Time froze.  Tears that were once ripping out of my eyes are now ebbed on the edge of existence.  I see my dogs' faces, dark with the remnants of a place that was once safe and now was just gone.  Their puppy eyes roll up ever so slowly to meet ours.  I can tell that they sense our despair, we all wear the horror of the day on our faces.  My dogs begin to paw at their oxygen containers, wanting to get out. They wanted to comfort us, even though they were the ones who were alone in the house when it happened.  They needed to be with us so much that their damaged eyes seemed to brighten past the darkness of the smoke that had infected them.  But they can’t come out of those tanks.  They are isolated because of the ashes engulfing their lungs, nearly terminating their steady breathing pattern.  In, out.  In, out.  I used to lie with my head against them and just listen to their peaceful inhales and elongated exhales.  But now their breathing is weak and they are stuck surrounded by purely oxygen.  And not by their people.  It’s clearly paining them to be apart from their humans.  Smack!  Both dogs are creating collisions between their bodies and the cages containing them.  A couple of doctors turn to stop their madness, but me and my sister burst across the space.  We open the hatches that allow you to reach your hand through to touch your pets.  My sister goes to Neve, who barely fits in her cube.  My sister sobs harder as her best friend attempts to kiss her through the tiny opening.  I reach out for Gus, his timid nature probably intensified by a tenfold by this traumatic experience.  He is whining so insistently that he begins to hack up ash.  His fur is blackened by the ashes as well.  I pull my hand away to try and dry my drenched face and the liquid streaking over my face is now black.  It’s almost fitting.  They are dark for everything that has been snatched away from me by the flames that consumed my home.  But as I remember to breathe through the tears and Gus licks my hand, I smile for the things I didn’t have to lose.