The outbreak// The inkwell writing prompt

William yawned and continued with his work. He was already feeling sleepy but struggled to stay awake for a few more minutes to finish up what he was working on. He slipped the coffee that was growing cold already one more time hoping it would keep him awake. Soon his eyes couldn't carry him as he fell asleep. Juliana, his 10 years old daughter, was outside with her peers playing while her mum had gone to the supermarket to get some stuff. Juliana noticed smoke coming from the building. At first she thought it was her dad cooking until the fumes got stronger and fire burned down the wood from the ceiling.

She remembered her dad was inside and had slept a few minutes before she joined her neighbor's kids outside. She ran to the door and struggled to open it but it was locked, she could hear her dad's faint voice as he coughed persistently. She ran to her neighbor's house but everyone seemed to have gone out for the weekend.

She remembered her mum had once called her phone number to her hearing and she memories it. She tried to recall it, and after a few thoughts, she was able to collect the numbers.

She ran to the public telephone stand and dialed the number, she was relieved when she heard her mum's voice.

"Mum, dad is trapped in the house and the house is on fire" she said immediately.

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Quickly, her mum called the fire service and with no hesitation they arrived at the location within a few minutes. The fire was already burning down the roof, so they decided to rescue the trapped man first. They broke into the building and saw Mr. Williams lying on the floor helplessly. They carried him outside and rushed him to the hospital.

"Is there any other person trapped in the building?" The fireman asked Juliana who was sobbing.

"No, it was just my dad that was inside" she said amidst sobs.

The firemen tried to quench the fire and after about an hour, the fire was completely quenched.

It was later discovered that Mr. Williams had dozed off while he was preparing breakfast and no one was inside to notice the smoke earlier.

"How are you doing Mr. Williams" the doctor asked.

"I'm fine, thank God for my daughter Juliana who had called her mum earlier. I was already choked with the smoke and my body was weak, I couldn't do anything when I realized the room was filled with smoke". Williams said.

"Darling" Juliana's mum called Julianna who was sitting next to her dad on the hospital bed. "How did you know my number?" She asked

"I once heard you calling your number out to someone on the phone and I was able to remember it." she said.

The story was spread abroad and people saw the need in teaching their children how to call out their phone numbers off heart.