The Core Of The Earth

The Great Earthquake

 BANG! Light bulbs popped. Lights flickered off. Furniture tipped over. Picture frames fell from the walls and shattered. A deafening roar filled the air. The ground rumbled as if a stampede of oversized elephants were running right outside Allie's house. It was an earthquake.

A big one.

A loud bang.

Something knocked into the back of Allie's head.

And the world went black.

When Allie woke up again, she was buried under piles and piles of rubble. She was confused for a moment before last night came crashing back to her. It had been a stormy night, lightning striking every minute. There was an occasional rumbling sound, but she had thought it was just thunder. Then the earth started to shake, and pictures fell from their perch of decades on the walls. That's when she had realised it was more than just a storm.

By then, though, it was already too late.

Something had hit her in the back of her head, and the darkness inside her mind had overwhelmed her.

Allie felt a spike of pain shoot up her left leg, and looked down to see a bloody, gushing scrape barely visible past the debris. Gritting her teeth, Allie shoved herself to her feet. The process took about five minutes, but with the dust and ash heavy in the air, it felt like an eternity. Allie wasnt exactly sure what she had expected when she got up, but nonetheless was shocked at the scene around her. San Fransisco sat in ruins on the ground; the square Allie had grown up on was decimated. Despite her best efforts, Allie felt tears stinging her eyes, rolling off her chin. Allie raised her head to the sky and screamed. She screamed for the unfairness of it all, for the blood shed this night, and for less important things, all the times she had been bullied at school, the time their dog, Tucker, had died without warning, her grandmother getting sick and never recovering. She screamed until she had tears pouring onto the blood-stained earth and her voice cracked with emotion.

A spear of light poked through the cloud cover, illuminating a patch of earth in front of her. Allie's gaze followed the ray of meager sunshine until her line of vision landed on a rabbit, nibbling silently at a sprig of grass shooting up from beneath the ruckus. It seemed peaceful and in control.

The rabbit inspired Allie enough to wipe her tears and look around her in better detail.

Some buildings were buckeled in half with jagged corners poking up from the ground. Others were reduced to only piles of stone and broken glass. Allie could see three small fires scattered around. Dust was swelling in the air, making it hard to see. Allie looked behind her, toward the forest in her backyard. A small gasp escaped her as she saw it, too, was on fire.

Tears threatened to overwhelm her again, but she pushed them back. Drawing herself up taller, Allie limped away, turning her back on the forest forever. Dragging herself through the ruins of San Fransisco, Allie traveled for an hour, gritting her teeth and pushing through her pain. Three times she had to stop and sit down on a crumbling porch step out of fear of fainting. Finally, Allie stumbled through a layer of charred bushes, revealing a river. On the other side of the thin river was another forest, full of life and greenery. Allie stared across for a moment, dumbfounded at the sudden burst of color after the gray-scale buildings of the city she left behind. After a moment, Allie shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, but was met with white-hot pain shooting down her neck. Allie let out an uncontrollable, silent shriek. Crumbling to the ground, Allie waiting for the pain to subside. After a few minutes, Allie felt the pressure lift from her head and she scrambled to her feet. No time to lose, she thought. Allie searched the edge of the riverbank for an easy path to cross. Her eyes caught on a fairly simple boulder that she could use to leap about halfway, from where she thought the river should be shallow enough to cross to the edge. She just hoped the current was slow.

Trudging aloing the riverbank, Allie found the boulder she had spotted before. Climbing onto the smooth surface proved more difficult than Allie had originally thought. Slipping was easy on the slick surface, and Allie's leg was not helping. Her vision was blotching out, and her earlier dizziness was returning as well. She had to go quickly. Scrambling on top of the boulder, Allie looked down. It was a long jump, but she believed she could make it. She crouched, ignoring the searing pain from her leg, and jumped into the river, as far toward the bank as she could. Water swirled over her head, entering her nose and making her eyes sting. Flailing in the water, Allie realised she had no idea which way was up. Suddenly, an idea hit her. She opened her mouth and blew out bubbles. The bubbles formed a steady line to her left, and Allie followed it quickly. She was further down than she thought, and the current was taking her far from the boulder. A stray log slammed into Allie's shoulder, and she let out a muffled yelp of pain, screwing her eyes shut. She had been swimming for so long Allie felt like giving up. Her breath had far since left her, and the only thing she could do was hang onto consciousness.

Thump.

Allie's eyes flew open at the impact of something at her stomach. She could feel herself fading, and with her last scrap of strength, she hauled herself onto a floating log that had one end stuck on the river side. Her head broke the surface and she gasped for air, overfilling her lungs. She had had no more than five breaths of air when she felt the current strengthen. She pulled herself the rest of the way up the log and shimmyed onto land. She lay on her back for a while, not aware of the bright mid-day sun sliding down to night. All she could think about was her pain. She was cold, hungry, hurt and terrified. And yet shouldnt help a sliver of proudness to slip into the front of her mind. Despite herself, a small chuckle bubbled out of her mouth. She was alive. Cold and alone, but alive.

And that was no small feat.

With that last thought, Allie fell into sleep, curling on her side for warmth. A long, loose strand of moss blew with the wind and settled over Allie's sleeping body like a blanket.

It was as if everyone wanted her to survive today, despite all odds.