Brian peddled faster as the cruel rain pelted his face. His legs burned from the long ride on his bike. His leg screamed in agony from the dog bite but, he had to keep going. As he reached to top of the hill he almost fell off his bike at what he saw.

It all started that morning when Brian was getting ready for school. He had had to take a cold shower because his sister had used all the hot water. Then he didn’t have any clean clothes to wear so he had to wear one of his dad’s dress shirts. Finally, he missed the bus and had to ride his bike to school. School was rough. First, the teacher gave an unexpected quiz that he had no clue what it was on. At lunch he tripped and spilled his lunch all over his dad’s dress shirt. His dad was going to kill him. Then by the end of the day Mr. Newman - his new principal -- informed him he was failing two of his classes and barley passing his other four. By the time school got out it was pouring outside.

The whole way home he thought of Kelly -- the girl he had a crush on. To him, she was sweet like a maraschino cherry; to his friend, she was his worst nightmare. Brian was so deep in thought he almost missed the run.

Suddenly, out or nowhere a dog flew at him; the owner was screaming for it to come back. The dog lunged at him. All Brian could do was cover his face. It latched onto his leg and dug its teeth deep into it. It took minutes for the owner to drag the German Shepard off of him. Brian could feel the warm blood soaking into his jeans. After several apologies, Brian was back on his way. After the two mile bike ride Brian was exhausted. He still had to go up and over death hill. To him it was the steepest and longest hill in the county. Better get it over with quick, he thought.

Brian peddled faster as the cruel rain pelted his face. His legs burned from the long ride on his bike. His leg screamed in agony from the dog bite but, he had to keep going. As he reached to top of the hill he almost fell off his bike at what he saw.

His house was on fire. A big black plume of smoke billowed from a giant hole into the ceiling. It was bad enough that his house was on fire but what scared him the most was that his parent’s cars were into the driveway.

Before he knew what he was doing he was at the front door. Smoke crept from beneath the door. He threw it open. Flames had devoured the place. Everything he had ever loved had gone up in smoke.
“Mom!!! Dad!!!” he screamed, becoming desperate. He raced up the stairs.
Halfway up the stairs a loud crack sent Brian hurdling down through the stars into the basement. Brian lay there -- unconscious. The flames liked his feet. Just as they were about to leap onto him the door burst open. Standing there was a tall figure. A mask covering his face. The fireman ran over to Brian and scooped him up.
Face scratched from the fall, Brian slowly woke up. He was in the hospital surrounded by his family and friends. They talked about what happened. It turns out that no one was in the house. His parents had gone to a movie with their friends and his sister was at a slumber party. The next door neighbor, Mrs. Smith, had called the fire department.
Brian risked his life to try to save his family members that weren’t even in the house. He was lucky to only get away with a scratch on his face. Would you risk your life to save your family? I would.