There's a loud bang.

"Phil?" I say loudly, rudely awakened from my slumber. I open my eyes only to see nothing more than what I could see with my eyes closed. I hear footsteps. My heart pounds. It must be like 4 in the morning. What on earth is going on? The door creaks silently open and I see a very disheveled, frightened Phil standing in the doorway.

"Phil?" I repeat. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. I'm scared." He replied, his voice hoarse from sleeping. He was wearing one of his t-shirts and Sonic the Hedgehog pyjama bottoms.

"Did you hear the bang?" I asked.

"Yeah. I think it came from the floor above."

Suddenly, I start shaking. And then I notice the bed and Phil are shaking too. I glance back up to see that our entire apartment was shuddering slightly. Fear shoots through me and I start to panic. Alarm bells start ringing in my head, and then so does the fire bell.

"Dan?" Phil says nervously.

"RUN!" I reply jumping out of bed, grabbing my iPhone and running out of my room and then the apartment door. I look behind me to see Phil, obviously petrified, following my ninja style escape plan. We run down the first few flights of stairs, seeing as the lift was not an option, as the shuddering gradually turns into vigorous shaking. I notice that we are not the only ones evacuating and tens of people rush into the stairway in frenzy, talking in hushed voices. Panting but persisting, we hear multiple male and female screams from behind us. There's a deafening rumble and we run even faster, not daring to look back at the horrors that were waiting.

"Aaahhh!"

I miss my step, fall and tumble down the remaining 5 steps of that flight. A sharp pain shoots through my left arm where I landed and there's a ringing between my ears.

"I've broken it." I think, clutching my arm as I try to steady myself again. But there's no time to examine my injuries as Phil helps me up and encourages me to persevere. The world around me starts to spin and the shaking of the building persists. I cling on to Phil for support.

"Fuck.." I mutter aloud.

"Come on, Dan. There's only 1 more flight of stairs to go. Then we'll be safe."

By this time, the murmurs and whispers from the crowd behind us had turned to shouting. Gritting my teeth, I cradle my sore arm in my other and continue down to the fire exit where we escape safely on to the main road. I look behind me to see residents from the apartment block fleeing for their lives. I instantaneously understood the entire commotion.

The top section of the building had luminous orange flames licking the windows, lighting up the black sky and there was a massive chunk missing where the roof should be. Glass shattered in the heat of the blaze and the building shook violently. The structure was close to collapsing.

"LOOK OUT!" Phil yells and he pulls me to the ground beside him as burning debris showers down around us. A searing burning sensation begins on my upper back and then spreads all over my exposed body parts. I close my eyes, cheek pressed against the tarmac next to Phil's and realise that we are holding hands. I squeeze his hand even tighter as I lose consciousness.