Mairi Prompts

Click. Photo. 🔈TW🔈 TSUNAMI, DEATH/BODIES, TRAUMA

The thing about trauma is that it comes into your life unannounced. You can compare it to many nasty feelings you have; to a rude customer, a Karen, a invasive friend. Etc. Rude, inconsiderate, and worst of all; a bitch to deal with. Kairi couldn't remember the trip if he wanted to, however, it refused when he didn't need it. It was the opposite for Mattia, it was obvious to him, it pressed on top of him begging him to suffer through the memories.

Drowning him just as the tsunami did.

Those fucking memories.

People go about their days never knowing what could happen. That blissful ignorance of routine, no one ever truly knows what'll happen, it doesn't matter if you scheduled your day as the world is never kind. It's always unexpected. One day, you could be grocery shopping and a tsunami could come your way.

That's what happened to Mattia and Kairi. It was a trip to Japan instead of grocery shopping, a simple, supposed happy trip that was scheduled before it turned into a disaster.

Kairi remembers glimpses of those days; it was like looking into those disposable cameras you can get when going to those tourist booths filled with photos of the place you're visiting. Click, photo, click, photo, click, photo.

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The wave had loomed over them. Promising disaster; It felt like time had stopped as everyone stared at the wave. That uncaring wave, he had no clue what it would bring. It came in pain, in screams, in tears and shock.

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Kairi can only describe the waves as suffocating; he remembers Mattia's hands in his, remembers the feeling of those precious fingers slipping past his, the feeling of  pure dread. There was no time for reacting. It was only fear that drove him to survive. It was like being spun around, tossed, and turned.

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The pain was agonizing, the glass that pierced his skin, the way the waters choked him. He recalled feeling something wrap around his neck, oh, the panic and the way his body clawed at it to be removed. A seatbelt, he had thought, in those spare moments of time. Kairi could remember brushing against others in the water, the tugging, the competition to get to the surface to finally breathe.

No one will ever tell you how horrifying water could be; how it could kill you in an instant or how it could ruin a whole city.

Mattia, to put it simply, was fragile ever since the tsunami hit, he had become distant to the world. His friends, he was cautious around, flinching at the sudden movements instead of laughing. To Kairi, he was attached, never letting go no matter what.

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The feeling of loosing someone was drastic, it damaged the mind, damaged the heart and left one feeling empty and in disparity.

Logically, Mattia knew he didn't lose Kairi like that but he did lose him physically. Mattia could replay that scene in his head forever and it did, the way their hands were entertained, the way he felt Kairi's hand lose his. The feeling of death breathing down his neck as the tsunami played with him.

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Mattia remembers surfacing, the first inhale of pure air, something he would never take for granted again. Oh, the sight around him was dreadful. Disgusting. Horrific. The bodies that brushed against him. The sound of screaming, wailing, children, adults, it was too much. Mattia knew he was screaming, sobbing, for Kairi when he hit the air but it didn't block out the other sounds around him.

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In such little time he had heard too much only to feel the water grab his body and pull him back under again. He remembers feeling that pain blossom in his head, something heavy, knocking him in and out of consciousness. 

Disposable cameras loved to show the scenery of nature, rivers, trees, things that resembled beauty. It never showed the scenery when encountering a natural problem, why is that? Because it took away from the beauty they wanted to capture? To hide what nature is capable of? Pictures never showed how nature could kill humanity until it hit the news.

Kairi knew his mind blocked out the trauma. It was easier. Mattia lived with it, never straying far from the oldest, he submerged himself in memories. He knew it wasn't easy but it was better than pretending he was okay. The therapist, doctors, and people didn't understand them. 

They never would.

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