The Day That Was...

Chapter 6

We landed on the mainland, on a cliff face high above the city, and I was shaking uncontrollably, Talia was still crying. I was just praying that they found Will and got him onto another helicopter. I'm sure that they would have, they wouldn't leave him behind. We jumped off the helicopter and crammed into a small building. We were told that we had to wait until the tsunami passed. To be honest I wasn't really thinking about the tsunami, I just wanted my son safely in my arms. It was his birthday as well. As was Talia's. This day could not have gotten any worse.

20 minutes later we arrived back at the hotel and Dad was still telling jokes about my golf skills. I still laughed but Dad did look concerned about his sisters and my cousins. I was too. We walked back up to the hotel room and turned on the TV. What happened next I will never forget. On the screen were horrifying images of unbelievable destruction. At first I though an action movie was on but it wasn't. This was reality. This was happening right now. Then there was a desperate knock on the door. I opened it to an unrecognisable Aunt and cousin. They were holding hands and sobbing. I let them past me and they fell onto the bed. My aunt said that they had just been let out of a small building where they had waited out the tsunami. They had heard everything. Although there were no windows they could here the wave destroying buildings in the city below them. The worst part was.....

Will was unaccounted for.

Every person that was on Phiphi island at the time had been in that building. Except Will.
When my aunt had asked where he was they said that there was no little boy left on the island. Everyone that was there had been put into a helicopter and taken to safety. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. A tear crawled down my cheek. Even though I didn't love my aunt or her kids. They were family. I didn't know what to do with myself. I was just praying to God that they would find him. Will could not be gone. That was something that was completely impossible. I would never accept something like that happening. But what I didn't find out until much later.... Is that I would have to accept it.

The next morning we were all exhausted, none of us had gotten any sleep. From reports on the news the destruction of the tsunami was immense. 275,000 people had been killed or was missing across 14 countries. Will was one of them. The wave had reached 20 metres tall and had wiped out everything in its pass.
We had gone and seen every person we could think of and were asking if a little boy had been brought back from Phiphi Island. But we were told the same thing. Everyone that was on Phiphi Island had been brought back.
We were all struggling, if not for the fact that a tsunami had annihilated our vacation but for the fact that Will was missing.
The next morning, we were sent home. None of us wanted to leave, but we were forced onto a plane with a one-way trip back to Adelaide. I was silent the whole flight home. I just couldn't process it. One moment my life was good and the next it had been completely turned upside down.