A Tale of Life and Death at the Globe Theater

The year is 1613, my name is Captain Smith and on June 29^th I attended a play at the Globe Theater, where I almost lost my life. This is the tale of the destruction of the Globe Theater and the close call I had with my life. I had been in the city to attend to the death of my business partner, Sir O’ Riley. In my depressed state I thought a good Shakespearean play will lighten my mood. I, of course, was up in the balconies looking right at the center of the stage. The commoners were being rowdy and rude, as normal, pushing and shoving, and yelling from one side to the other. Their smell easily reached my nose; months of not bathing and sweat from that day’s hard labor in the afternoon sun. But nothing could distract me once the actors began; besides I knew my favorite part of the whole play, the dramatic cannon firing, would silence the crowd. The canon’s part was their. As the canon gave its own deafening line, the flume of fire and smoke erupted from its mouth. It seemed much larger than the times I had seen it done before, but I thought nothing of it. The mass below immediately fell silent, but only for a couple of seconds. Then the first earsplitting screams of women rang out, and the men soon followed their lead. The commoners all turned in unison and began running toward the exit. I became concerned myself and began to look around for the source of the commotion, and that was when I saw it, the blazing roof and the fire that was quickly burning its way around the circular theater. I quickly stood, knocking my chair over with the action, and began to scramble toward the stairs, but I was one of the last to see the fire. The whole upper balcony seemed to be pushing down the same staircase, with me. The fire was quickly spreading towards us, the smoke became thicker and thicker, the light from the fire could be seen dancing through the smoke, the roar of the blaze grew closer and closer with every passing second, while the mass of people pushing its way down the stairs seemed to be at a stand still. The fire inched closer and closer, consuming everything in its path, without a sign of stopping. Screams of agony and terror began to join the roar of the fire in a horrifying harmony. The heat joined the smoke in its assault of the people fleeing the burning theater. I began pushing harder on the person in front of me; I knew not whether it was a man or women I just pushed, pushed for my life, and still nobody moved. I became desperate, looking around for another way to escape the raging inferno. I saw the smoke pouring out of a window not ten feet away from me and I made up my mind on what I had to do. I would have to jump. I began pushing against the crowd hoping it would work better than going with the surge of people going for the stairs. It worked people gladly took my position in the crowd and before long I made it to the windowsill. The smoke began smothering me and the chorus of coughing began to join the harmony of the roar of the fire and the screams of agony and terror. I clenched the wooden window and without looking hurled myself out the window. It was a two story drop to my safety landing on my leg; breaking it instantly. The sound almost caused me to black out, but my fear of the voracious fire gave me the strength to hobble out of the range of the blaze to safety in the street. As I looked back to the raging inferno consuming the Globe Theater where I sat not two minutes ago and hear the only the screams of agony in harmony with the roar of the blaze and I realized my life was secure, I allowed the shock of pain to wash over me, shutting down my brain to save myself from any further trauma, and my vision darkened and my senses failed me. I woke up here in the hospital with out my left leg, but my life intact.