I'm typing this on mobile so I apologize for any errors. Last Tuesday at about 2:30 am my upstairs neighbors' apartment caught fire. My fiance woke me up when the fire alarm started going off, thankfully she was still awake. We grabbed keys and phones and carried the kids outside to the car. When we were standing in front of the building waiting for the fire department we both heard a short fire extinguisher spray and a loud scream. Everyone that was outside started screaming that someone was still inside. "Oh shit!" is all I could think. I ran inside and grabbed the fire extinguisher from our kitchen, wet a pillowcase to breathe through and tried to go upstairs to help or at the very least get the people out. I didn't even make it up the first 5 steps before I could no longer breathe. The smoke was so thick, so acrid, that I couldn't take it. To this day that smell is still in my nose and won't go away. I ran back out to my fiance and kids and waited like everyone else. It took the volunteer fire department about fifteen minutes to show up and get started. I feel guilt for not trying harder to get upstairs, that maybe I could have got the people out before the fire department showed since it took them so long. One person was already dead by the time they went upstairs to clear the apartment. I believe she was found on the kitchen in the floor. The other woman was unconscious with burns on her body and terribly burnt lungs, found in the bedroom I believe. Sadly she died at Vanderbilt hospital two days later. My friends on the fire department told me that there wasn't much flame but ALOT of smoke and if I had went upstairs that I too would have died from smoke inhalation, that even they attempted to go in without masks but couldn't. So, tonight is our first night back in the apartment. Our apartment only took water damage to the ceiling in the kitchen from the fire department hoses. After a cleaning company ran industrial dehumidifiers all week and got the apartment inspected we were okayed to come back finally. It was a welcome sight after having to stay in a hotel all week. I'm laying in bed right now actually, kids and fiance asleep, having a little me time watching netflix. Twice now I have heard distinct thumps coming from first the kitchen above us and then the living room. We are the only ones in the building. What's worse, ever since the people upstairs moved in we have heard the same noises all night long. Unfortunately they were never concerned about keeping quiet. But now they aren't there, or aren't supposed to be there, yet the sounds are the same, just not as frequent. I'm honestly freaking out and not going to be able to sleep. I don't know if it's possibly guilt messing with me or if one of them is still trapped up there. I think maybe it's time to move.