we are Allison and nick, The smoke didn’t smell like a campfire; it smelled like melting plastic and ending chapters.

I stood on the curb in my mismatched socks, the asphalt biting into my heels, watching the orange glow dance behind the window of my childhood bedroom. That room was a museum of "me"—the height marks on the doorframe, the shoeboxes of concert tickets, the secret loose floorboard where I hid my diary in middle school. Now, the roof was exhaling sparks into the black sky.

"Riley Mae!" I screamed, my voice cracking under the weight of the heat. "Riley!"

She was a golden retriever who didn't know she was a dog. She was a professional napper, a thief of unattended socks, and the only soul who knew exactly when I needed a cold nose pressed against my hand. When the first alarm chirped, she had retreated under my bed—her "safe spot" that was now a cage of timber and heat.

The firemen were silhouettes against the inferno. One of them held me back, his heavy glove a lead weight on my shoulder. I watched the bedroom window shatter. I knew exactly what was behind that glass: my favorite worn-out sweater, the photos of my grandmother, and Riley Mae.

In twenty minutes, twenty years of life became a pile of gray slush and charred beams.

The silence that followed the sirens was the loudest thing I’d ever heard. The next morning, the neighborhood was bathed in a cruel, bright sunlight. The house looked like a hollow tooth. My father sifted through the wreckage, his hands stained with soot, looking for anything—a ring, a ceramic bowl, a sign of life.

I sat on the tailgate of the truck and looked at the empty leash in my lap. The loss of the "stuff" was a dull ache; the loss of the walls was a heavy grief. But the loss of Riley Mae was the hole I couldn't walk around.

People told me, "It’s just things. You’re safe." And I wanted to scream that those "things" were the anchors of my identity. That dog was the heartbeat of the hallways.

I walked toward the blackened shell of the porch one last time. There, sitting on the soot-covered top step, was a single singed tennis ball. It was Riley’s favorite—the one she’d drop at your feet until you gave in. I picked it up, the scent of smoke clinging to the fuzz.

The house was gone. My childhood was a memory. But as I squeezed that ball, I realized that while fire can take the wood and the wool, it can’t burn the way she used to tilt her head when I said her name. I walked away from the ashes, a piece of her still in my hand, leaving the ghosts of the house behind.

Brendon Johnson

Anonymous

Help the Short family after devastating house fire

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Eligible for Profile Comment Badge

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

isEligibleForProfileCommentBadge

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

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Help the Short family after devastating house fire

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