Arson Attack

It was Sunday. Yes, I was in the office on Sunday doing my work when suddenly there was an explosion, followed by a blackout. The main switch had tripped and the emergency lights were on. There was a strong burning smell resulted by the explosion.

Upon inspection, the explosion was caused by the wiring of one of the fluorescent light. Well for me, it was not uncommon to experience such explosion.

I gazed upon the fluorescent tube and caught sight of orange flickers. The orange flickers too seemed like the harmless orange flickers in any fluorescent tube during start-ups.

Then second thought came to me: there should not be any orange flickers since the electricity had been cut off – where had this flicker come from? I became more suspicious and I strained my eyes to find out what exactly was happening.

Much to my horror, I saw flame, yes flame and the flame was spreading at an alarming speed. The psychologist would tell you that when a man was pressured, he would either fight or flight. That was proven true as I did think of running for my life because I was at a loss.

Fire extinguisher came to my mind but it was last serviced in year 2004 and we had just finished celebrating New Year 2010. I knew I must act fast or the whole office would be engulfed by the blaze that was started off by the explosion.

Water, I must get water. I grasped my water tumbler in one hand and considering my height, a chair in the other. Standing on the chair, I splashed on the flame with the little water that I had.

With God’s grace, the flame was successfully extinguished with a hiss. Still standing on the chair, I peeped into the opening for quite some time to ensure that the flame would not return.

Though the flame was insignificantly small but it had shaken me up, made its presence felt and left its burning mark on the ceiling. I was glad I survived another challenge. And reflecting on the incident, I hope I would be like the flame, in the positive sense, though I am insignificantly small and my life is short, I would be able to make the best out of it, imparting love, impacting lives, and leave a mark in people’s hearts.

(Note: Water is not encouraged to be used if the electricity is not cut off.)