I can still hear the buildings collapsing.
I look around. Mattie and Jase look okay, and are helping Annie sit up. It looks like her ankle is twisted, or sprained. She is crying, but who can blame her. We barely managed to get out alive.
‘You okay?’ Jess has her hand held out, and I grab it, feeling something warm and sticky on my palm. I pull my hand away and look at Jess’s hand. There is a bit of blood from a graze, and my own wrist has a small cut that is still bleeding.
‘We’re all bleeding from somewhere,’ Jess states bluntly, ‘Come on, we need to find my brother.’
‘Oh, no,’ I groan. I let Jess help me up, and the world seems to sway for a second before sitting still. Jess had to look after her little brother today, which was why we went out in the first place. He was supposed to be going to the street concert with some of his friends. He’s still only thirteen.
‘Everyone okay?’ Jase asks. He’s sort of the leader, because he’s a year older than all of us. He came from Queensland, and had to be put back a grade so he would understand the stuff we do in school here. But he’s pretty smart for a guy his age.
We all respond. Annie is leaning on Mattie, and Jamie looks ready to catch her if she falls.
‘Ryan, you’re bleeding,’ Mattie indicates her forehead, and I touch my fingers to my forehead. They already have blood on them, but there’s fresh blood when I pull them away. Huh, something must have hit me on the head when I was running. I didn’t really notice much, just that the world seemed to be falling apart around us.
‘Anyone seen Tim?’ Jess asks, and everyone looks around. We can’t see him anywhere, but, then again, we can’t see anyone at all.
‘Where’d everybody go?’ Jamie asks. She’s looking really worried. She’s usually the first to fall to pieces at anything, so she must be trying very hard to keep it together, ‘This place was packed before, and now…’
We all look around. There’s no one there. Just us. Me, Jess, Mattie, Jamie, Annie, and Jase. As if the rest of the world has gone off to hide.
‘Maybe they didn’t get out fast enough,’ Mattie suggests, but she looks more worried now, ‘Maybe they couldn’t all get out in time.’
Jess is turning in a circle, and she stops. She walks a little away, and we watch her. She starts calling out for Tim, her brother. Again and again. She stops calling, and she is screaming her brother’s name. I feel my legs moving forwards, and I grab her around the shoulders, pulling her back. She has tears streaming down her face, and she is still screaming, but I don’t notice that.
Everyone else is just watching. They don’t know what to do, they’ve never lost anyone close to them before. They can only imagine.
It seems to take a while, but Jess finally stops screaming out. She is leaning against me, crying. I have to use all my strength to hold her up. Sometimes it sucks to be the smaller guy. I’m fast and agile, but not very strong.
I can hear Jase saying something, and I look back at them. Jamie has started crying, and she is sitting on the steps. Jase is talking to her, and Annie and Mattie are just watching me and Jess. Like I said, they don’t know what to do.
‘We should at least look,’ Jess finally says. She pushes herself away from me, and I hold a hand out to her. She looks a little wobbly, but she walks back to the others.
‘I’m going to find Tim,’ she tells them, and Annie stops chewing on her nail.
‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ she asks, ‘I mean, what if we lose you? I don’t think we should split up. We should stay together until the emergency services arrive.’
‘I don’t think they’re coming,’ I say, and everyone looks at me, ‘It’s been, what, twenty minutes? I honestly think they’re not coming.’
‘Or they’ve arrived, and we can’t see them,’ Mattie points out, ‘Like the Sixth Sense. Maybe we’re the dead ones, and the living people can’t see us or be seen by us.’
‘No!’ Jamie screams. She’s on her feet, and her face is pale white, ‘I’m still alive! I’m Jamie Roberts, fifteen years old, and I’m still alive!’
‘Mattie, keep your stupid movie-based theories to yourself,’ Jase says, but he looks a bit worried. Who can blame him? After what Mattie said, we’re all starting to think she might be right.
‘We must be alive,’ Annie says, ‘We could just be in a coma, or something. This is just an out-of-body experience. Because I can still feel the pain from my ankle.’
‘But you can’t feel pain in dreams,’ Jess points out. She shakes her head, ‘Damn it, Mattie! Now you’ve got us all doubting our existence!’
‘Can we all just calm down?’ I yell. Jamie is sobbing, and Jase and Mattie are looking at each other furiously. Annie and Jess look worried, and they turn to me, ‘We don’t know what’s happening, so we all need to just chill, and see if we can find Tim, or any of his mates. We promised to look after him today, remember?’
‘We can’t help him if we’re dead!’ Jamie cries, and she starts crying louder. She sounds like a siren.
No, wait…
‘Jamie, shut up!’
‘Ryan, what is it?’ Annie looks at me, still scared. I shush her with a gesture.
‘Can you hear that?’ I ask. Everyone stops and strains their ears to listen.
Sirens. Approaching fast.
The first of the fire trucks swings to a stop not too far from where we are. The small spot fires have burned out, but they haven’t come for the fires. There is a lot of rubble to move, and they need all the help they can get.
A news van pulls up, followed by two more, and four ambulances arrive. We can still hear more on their way.
Jamie looks relieved, and runs down as the emergency service workers climb out of their vehicles. Jase follows her, and Mattie and Annie struggle to their feet.
The firemen are starting to clear the rubble from the front area of the building. I look around and see that hundreds of people are standing behind a yellow tape set up by the recently-arrived police. Search dogs are being unloaded.
Jamie is running from one paramedic to another, gesturing. She runs up to a fireman, who ignores her as he jogs towards the rubble. She turns back to us, and she looks scared again.
The rubble is almost cleared from the front area now. We can see legs sticking out.
A newsreader is talking to the camera.
People are filming it on their phones.
Jamie is sitting in the middle of the ground, crying hysterically.
Jase is waving at an SES worker.
Jess, Mattie, Annie and me all swap a look as we recognise the first rescued casualty. A paramedic runs up and the person is wheeled on a stretcher. They are pronounced dead. I feel my stomach fall out, and my throat closes up. Even from here, we can hear the paramedic identify the victim.
‘Student card in his wallet says Ryan Langton.’
