Tom Feared Sight Of Death's Mask |
(Editor's note: Tommy Raymond, 12, a seventh grader, who was trapped for 20 minutes in his second floor classroom at Our Lady of the Angels School. Here is Tommy's story.) |
CHICAGO, Dec. 1 - I stood there on the window sill and all I could think of was how I would look dead. |
Most of my other classmates had already got out and I was the last one, and when I walked into the hall the smoke was so thick I ran back into the room. Then I went to the window and took some books and threw them out through the glass to break the window. It's funny, but I remember which books I threw out. I threw out my reader and some test books. |
After the window broke I stood up on the sill and began to think about jumping out from the second floor. That's when I saw the firemen down below. They shouted at me not to jump, that they'd come up and get me, so I got back off the sill. |
Now that I think back how it started, I remember it was a singing lesson we were having. We didn't know anything about the fire until all of a sudden we heard a lot of screams. We couldn't make out what the screams were for a moment. Then we knew it was the eighth graders yelling, 'Fire, fire, fire.' |
We started going out just like we did in fire drills. You know we had two or three fire drills already this winter because this was an old school and somebody always figured it was going to burn down someday. |
By the time I got out into the hall I couldn't breathe, the smoke was so thick, so I ran into the back room. For a while I was all by myself and then some girls came running into the room. |
They were from another room. I yelled at them to lie down on the floor, because that's what I remember from fire drills to do when there's a lot of smoke. |
The girls said kids from other rooms were hanging on one another's belts to form a line to get to the stairs because it was dark as night on the second floor. |
Then I saw a man coming through the door and we could see flames on the other side of the building. The man grabbed a few girls and led them back out with him. |
I stayed by the window, though, and I was scared. All I could think of was how I would look dead. Then the fireman came up and led me down the ladder. |