Leah Mitchell isn't the same shy, poor girl anymore. Now a college student, she is enjoying her life in the city and the freedom she longed for. She works hard and knows her worth. She has it all, but her heart aches for the only person from her pas...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Indonesia. Somewhere in the Ring of Fire
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I sit on the grass outside one of the tents and tap my foot to the beat of AC/DC blaring from my earbuds. The song reminds me of Dad and home. I close my eyes and focus on the lyrics. It's much better than reminiscing and getting homesick again. I'm stuck here for the next nine months, or so my contract says. Nine months, and it's been only a week.
You'd think I'd be chilling with nothing else to do, enjoying one of the most beautiful and unusual places on our teeny-tiny planet. The fucking irony is that I've never been busier in my entire nineteen years of life. It's the first time I've sat down today. My body hurts from physical exhaustion. The mental tiredness is a bitch, too, but I've got the upper hand so far. I haven't smoked. Not once. Cigs are scarce here. Everything is, but it's way worse when the goods aren't a necessity.
It's hard to give a fuck about cigarettes when you might not have drinking water. As the song changes to another, slower one, I think about how lucky I was back at home where I had everything I needed and didn't have to worry about being able to take a shower or wash my clothes.
The tiny village where we are is in a rural area devastated by frequent earthquakes. Lots of people lost their homes, and one seismic disaster after another didn't make it easy to rebuild them. Add the dengue fever and the mosquitoes, and you'll have the picture.
Some guys who have been working for the organization for a long time told me the current situation isn't the worst. At least, the volcanoes are quiet for now. Dormant. And intimidating as fuck, nonetheless.
The seismic activity or the lack of it is assessed daily. A seismometer would detect an earthquake. I hope it never does. What I've seen is enough for me to conclude that if that happens, we're fucked. One of the volcanoes might wake up. There might be a tsunami. The forces of nature shouldn't be taken lightly, especially in a place where shit happened too many times to be surprising.
A melody breaks through my stream of consciousness, and I squeeze my eyes shut when my brother's voice reverberates in the small device in my ear. I know what song it is. I remember dancing to it with Leah on the night we made love.
