Lost in a Broken City
I ran from
the house, trying to get away. I held my glasses in one hand, my backpack from
school in the other. I wanted to check and see if my parents and siblings were
behind me but I didn’t have time. I just had to run.
I made my way through the rough wind
and pouring rain. I fought to stay on my feet. Finally, I made it to the small
empty cave in the hill by our house. I quickly stumbled inside, thinking of all
the memories me and my family had shared in this one little cave. Tea parties
with me little sister, soccer with my older brother, and little picnics with my
parents. Yes, I am the middle child in my family. In our house, we have a
system; my brother picks on me and I pick on my sister. That’s just how it
works.
But anyway, I was safe. I turned
toward the entrance now, hoping that my family would be near when suddenly I
saw a bulky palm tree truck rapidly heading my way. I tried to back away but it
was too late. BOOM! I was out like a light. I had fainted.
***
I awoke, frightened from the
hurricane that had just passed. I saw small rays of light on the cave floor
where I was laying. I slowly got to my feet. Where are they? Shouldn’t they have been running here with me? I
wondered, as I wiped my glasses with my shirt and put them on. I made my way
for the entrance and a horrible scene flashed in my eyes. Not only my house,
but the whole neighborhoods house’s were in pieces. Limp bodies peeked from
under the rumble. I sprinted to my broken house and dug through the pieces.
Glass cut my hands and the woods gave me splinters. My hands were red with
blood. “Where are they!?!?!” I cried. Was I the only one who had made it
through the hurricane?
I decided it was pointless to search
through the scraps left of my house. Maybe looking for people who escaped their
houses is the best option. I just needed to be by someone. Maybe, hopefully, Christy was ok.
I ran to her house, only 3 houses
down the street from mine. Looking
through the pile of her house, I saw something move by her tree house, smashed
on the ground along with the ancient fallen oak tree. Slowly, I made my way
toward it, not knowing what to expect. Was it her? If it was, was she hurt? I
moved some broken boards out of the way, to reveal none other than Christy.
“Oh my gosh, Christy! You’re alive!” I said as
I helped Christy out of her tree house. As she came into the light, I saw that
she was badly hurt. She was covered in bruises, had a swollen black eye, and
her leg was twisted in a weird way.
“Hey…Tami. You’re ok too” she said in
a cracked voice.
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t say ‘too’. What
happened? Where are your parents?” I asked, since Christy was an only child.
“I ran to my tree house, you know, because
it was higher than my house, and I thought it wouldn’t get flooded, but the
wind snapped the tree like a twig. I thought my parents were coming too. Oh, my
house!!!” I suddenly burst into tears at the sight of her destroyed house. I
think she was as scared as me. Both our families were buried in the rumble,
either hurt or dead.
I helped her to the cave and we told
each other our stories. She had heard the loud wind and ran for the tree house,
hoping her parents were behind her. I heard the wind too and grabbed my glasses
and my backpack for school, with all my favorite books and pencils in there, I
just couldn’t say goodbye to it. I had shouted to my family to follow but I
don’t think they heard me.
We both stayed in the cave for a
while. I used the ice pack in my lunch box to care for Christy’s broken leg.
“Thanks Tami. How long have we been
here?” Christy asked
“About a day. It’s….” I said as I
glanced at my watch “9:37 in the morning right now.” It was Sunday. The
hurricane still felt like it had only happened I second ago. The bump on my
forehead from the palm tree hurt a lot still. But Christy was way more injured
than I was.
We both felt hungry. We used the
coconuts from the broken palm tree for coconut milk. It was thick and creamy,
filling both of us up fast. Later in the day, I saw a fire truck, an ambulance,
and police cars, with rescue dogs barking from the back sit. They had come to
check if anyone in the neighbor was alive from under the rumble. And if they
alive, they would help them if they were injured. I woke Christy up from a nap
she was taking.
“Wake up, Christy! Wake up! There are
people who can help you out there!” she woke, and slowly got up. Even more
slowly, we walked down the hill, with me as Christy’s human crutch.
“Hey! My friend’s leg is badly hurt.
I think it’s broken. Please help her!” I shouted as we neared the bottom of the
hill. The people in the ambulance took one look at Christy’s leg and decided to
take her to the hospital. I told them that I have to come with.
“Don’t you have some family or
someone to watch you, kid?”
“First of all, I’m 10 and second,
both our families are missing” I said softly as tears streamed down both our
cheeks. I knew that she was thinking the same thing, if we were ever going to
see them again.
***
A week
later, we were taken back to our neighborhood by the HRT (Hurricane Rescue
Team). We had spent a few days in the hospital, where Christy got a bright
purple cast for her leg (Her favorite color by the way. As we traveled through
the city to get there, we saw how destroyed everything was. The whole city was
destroyed. Search and rescue teams searched for missing people while survivors
sat on the curb, crossing their fingers that their loved ones where somewhere
in the rumble, and hopefully alive.
Christy
walked on crutches down to the sight of our house. The HRT searched through the
rumble of Christy’s House. Her parents were found in what would have been the
living room. Both dead. Christy cried as the team pulled them from the remains
of the house. They were going to be buried tomorrow, right next to each other.
My house was next. I cried both because of the search and Christy’s parents.
Were they alive?
The Rescue
Team slowly began parting the material from my house when their search dog
barked and started sniffing the ground.
“He’s got a
scent!” A man from the HRT yelled. The dog traveled through the rumble, while
the man parted the rumble in the dog’s way. I followed he, searching for
someone, anyone. The dog stopped and barked, then dug through a pile of wood
from the house. Suddenly, the rumble revealed a figure, still breathing and
alive.
I stared at
the body. The man parted the rumble more till it revealed the face of the
person. I gasped, “Mom!”
