My legs! I could feel the fire envelop them. Suddenly I could feel someone dragging me out of my room. I could feel tears streaming down my cheeks as the firefighter picked me up. My mom's warm embrace surrounded me. “I tried to save him!" I cried as my mom cradled me close. I could hear my mom crying too. My father rushed up beside us. “Honey? What happened?" My father was still in his pajamas. I could only shake my head as medics took me away to the ambulance. As my mom held my hand, I suffered a sudden realization that my little baby brother, Andrew, was dead. 

                I woke up to a blinding light. I was alone. Just then a nurse came in. “Hi! My name is Faith," the nurse said. Faith wrote something on the clipboard she was holding. “Where is my mom?" I asked sitting up. "She is at your aunt's house," the nurse said taking a quick glance my way. I lay back down satisfied. “I need to ask you a few questions." Faith said sitting down on the end of my bed. "Go ahead." I said waiting for the torrent of questions coming my way. Surprisingly that didn't happen. Faith started off slow. "What is your name?" she asked getting ready to write something down. "That's easy. Sarah," I said. It was getting boring already in this hospital. "Good. Now, where do you live?" Faith asked as I glanced towards the clock. "Well..." I said suddenly remembering why I was here. "Go on," the nurse said urging me on. "My house burned down and the only house I have is the beach house my family goes to every summer!" I said. I was feeling very woozy. "Thank you for your time," Faith said leaving the room. I slowly slipped back into a coma.

                I woke up five days later with my mom sitting in a chair next to me. "Mom, how long have I been here?" I asked taking the glass of water she was handing me. "You have been in a coma for about two weeks," my mom said with a sigh. The blood drained out of my face as if I had seen a ghost. Gone was two weeks of summer vacation. Gone was time spent with my family. My mom quickly changed the subject. "I have exciting news," she said. Without waiting for me to answer she quickly said "Most of our stuff survived because we were all packed up to leave for our beach house," I quickly cleared my thoughts and said "Wow that's great mom!" There was a knock on the door and in walked Dr. Jones. "Hello Sarah. We have decided to let you go home tomorrow!" he said with the smile that I was most frightened of as a kid. "Thanks," I said flatly. The doctor ushered mom out of the room.

                The next morning when I was getting out of bed. I suddenly remembered my legs. I looked down. A look of relief spread across my face. The doctors did such a good job you could only see scars if you looked close. The doctors all bid me farewell even though I knew they were happy to see me go.

                When we got to our summer house everything was quiet. I was glad to be home. Well... almost home. That night I had a dream. It was the night of the fire I could hear Andrew scream. Then all I could see was black, total black.

I woke up the next morning with a depressing feeling. I didn't want to eat breakfast. I went the whole day without any food.

This went on for a whole week. The dream, feeling depressed then not eating the whole day. I had nothing to do until my grandma came to visit. Grandma taught me how to make candles. It was so cool! After grandma left I felt a little better. To fill up the time, I made candles. I made so many candles that my mom had to put a stop to it. "Sarah! You have to do something with those candles!" My mom said coming into my room one night. "I don't know what to do with them!" I said helplessly. "Maybe you could sell them," my mom said. I hadn't thought about that. My mom rushed off to make dinner. I quickly got on the computer and looked for local craft shows. Ah-ha. There is a craft show in two days and there is still room to sign up!

At the dinner table which is usually quiet, I told my parents of my plan. My dad only agreed under the promise that I would give seventy-five percent of the money to charity. That night I had that horrible dream again. Even after I woke up I could still hear Andrew's screams ringing in my ears

                It was the day of the craft show and I promised my best friend Tasha that she could come along. I had at least one-hundred candles ready to sell. During the first hour I sold thirteen. "I didn’t know candles were such a trend!" Tasha said as we sold our twenty-fifth. "Me neither," I said handing a cranberry one to a gentleman. By the end of the craft show Tasha and I had sold eighty-seven candles and made one-thousand-three-hundred dollars plus twenty-three dollars in tips. Tasha took two of her favorite candles and I gave her two-hundred dollars. Then we went our separate ways. "Bye! Thanks for helping!" I said waving to her. "The way you pay your employees, I might want to help out next time!" Tasha said waving back. I gave a contented sigh as I watched her figure get smaller and smaller. When I got home my mom and dad asked me how it went. When I told them how much I had made I thought they were both going to faint but they pulled themselves together and mom quickly said "That's great but, what are you going to do with one thousand dollars?" We all sat down at the kitchen table. “According to our agreement," I said sneaking a look at my dad “I will give seven-hundred-seventy-five dollars to charity." My parent’s faces were beaming with pride. “I have an idea! How about we head over to Water Street Rescue Mission tomorrow?" my dad asked as he got up starting coffee. I nodded. "Goodnight," I said as I headed up the stairs to get in bed.

                That night I didn’t have the dream I most despised. When I woke up dad took me and mom to a cozy little cafe in town. I felt paranoid with seven-hundred and seventy-five dollars in my purse. When we finally got to Water Street Rescue Mission there was a kind man to greet us. "Hello, my name is John. How can I help you?" He said as he shook my dad's hand. "Actually we are here to donate," my mom said. "Okay. Can you please sign this paper to verify the donation?" he asked handing the paper to my mom. "Forgive me. I'm donating." I said taking the pen and paper from my mom. John gave me a smile. "I am donating seven-hundred and seventy-five dollars!" I said pulling out the money. "Are you sure Miss? That is a lot of money! You're helping a lot of people," he said ushering us towards a big room. The room we walked into was full of happy people even though it was crowded. "Can I have everyone’s attention? I have an announcement to make!" John said as he got everyone’s attention. "This girl is donating seven-hundred dollars!" he said with a flourish. I figured this was the time to say something. They were all waiting. "Hi, my name is Sarah. And I just want to say that this is not my gift. This is Andrew's gift!" I said knowing it was all true. Everyone started cheering. Andrew was the reason I got this money and it was the little part of Andrew still left in me that made me willing to give.

                From then on I forgave myself and became a volunteer at Water Street Rescue Mission. I then became known as the girl who brought Andrew's gift.