The Fire That Almost Was

So last night, I was hurrying to get from work at the daycare back to my apartment, and then to my 6 o'clock night class on time. In between here, I decided it would be worth my while to cook some pasta and gulp it down before dashing out the door yet again for the 4th time that day.

I put the water on to boil before I even got my coat off, throwing the pot on the stove and jerking the dial up to HIGH. I tore off my coat and hurried to the bathroom, knowing I only had a few precious minutes to go and check my email and change my shirt before the water boiled.

A minute later, I realized: is it safe to leave a burner on while you're not in the room? Once, I left the kettle on and all the water evaporated out of it and the bottom of the kettle started to char. Then I thought back to the time at the beginning of the semester when Steph heated olive oil in pan and it caught on fire. There were flames billowing out of the pan, smoke filling the apartment, the fire alarm going off, our hall director and firemen barging in. Oops.

This could very well happen again, couldn't it? Images flashed through my mind of flames flickering in the window of the microwave, filling the kitchen, enveloping the entire apartment and building and I'd never know it because I was in the bathroom. I started to smell smoke. I could smell the cooked-on food on the burner smoldering and stinking as it burned. I was just waiting for any second when I'd hear the fire alarm going off and the fire trucks pulling up. I was sure of it. I was positive. The flames must have gotten at least through the kitchen, probably into the living room by this point. I couldn't be responsible for that just because I left water to boil while I went to the bathroom.

I ran out of that bathroom. I knew I could see the orange-ish reflection of the flames against the wall as I turned the corner into the living room.

When I got to the kitchen, I looked around. There was no fire. It was like a movie that went back in time before some terrible accident, back to how it was originally. There was my pot of water, sitting on the glowing burner, hardly even heated yet. There were no flames.

I sighed, and went to check my email.