• Kenzie saw smoke in the distance. “There must be a fire.” Blake said with little sympathy. Blake never had sympathy for anything. Even when Kenzie found her dog with a broken leg lying in the road, she always found something to laugh at. This didn't always make her a good friend. But she was like a sister to Kenzie ,despite her flaws. She had fiery red hair that glowed in the light of the distant fire. Kenzie had dull brown hair and was always jealous of the color of her friend’s. As they turned on Kenzie’s street, the fire grew brighter. Blake raised her hand to shield her eyes from the blazing light. Sirens sliced through the quiet night sky like a knife. Kenzie turned the steering wheel to pull over as a fire truck sped by. They’d parked at the bottom of a hill so they couldn’t see whose house it was. “Whose house do you think the fire is at?” Kenzie stepped out of the car and watched the ashes from the fire drift pass her like snow.
    Blake stepped out and leaned against a wooden picket fence. “I don’t know. But whose ever house it is needs to ease up on the pine-sol. The ashes smell like lemons.” The ashed made blakes eyes burn but that didn't stop her from laughing amongst herself. Kenzie pulled her cell phone out from her back pocket. “It must be a pretty big fire. We’re like a half a mile away and the ashes are all the way down here.” Kenzie dialed her fathers numbered and listened to the ring. “It is not a half a mile away. We are almost 200 feet away from it.” “Hush! I’m calling my dad.” “He won’t answer. He’s to busy being made into dust.” Blake tried not to laugh. “That’s not funny! Now be quiet, he’s picked up.” Kenzie nudged Blake away. “Kenzie?” A panting voice asks wearily. “Dad? Are you okay? There’s this big fire down the,” “Kenzie. Don’t… them… ship…” She had lost the signal. She panicked frantically.

    Standing in her front yard, Kenzie felt the hot ashes cooling beneath her feet. She gazed at the remains of her house. The porch collapsed into itself. And the roof had completely engulfed the house. Charred shingles were buried in ashes, and glass was flying every which way. Only Pipes and parts of the foundation were still standing. Such a sad sight for what used to be the best looking house on the whole block.
    She fell in the arms of a firefighter. “How did this happen?” She asked. The man picked her up to face him. “Judging by the strong odor, someone probably spilled highly flammable cleaning liquid on the stove, while it was on” “Dad is a neat freak. But he is not the kind of person to make that kind of mistake.” Realizing what she had said she sprang back to life and lunged at the firefighter. “Wait! Where is my father?” The firefighter stroked his stubble of a beard, and motioned her to calm down. “Well, no body was found in the ashes yet.” Kenzie managed a smile on her face. “But, his body could have been extremely charred in the fire. And we don’t have anything to prove that he has made it out alive. You should call him.” Kenzie flipped open her phone so fast it nearly broke. “Did anything survive?” “Well I wouldn’t know. Ask Louie. Kenzie’s mother had been a policewoman and had always brought Kenzie around station. Louie was about 28 and always took Kenzie for rides in the police car when she was little.
    I saw Erin hand him a pretty big box of stuff.” The phone switched to a message system. “Well maybe his phone is in that box.” Kenzie ran over to a cop rummaging through a box of items. “Louie! What’s in the box?” Louie looked up from the box and handed her a key on a chain. Clearly her father’s valet key. “Erin found this stuff on the lawn and racked it up for evidence.” He moved over and motioned Kenzie to look inside the box. “Evidence for what? No crime has been committed here and as far as I’m concerned my father is alive. Speaking of which is there a phone in there?” “No, and you never know. Maybe, your father didn’t make it out and this stuff would be very handy then.” Ignoring the comment, Kenzie rummaged through the box of burnt things. She picked up a fairly large model boat made out of green rock. “What’s this?” She asked while examining the boat. Louie looked startled. “This isn’t yours?” “No. I’ve never seen this thing before.” Louie grabbed the model and sat it down on the hood of his police car. “It’s a jade ship. It was probably made in Asia, and maybe a rare find.” Kenzie ran her finger across a small jade dragon that wrapped around the sail of the ship. It was only a bit singed on its tail. “It’s really pretty.” “One this size would only cost around one thousand dollars.”
    Assuming that her father’s phone wasn’t in the box Kenzie ran over to the firefighter she had met earlier for an update. But he seemed to be running to her. She knew this couldn’t be good, and couldn’t help but let tears roll down her face. He had frowned as he spoke. “You need to come see this.”