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I was awakened by the cries of the poor cats in My bedroom, and when I opened My bedroom door to the rest of the house a hell of heat and smoke rolled in like a physical thing. I quickly shut My door and tried to put bedding under it to keep the smoke out. I panicked, and began trying to pull the window air conditioner unit out, but I had secured it with a lot of guerilla tape to prevent intrusion. I began trying in complete darkness, with increasing difficulty breathing to remove the guerilla tape by hand, at one point punching out the corrugated accordion like plastic on the side with My fist so I could stick My head outside to breath. I did finally manage to remove the air conditioner, and fell out of the window onto the ground in the dark wearing only boxer shorts and a t-shirt. I ran through the darkness to the neighbors house yelling and screaming the whole way, and minutes later We returned. My neighbor, a large man, kicked in the front door, and We saw My Father laying on the floor inside. I dragged Him out onto the porch, and My neighbor's wife performed chest compressions after which I held My father's nose and breathed into His mouth. He began breathing again, and shortly after the fire department and sheriff's department showed up. My Father was taken by helicopter to the Burn Unit at a Springfield Missouri hospital.
At the property I waited outside surrounded by emergency personnel who refused to let Me go into the house to search for cats until hours had passed. When they finally left, I got just a moment to look inside before I had to go with My step-father to get cleaned up then drive to the hospital in Springfield. There were cats laying dead in every room. The majority of the cats in the house had died from the heat and smoke. When the fire department arrived earlier one of the first things they had done was break out windows all around the house, and They later told Me that many cats had escaped through the windows after they were broken. My Father was in stable condition, and so I returned to the house determined to stay there on the property with the remaining animals in spite of repeated attempts by My step-father, Mother, and brother to get Me to leave. I moved the mattress from My Father's bed out to the detached garage, and set up a makeshift living situation there, feeding and watering as many cats as I could find, and discovering more cats laying dead inside the house. The next day, knowing I had less than 48 hours before the poor dead animals would begin to smell of death, I went into the house with trash bags and began putting each animal in separate bags, and writing their names on a piece of paper as I found them. When I was done I put them into an underground tornado shelter to keep their bodies as cool as possible until a few days later a neighbor came with a backhoe and dug a mass grave in the front yard into which I placed all the poor animals who had died. Thirty cats died from the fire, heat, and smoke. My father died a week later in the hospital due to complications following skin graft surgery, and His Funeral was held several days later.
From that time until July 14th 2024 I stayed at the property feeding and caring for all the animals who had survived. I lived through the heat of Summer and the cold of Winter in that garage, sleeping on a mattress laid down on the concrete floor. During that time I had no running water, and no electricity except for a generator which My cousin brought to Me on July 28th of 2023.
On July 14th 2024 I was forced to leave the property by the neighbor who had bought it 'the same neighbor who had kicked in the door that tragic morning'. The neighbor promised Me that the poor cats would be fed and watered each day, and I had no choice so I took 2 elderly female cats, and 6 kittens with Me to My Mother and step-father's house where We have lived since July 14th of 2024 in an A-Liner camper on their property.
I heard from the neighbor just before Thanks Giving that He and His wife had managed to find living situations for all the cats that were left behind. Some went to live in houses, while others, being somewhat feral, were found barn cat positions in the surrounding area. I often pray for them, and regret that I was never able to go back to help them. I had planned to go back and get them all once I had a place to take them, but I didn't get any money from my Father's estate until the beginning of December by which time the neighbors had already moved the cats to their new lives. I managed to find an amazing deal on an small old house built in 1890 in a nearby town, and with my step-father's help have been working to make it a place my remaining 8 cats and I can live. That time is approaching soon, and I expect to move into the house sometime in March.
The kittens are no longer kittens, and it is quite cramped living in an A-Liner camper with 8 cats. Just a couple of weeks ago I decided to finally start uploading MWO build tutorial/gameplay videos to Youtube again. After the house fire I only uploaded one video, with gameplay footage recorded before the day of the fire. I uploaded that video in October of 2023, and there is a memorial to the loss of My Father and the thirty cats who also died that day. I changed My Youtube channel name to 'Resurgam Ex Cineribus Gaming' or R.E.C Gaming. It means I will rise from the ashes in Latin. I have found some new friends on Youtube who are also video creators, such as Chipwit Gaming, and PolarBear Gaming.
I invite each of You to come to My Youtube channel and watch videos featuring MWO builds I have created, and gameplay showing how the builds can be used. This is the link to My Youtube channel https://www.youtube....CineribusGaming
And here is the link to the most recent video I have uploaded featuring the new clan Stalker.
If You like the builds I create, or the gameplay I show in My videos, please subscribe to My channel, leave a like, and a comment!
Edited by Alea iacta est, Yesterday, 07:21 AM.
