"It's not my Mother. It's not my Mother. It's not my Mother. Ok, breathe, you can't just leave them their just because they're not your Mother. You have to get them out." I thought. This mental pep talk spurred me on to continue removing the rubble, but a selfish part of me just wanted to scream and run away. I could feel myself panicking again, and it was all that I could do not to scream, but I swallowed my fear, and carried on. The women was almost free, and I could see the gratidude in her eyes.
She tried to help herself, but it only made things harder, because as she moved, the rubble changed position. I took her hand and told her to stay still. "I'll get you out of there, don't worry. I'm not going to let you die." She smiled and stopped moving. Finally, there came a point where she could pull herself out of the rubble. She slowly inched her way out of the death trap, and crawled onto flatter ground. Then she sat, head between her knees crying.
"I'm so sorry," she cried, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for her "It's just, I thought you were my daughter. I wouldn't have given you false hope if I hadn't of thought that, please forgive me." I sat beside her, tears streaming down my cheeks. I reached for her hand, taking it between mine as I told her that it was ok. But even as I said it, I felt myself retreating inot my mind again. I couldn't do that, not again, not now. I had to find my family, I had to sort this out.
I explained to the woman that I had to find my family, and that I must start right away. I expected her to just nod, or ignore me completely, but she looked up and cried " I'll help you. It's the least that I can do after you saved my life." She looked so sad at the thought of my leaving, and I, myself thought that it wouldn't be a bad thing to have company. I nodded and pointed to a pile of rubble. The one where my Grandmother's house once stood.
"Let's start here. That's where we were, hopefully somebody will be alive down there." We walked towards it in silence, and began to move the debrie, not getting our hopes up, just workig our way through the pile, looking for my family. It was hard work, and we were only ten minutes in when I had to rest. With no food or drink surviving, all that we coul do was hope that a genourous country would send in supplies. I was thirsty, I could feel my throat closing up as I thought about all the drinks that we had on the buffet table. I mentally slapped myself. Now is not the time to otherthink things, just find your family, then you can drink.
So I stopped resting, and worked faster, until my hands were blistered and bloody. I couldn't move my hands without more blood coming out of my hand. I looked over at the woman I had saved, she was still working, though her hands were torn and tender. I looked at her full of awe. How could she look for my family for so long, while I sat there and watched? How could she stay beside me, rather than running to her houses rubble and searching for her family, how? She is strong, stronger than I will ever be.
I went over to her. "Listen, we've been looking for my family all day, tomorrow, we'll look for your's. It's only fair, and we'll alternate days between each family, that way, we have to find someone, right?" I was doubting myself again. Now was not the time to doubt myself. I had to remain hopeful, I had to fight to the very end. She looked at me, nodded, and returned to what was left of my Grandmother's house. I couldn't help but admire her for the courage and dedication she showed.
She was slaving away, while I sat there doing nothing. "That isn't right, I should be helping." I thought to myself. "This isn't her family, it's mine." So I returned to the pile working through the pain, until it was to dark to carry on. We sat infront of the pile, not sleeping, not speaking, just hoping that tomorrow we would find our family.
