Wildfires in Autumn

Sirens sound, at 2:00 am. My heart pounds as I look out my apartment window and into the smoke. My phone pings with a news alert, "Wildfires Destroying the Beauty of Autumn" I laugh at the title, of course they're worried about the beauty and not the well being of our planet. I don't know what to do, all I know is that by morning something else will be flooding the news sources. I peak my head out the window searching for a sign that not every tree has burned. My wish granted I spot a singular red leaf floating through the air. It's not much but it gives me hope that not all of the mountains will burn. Knowing that sleep is impossible now, I creep down the hall and into the kitchen. I open the fridge, the light flooding the small room, and grab the pie my mom baked earlier. Sitting at the table I look at the wall, covered with pictures of my family on our yearly trip every fall into the mountains. My heart hurts at the thought of that not being possible, the fact that I can't watch my little sister throw leaves in the air the same way I did when I was her age. Now, when it hits me, the real damage the fires might do. Each tree that burns is another memory that is unable to relive. Each colored leaf crumbles into burnt ash and floats into the air and shows how little people care. I've heard about wildfires in the south, the cause of them has always been people. I wonder if those people are overrun with guilt, knowing the damage they did, the fact that all the trees that look like they have rainbows projected onto them, will burn. I finish my piece of pie and put my plate in the sink, knowing that I will clean it tomorrow and head back to my room. I close my window, not wanting to smell the smoke and crawl under the covers. As I close my eyes I wish for it all to be a dream, for me to wake up and be able to look forward to our trip. When I wake up the next morning it hits me, it wasn't a dream.