank God, Karyn!” and she looks at me like I’m a stranger. I say “It’s Amanda….” And still the same look. “Amanda Albright….” to which she says “Oh, Jesus Christ….” She hurries us over to what she referred to as “Billy’s rig”. Gets oxygen on both of us, and starts taking vitals. Ayllissa isn’t injured, and she’s not coughing much. I am soot covered, and I feel as though my hair is completely singed. I can hear Brian on the phone with someone “……be careful, it’s very slippery out.” and within a few minutes, my friend Laura and her sister Cheryl showed up. In the meantime, I look at Karyn, and ask her where my kids are. And she tells me that they kids are no longer in the house, and that they are still searching for Charlie, but the fire is really bad, and they can’t see in there. I ask her where my kids are. And she tells me to wait for the detective. I tell her I’m NOT waiting for a detective. I remind her that she was one of my best friends all through high school, and if I have to hear what I think I have to hear, I want it to be from her. And she tears up, and tells me that she’s not the appropriate person to tell me, it’s against protocol. I ask her again, “Where are my kids?” And she looks me dead in the eye, and says “They’re in my bus.” Even though I knew, knew deep inside from the moment I heard Charlie’s cry, that this was how this night was going to turn out, it hit me like a ton of bricks. And I simply say “And you’re not….”. She’s crying now, and is telling me that she tried, she tried so hard, but there was nothing to bring back. That the kids had been gone for quite awhile. In the middle of this, the detective shows up. He realizes that I’ve already been notified about the children, and he makes a notation in his notepad. 1:40am, I see him write. Has it really only been a little over an hour? I would have guessed it was almost dawn by now. He looks at me, and says “Ma’am, I finally have some news for you. The firefighters have located your husband. But it’s too late for anything to be done.” And it’s at this point, that I don’t remember many details. I remember going hysterical, and then they took us to the hospital.
At some point in the evening, I was told that the State Police were being sent to Dad’s house. No one can find a phone number for Charlie’s dad in Oscoda, so troopers are being sent there, as well. Brian had called Carol, and finally gotten through to her what happened. Everyone’s been notified, or is in the process of being notified. And I am there, feeling completely dead inside, as my entire life was burned away in just a few hours.
There are more things that I would like to share about that night, and the things that happened in the next few days, and I will be posting blogs about them.
For those of you who would like more information, please visit the following links:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/21973976/detail.html
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/woman-talks-about-tragic-house-fire
http://www.journal-news.com/news/nation-world-news/man-2-children-die-in-michigan-house-fire-449348.html
