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[c-smix]

A/N

HIII THIS IS MY 1ST STORY ON HERE!! i wrote this for a short story comp for my school and ended up getting 2nd place!! i hope you enjoy reading this!

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I was five years old when it happened. It was the 16th of June 2005 when my entire world around me collapsed and crumbled into pieces.

That day I woke up being blinded by a glimpse of sunlight flashing through my sunlight washed curtains. The smell of a perfectly cooked breakfast coming from my kitchen making me realise how hungry I was. I quickly shot out of my bunk bed and climbed down the ladder to see my younger sister, Isabella, peacefully sleeping in her bed, her brown hair spread out on her pillow. I stood there for a few seconds before snapping out of it and quietly making my way out of our shared room, trying not to wake her with our old, squeaky door.

I waddled my way to my kitchen to meet my mom making breakfast. I think she could feel my presence because soon after I had been standing there for a while she swung her head around to face me and gave me her famous smile. My mom was always a very cheery and strong person, only showing her weakness behind closed doors. Her deep brown curls bounced as she looked at me.

“Good morning sleepyhead” she said in a calm but also excited tone as I made my way over to our wooden table and sat in a chair. I could hear our stove clicking off and the rustling and banging of plates coming from our cupboards. My mom reached over my shoulder to set my plate in front of me following it with the other plates. I looked to my left to see Isabella peeking out from the door to our bedroom with a broken toy in her hand, it was a Barbie that she had gotten for her birthday last year. It was missing one of her legs but that didn’t stop Isabella from loving it any less. Once she spotted me looking at her, she smiled and ran over to me, her arms reached out as she came near and wrapped them around my waist to hug me.

“Isa! Go sit down in your chair, breakfast is ready” my mom exclaimed as she finished up preparing everything before putting food on our plates on the table. A serving of scrambled eggs and a slice of toast with sliced bacon pieces on top plopped onto my plate which I didn’t even hesitate to dig into. As we ate my mom then switched on the radio, I could hear the faint lyrics of the song playing “And I would have stayed up with you all night, Had I known how to save a life” from a song that had just been released called “How to Save a Life” by The Fray. I paid little attention to it; all I could think about is the spread of food in front of me.

Later that morning my mom gathered me and my sister and our toys and took us to my auntie Eleanor’s house before she left us to go to work. Auntie Eleanor was a kind and gentle soul. Other than my mother she was the only family we had, my dad had died two years ago in war and my grandparents lived in a different country, so we rarely ever got to see them. The day continued on as normal and it was only the early afternoon when I noticed that somethings were unusual, like things were happening that weren't meant to happen. They were small things, like for example I saw massive flocks of birds flying in the air, but they seemed distressed, squawking loudly and flying all around. Then, Eleanor’s dog Coco was acting strange. He had seemed less playful and more worried, he would just lay in his bed and whined at us, like he was trying to tell us something.

It was 3:35pm when it started, the rumbling. I thought I was imagining things as it was just small. I looked around to see if my sister or auntie noticed anything, but they weren’t there. I got up from the chair to explore the house when the ground started to shake, it quickly grew violent. I was so scared, I didn’t know what to do so I just ran, leaving everything behind, the drawing I was working on, the toys scattered on the ground. I just kept running pushing myself to get out of here, struggling to keep my balance I managed to get to the town centre. All around me was commotion, I was surrounded by people gathering their families and running into buildings, I just stood there. I didn’t know what to do, I was just five years old.

I could barely keep standing when everything went dark. I couldn’t see anything, I could only hear the crumbling of buildings, I could feel the violent shaking coming from under me and the throbbing pain in my head and something digging into my side. It was hard to breathe, with every breath I took being filled with dust and debris. I laid on the ground, curled up praying that this will all end, that this was a dream. Warm tears streamed down my face I wanted everything to go back to normal, I wanted to see my family. All that was going through my mind were the intrusive thoughts of that I was going to die, that this was it.

I waited and waited until the shaking finally stopped. Was it over? Was this hell done? I opened my eyes to a glimpse of sunlight shining through two big slabs of rubble that surrounded me. I slowly reached my arms up and tried to push off the rocks that were covering me. The sunlight grew more intense and started blinding me. I didn’t know how long I was down there for. It took a while for my eyes to get adjusted to the brightness but once they did, I could feel my heart shatter in my chest. Everything was destroyed, everything was a pile of rocks and dirt other than a few buildings that were standing on their last leg.

Once I came to my senses, I realised I was still all alone. My mind raced and I did the only thing I could do. I screamed with all my might just hoping I could find them.

“ISABELLA, ELEANOR, MOM....” no response. I did it again, and again, and again until I couldn’t scream anymore, my voice cracked, and my throat was strained. I walked around trying to find them. I walked until I couldn’t walk anymore, I was so tired. I found myself a nice seat on the curb of a sidewalk and just sat there and cried. I wanted to see my family, I just hope they were okay. I saw family’s walking together, people looking for their loved ones, people all alone, I saw it all.

It was starting to turn dark when I finally got up again. I would not give up, I needed to find my family. I searched until I couldn’t search anymore. I had managed to do a full circle of my town until I finally decided to have a break. I sat on the remains of the once beautifully decorated water fountain with little intricate details, my towns pride and joy which was now destroyed. I sat there for a while until I finally drifted off to sleep on the hard, uncomfortable debris.

I woke up to seeing the same sight I fell asleep to. I had hoped this was all just a dream and that I would wake up from it, but I knew in the back of my mind that it wasn’t true, this was all real. At this point I could hear the faint whirring of a helicopter flying above the town, probably some news reporters. I turned a blind eye to it as I got up from my resting spot and started my search again. At this point I could think clearly again so I walked up to a few strangers and asked for help. I repeated this so many times but the answer still remained the same, no one had seen my family.

I had done another lap of the town before I finally saw a little girl standing with long silky brown hair and a woman with black wavy hair kneeling on the ground sobbing in her hands. I decided to walk over when I started to realise that they were crying over a lifeless body on the ground. The heaving continued to grow louder the closer I got. I didn’t know why but something was drawing me towards them. I had grown close to them when I finally recognised them, it was Isabella and Eleanor. I ran to them yelling their names. Their heads spun around shocked but relieved at the same time. I wrapped my arms around them and buried my head into Eleanor’s torso, it felt so good to see them again.

“Where’s mom?” I said in a tiny, muffled voice, my head lifted to see Eleanor’s face change. She loosened her grip on me and turned around to face the body buried in the rubble, I looked over to see my mom's lifeless body. Then and there I broke down and cried my heart out. I didn’t want to believe this was real.

The sounds of the helicopters grew closer when someone came up to my auntie, it was a rescuer. They talked briefly before I could feel my aunties hands grab and lift me up from my armpits and put me on her hip, she did the same thing for Isabella and she started walking away, following the rescuer. I didn’t want to leave, I didn’t want to leave my mom. I screamed and yelled and protested but nothing worked. I remember being strapped into a seat in a van at the very edge of town with a lot of different people and it started driving. The radio was playing, the song lyrics “And I would have stayed up with you all night, Had I known how to save a life” played. I just sat there, silently sobbing.

It’s been 13 years since that happened, the earthquake that destroyed my town. Life has gotten easier, but I still struggle with the loss of my mom everyday. It's just Isabella, Eleanor and I so we’ve grown very close since then, closer than ever before. The town has been rebuilt but we don’t live there anymore, I don’t think I can ever go back to that place ever again, maybe I will in the future but not now. I wish things could’ve ended differently but that’s not the way life works, and I’m okay with that.

I was five years old when it happened.