Alexa+P

**//By: Alexa Padovano //**
 * //__No Title? __//**
 * //Sometimes when I look back on that night, I don’t realize what really happened to me. It was so serious and such a big deal, but I really didn’t care at all. Maybe because I knew I was, and would be okay. //**
 * //It was a Thursday night, and I just came home from a dreaded 3 hour a day, 4 day a week cheerleading practice. I was pretty excited to come home because I wanted to get ready for summer camp the next morning. Lake-vu day camp was the best thing in the world, considering my two best friends were there and my little 11-year-old boyfriend Dan Ziv was there also. The last day of camp is, every year, a very memorable day and full of tears. It was quite emotional for all of us. Camp was always my favorite time of the summer. Those 8 weeks were just the greatest, but that’s besides the point of the story. //**
 * //So back to what I was saying. Thursday night, just came home from practice. For some reason, I decided to paint my toenails on the kitchen counter. Sitting on my counter giving myself a messy pedicure, the nail polish remover spilt. I picked up the bottle even though half of the liquid was in a puddle on the counter. I continued to paint my toenails, and knocked over the bottle again. What an idiot, I was thinking to myself. I finally jumped off the counter in a swinging motion with one arm and soaked up the acetone with a paper towel. //**
 * //All of the sudden, I saw huge flames emerge from my stove, and felt my skin catch on fire. I immediately started screaming like I was on a roller coaster and tried patting out the fire on my face and hair with my bare hands. By instinct, I wan to the bathroom sink to put water on my self. My mom came out from my room and saw the disturbing image of her only daughter up in flames. //**
 * //She ran out my door in the apartment building and started yelling, “Fire!” I got the fire out on my body and followed my mom and started screaming the same thing. I looked back for a split second and saw my kitchen brightly burning slowly from the fire. //**
 * //Before I knew it, all of my upstairs and downstairs neighbors were coming out of their apartments in a panic. One of my upstairs neighbors actually came downstairs, went in to my condo, and put the fire out with an extinguisher. At that point, I was in my upstairs neighbor’s apartment for some reason. I ran into her bathroom and saw that my hairline, eyebrows and eyelashes were completely singed off. I looked in the mirror, touched my tenderly burnt skin and began to cry. Without thinking, I jumped into my neighbor’s shower to cool myself down. //**
 * //After about an hour, things started to calm down and we went back into my house. My mom and I were so relived that our kitchen had absolutely no damage after the trauma. Thank god for our female fire fighter neighbor with a mullet having an extinguisher and putting it out for us. //**
 * //My father and his wife came to the house and we all went to the hospital for my burns. When we arrived at the E.R., we were very surprised that the nurses took me in the room so fast. The doctors said I had mostly second degree but some third degree burns on my nose, cheeks, right eye, right ear, and right hand. They gave us some cream and gauze to put on my open blisters to keep from getting infected and help heal. //**
 * //The next morning, I got out of bed and got ready for camp. My mom didn’t want me going but it was so important to me, because it was the last day. The pain wasn’t stopping me. It was like the first sunburn of the summer, times 10, plus blisters, blood, and scabs. I looked like I just survived a war. //**
 * //I arrived at camp, got many stares and they all asked me what happened. I calmly told them I got burnt from a fire, and most let out a gasp. I just went my merry way and acted like nothing had happened the night before. //**
 * //Seven years later, I am obviously completely healed, but the amazing part is that I have absolutely no scars at all. No dis-colored skin or anything. My eyelashes never fully grew back though, so I always have to put on mascara before leaving the house so I don’t look like a total freak. But oh well, life goes on and it did. My family and I are so happy that our disaster resolved the best way it could have. And most importantly, everyone is happy that my mom, my cat, and I all ended up okay.//**