My eyes slowly opened. The light filling the room made me think it was morning, so I blinked and looked around. But this light was not like daylight; it was unnatural, spreading through every corner of the house. It felt as if I had woken up to a completely different day. Everything would begin—and end—at a point of no return. Yes, everything began the moment that strange light poured in through the window.
I got out of bed and walked toward the window. What I saw froze me in place. The fire spreading through the grove near our house was lighting up the night like the sun. I rushed to wake the others in the house, but no one was there. While I was asleep, they had already noticed the fire and gone out to fight it. From a distance, I could hear the desperate efforts to extinguish the rapidly spreading flames. Soon after, a deep sound echoed through the sky—the fire planes had arrived.
Near a tree, I noticed a turtle. Its shell was burning hot. I quickly grabbed a wet towel and ran to it, gently cooling its shell. Afterward, I carried it inside and placed it somewhere safe. Without hesitation, I ran back toward the grove. There could be more innocent animals waiting to be saved.
Inside the house, while checking on the turtle, I noticed a baby hedgehog among the firefighters’ equipment. I immediately picked it up and carried it away from the danger. I gave it some water and carefully cleaned it so it wouldn’t be stepped on. Its spines seemed unharmed, and in that moment, it felt as if it was trusting me, helping me stay calm.
I couldn’t hold back my tears. I hugged the hedgehog and the little turtle tightly. We cried together. We knew that many animals had not escaped the fire and had been lost. That night, we promised to protect the survivors—and one day, to plant new trees where the grove had burned.