Contact Point Three

Dying to Dance

We raced towards the staircase, pushing our way thought the writhing mass of bodies. I glanced at May, noting how her grin was threatening to split her face in two, and I'm sure mine matched hers. There's no way it couldn't have, I was nearly dizzy with excitement.

The tall staircase groaned under the weight of nearly 100 people, and the concrete shook slightly for a few seconds. Everyone was pushing and pulling for the chance to be the first up the stairs, and there's no way I would let up on my chance either, so I started elbowing my way through the unruly crowd. I could hardly believe I was sharing the same air as Minefield Bay's best and brightest; that I was considered part of that crowd now.

"How many more floors?" May puffed quietly under her breath, while Georgia stained to hear her quiet voice. A quick count told me we'd only moved up three flights of stairs, and I didn't even want to know how many more we had to go in this hot mass of bodies around us.

We slowly moved, and as we fell towards the back of the group, the pushing began to lessen. In less than ten minutes, half the group was on the top flights of stairs, waiting for the hall doors to open. We were still on the seventh floor.

"Can- can we stop for a second?" I asked May, bending over to rest my hands on my knees. I needed to work out more, this was killing me. I told May as much, and she laughed at me while wheezing herself.

"At least we're nearly there right? We can do yoga or like, running, when we get back to the mainland. Get fit for next year, and all that jazz," May said, while I giggled at her. We both stood there for a few seconds more, and then finally began the last climb to the Hall.

"I can't believe we're actually here. Like, we're nearly in there. In the Halloween Hall Bash! It's everything we've talked about for, like, ever! And what I'm wearing, Georgia, seriously, it's...." I tuned May out as I turned to the window on the eighth floor, watching the sparkling water below. We were truly in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Looking down at the beach, I noticed that the water was rushing out quickly, leaving the beach goers completely surrounded by sand.

It was almost like a large wave was coming.

I followed the water out to sea, and saw it. No, not now. There aren't any fault lines near here. I desperatley looked for May over the heads of the few stragglers walking past, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I raced up the stairs, my heels causing me to slip and nearly fall twice as I started trying to find my best friend. We had to get out of here, now.

"May! May!" I was yelling for her, pushing through the crowd when the first screams started. People had seen the wave, and were running up from the beaches as fast as they could, trying getting their families off the beach. I turned around, trying to get through the crowd as quickly as possible. I know May'd already have pushed her way to near the front, and so that's where I needed to be.

"May!" I cried, seeing the edge of her dress just in front of me. She turned and smiled as she saw me, then quickly lost the look seeing my distress.

"What's wrong?" she yelled over the crowd, and I turned her head towards the window. She immediately noticed the wave, and stared in shock.

"We have to go, May, come on. Stop it, we have to go," I yelled as I pulled her from the other teenagers. By now, others in the group had noticed the wave and people were pushing their way down the stairs. Boys, girls, everyone, was yelling and running for the bottom floor to get to the ferries. The fire siren stared to blare, adding to the canopy of voices surrounding us. May and I were suddenly pushed to the side by a guy running past us, out bodies pressed against the wall with no way to escape as the crowd pushed on.

"What do we do?" May whimpered, tears beginning to fall behind her mask. I looked around in despair. The only thoughts crossing my mind was that we needed to be on mainland, and the way to that was on the ferries, down by the first floor. I could barely think straight I was so panicked, so I took a deep breathe, then breathed out slowly. I think I read somewhere that breathing out more slwoly than you breathed in caused your muscles to relax. Think. The only thing I knew about tsunami's and safety was getting to mainland, far inside the mainland, or up high.

We needed to get up high.

"May, follow me. We need to get up high. Go back up the stairs," I started pulling May, but we still couldn't move, we were still crushed up against the walls by the crowd around us.

"Are you crazy? We need to get to the ferries, Georgia stop it!" May screamed as I pulled her as best I could towards the stairs. I could see the wave clearly now, and it was towering over the hotel, was at least three times its size. I could feel may heart sinking as I realized there was no way we could be getting out of this alive. I looked at May, felt her pulling me down the stairs while I stumbled around in shock.

No. I will not die today. I am going to survive this fucking tsunami. I am not dying at a fucking dance.

"No. May, we need to get up high," I told her, and she paused for only a second before she began pulling my harder. I twisted my arm in her grip and pulled her until she was flush with my chest.

"May, you trust me right?" she nodded while she cried in earnest now, small whimpers falling from her mouth, "then trust me now, please. We have to get up high." She slowly nodded and we moved up the staircase.

There was a bang, and then there was nothing.