The Calamity (Short Story)

Chapter 3: Calamity

   I noticed a few other villagers had the same idea as we did so I brought my family to join them. After all, safety in numbers. We didn't speak much due to the tenseness in the atmosphere. Ah, I think I noticed Yu, the kid from the family next door. He was holding his baby sister in his arms but I didn't see his parents anywhere. Now that I think about it, weren't they heading towards the inn today? And wasn't that the area that thing appeared in?

   I shuddered, not wanting to complete the thought but inwardly I resolved myself to help Yu and his sister if I could. After all, his parents had been rather good to my family. In the past week, they had shared a few of their food supplies with us despite probably not having much for themselves.

   When we got to the little hill on the island, we judged ourselves safe from being washed away for the time being and took our time to relax for a moment. I brought my family to sit next to Yu and his sister and told him I'd look after him and his sister. He seemed grateful but a bit worried. I can see why he'd be worried, after all, his parents had been in the vicinity of that monster. He's a good kid, to have the wits to take his sister to safety.

   Unlike my second son. He was always eager to jump into danger. I remember one time a neighbour's child had fallen down a crevasse once and had broken a leg. Nobody could really get in to save him because the walls were too close together for an adult. But Ming, my second son, he just tied a rope to his waist and tossed it to someone before leaping into the crevasse. That crazy kid. He got a scolding for it when he came back home with a scratch as long as his arm. I hope he and his brother hadn't been coming back and got caught up in this mess.

   I was woken from my memories by a shout. It was Kai, the hunter's kid. Apparently he had climbed up a tree to check what was happening to the village. According to him, about half of the village had been washed away by the tide but it was too dark to see any specifics. That was bad. We'd have to use our already dwindling resources to rebuild... if none of those monster things interfered.

   That night, we had people keep guard for wild beasts and watch out for other fleeing villagers. I drew first watch along with a nice lady called Yan. Oops perhaps I shouldn't have stared at her like that, my wife's glaring daggers at me right now. After I'd managed to pacify her, I sat on a boulder to keep watch.

   At first I was rather alert but as time went on the crackling of the fire and unconscious breathing of the people who were asleep eased my tightened nerves. It led to me thinking about how my eldest child, who should be 19 this year, had always been the quiet type yet was surprisingly into cultivating his body. I'd just never really paid attention because he was always more prudent than his second brother so I never thought I'd have to worry about him. That was why his decision to leave and see the world had caught me and my wife by surprise.

   He was also one of the main reasons why we'd allowed them to leave in the first place. His younger brother might be reckless but he would never take unnecessary risks. We thought having his elder brother with him might reduce the dangers our second son would experience. I remember one of the reasons our eldest son gave for wanting to venture out.

   "I want to go out and make myself stronger to protect our family."

   My wife and I had argued that we didn't need that and that our village was peaceful. Thinking of it now, with the incident from earlier, maybe we were wrong...

   After my shift was over, I still didn't get to sleep that night...