Disaster

A Story by carlton_speaks

A draft of my short story about, yes you guessed it, a disaster!

Fitch awoke to an immense pain to his right leg. Before he could shake off the morning cobwebs, he discovered his bookshelf across the bottom half of his bed. Having just missed his left leg by inches, his right leg took most of the punishment. He grunted in agony as he lifted the shelf slightly to slide his leg out. He could walk but with a heavy limp. At least it wasn’t broken. He heard shouts and screams from outside. Fitch’s hand and back became damp in sweat as he scurried outside to see what the commotion was about.

Tiles from rooftops of houses had cracked and slipped down, car windows cracked and a tree had collapsed across the pavement. Many were being helped. A dozen or so people gathered around an unconscious child who was bleeding from the head. Fitch’s body went cold, his feet were stuck to the ground, brain racing. As much as he wanted to help, a part of him wanted to get as far away as possible. Before he had any more time to think, he felt a slap on his shoulder.

‘Hey man, glad to see you’re okay. I was looking for you in your room.’ Fitch was glad to see Marc, a fellow student who lived on the floor above.

‘Well my leg isn’t in the best shape, I don’t think it’s broken but I definitely can’t run.’

‘Yeah you don’t seem like you’re in a good way. Let’s have you sit down for a while mate.’

Fitch’s hands were trembling as he sat on the kerb. A woman tending the unconscious child was wailing as she put her arm around the child’s head. Fitch assumed it must have been the child’s mother.

‘Poor women. It’s impossible to get through to either an Ambulance or Police,’ Marc said.

‘What do you mean?’ Fitch asked frantically.

‘An earthquake or something must have struck. I wasn’t able to call anybody in the city’.

The news caused Fitch’s heart to start pounding, clenching his jaw to cope with the despair. Marc looked bemused by him. ‘You okay mate, you’re looking a little pale.’

‘Of course I’m not! M-my mum lives in the city remember?’ Fitch fired back.

‘S**t, I forgot.’ Marc put a hand to Fitch’s shoulder.

‘I’ve got to go to the city Marc, I’ve got to see if she’s okay’, Fitch said as tears started rising.

‘Fitch it isn’t safe right now, we should be in search of an evacuation shelter.’

Fitch couldn’t be asked to contend with Marc right now. Not with all this going on. ‘Well I’ll go on my own then.’

‘In your state?’

‘I can still walk, I’ll find my way there,’ Fitch said sternly. He stood up. Limping towards his apartment, he noticed from the corner of his eyes Marc staring at him in frustration.

Fitch turned his room into a complete wasteland in a matter of minutes, packing everything he would need for the trip. He filled several bottles of water, emptied his fridge and changed from his nightgown to a t-shirt, shorts and trainers. Amidst the preparation, he found an old picture of himself and his mother, both more youthful in appearance. Fitch took the picture with him as he made his way to the front door. Marc stood outside, showing off a huge grin.

‘Well seeing as I can’t convince you otherwise, let me at least drive you to the city,’ Marc said whilst spinning his car keys around his index finger.

Fitch started laughing, struggling to maintain eye contact. Marc joined in on the laughter. ‘I’m sorry abo-.’ Before Fitch could say anymore, Marc interrupted. ‘Don’t be mate. We don’t know what on earth is going on in the city. I should have been more understanding. Now let’s get you to the car.’ ‘Thanks man.’ That was all Fitch could muster out in the sad mess that he was in.

As Marc helped Fitch down the stairs and into the car, they could see more people leaving their homes racing into their vehicles. Shouts could be heard from neighbours telling evacuees to head to the evacuation shelter and directions on how to get there. They ignored them. Marc started the car, stamping his foot on the gas when he saw an opening. Fitch just sat, pressing an ice pack onto his right leg. Closing his eyes, he prayed that his mother was safe and away from harm’s way.

The journey to the city should not have been long, but streaks of traffic escaping the city were using both lanes. Drivers were too busy blaring their horns and looking to cut ahead, than to allow someone foolish enough to enter the city. The diversions offered Fitch and Marc a reason to sprout profanity at other road users. That helped Fitch to rid some of the anxiety clogging up in him. Marc drove through several off-road paths, causing his tyres to shriek as they were being tortured and beaten. When Fitch apologised and promised to get his car fixed after this was all done, Marc wouldn’t have any of it, characteristically declaring to Fitch that this was what friends do for each other. Fitch couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

‘Hey Fitch, your mum’s going to be okay. I know it’s something you’d expect me to say, but if she is in danger, the emergency services would be close enough to take care of it. That little kid back at the town, as unfortunate as it is, was just too small to cope with all this.’ Fitch found it random for Marc to suddenly say that. He thought it was a tactic to prevent the air from being filled with silence.

‘I know, but it’s just the stress of all this. My mum lives alone, what if there was nobody around to help. I’ve just got to make sure.’

‘I hear you mate, but just relax a little. That’s the only way you’re going to be of any help.’

‘Easy for you to say, your family lives on practically the other side of the country,’ Fitch said as he massaged the ache in his right leg.

‘Well I don’t actually know how they’re getting on. There’s no way of getting news on how big this earthquake was.’

‘No news either? It must have had an effect everywhere.’

‘I bloody well hope it hasn’t.’ Marc took a while to utter those words, focusing more on the road signs. His face was etched with a look of discomfort, typical of someone who had just earned their driving license.

‘Can you believe it was just last week that we were planning road trips down south with the others, now that one of us in the group finally got themselves a car. I was looking forward to camping with everyone. You guys were the reason uni has been so amazing.’ Fitch took a long sigh, instantly regretting bringing up the subject. ‘Guess we can throw those plans out of the window.’

‘Who says we’re cancelling? We’ve planned our summer out, and I intend on sticking to it,’ Marc responded with a surge of enthusiasm. ‘Look on the bright side, we might not have to sit our exams in a few weeks,’ he laughed, expecting Fitch to follow suit. Fitch instead crinkled his eyes when forcing them to meet Marc’s. He got the message immediately.

‘Was just trying to brighten up the mood, that’s all.’

Marc shifted gears to drive up a steep hill that Fitch was all too familiar with. ‘It’s good to see you’ve finally come out of your shell since we first met. Who would have thought that the awkward bookworm who’d s**t himself at the very thought of starting a conversation with a stranger, would get up to so much blasphemous behaviour on a Friday night. ’ Marc sneered as he gave Fitch’s head a hard scrub.

‘Oh piss off.’ Fitch grappled to get Marc’s hand off his head.

As they reached the top of the hill, the scale of trees and buildings were getting smaller in height and numbers. Fitch’s eyes wandered to the plumes of thick smoke rising high into the night’s sky. His heart started pounding again. A smouldering aroma seeped its way into the car, forcing Marc to slowly come to a halt. Marc’s mouth was gaping wide open.

‘I’m getting out!’ Fitch cried, hastily stumbling into the road. He knew Marc would turn the car around without a seconds thought. His body burst into action, leg numb from the ice pack as he ignored the discomfort. He could hear Marc calling for his name, presumably telling him to not go any further. Despite the limp, it was easy to lose Marc. Once he got to the sign welcoming those to the city, the heat from the calamity hit Fitch, suffocating him with its thick ashes. He didn’t have to walk far from the sign until he was lost in smoke. What in God’s name happened? The flames engulfing the city had become even more intense. His entire body was soaked in sweat.

From a distance, Fitch saw flocks of people walking across the city’s main high street. His knees rose chest high as he galloped towards them. He came to a complete standstill when the flock were no longer shadowy figures from afar. Most of their clothing was burned to a crisp, visibly showing their red and swollen bodies. They walked with their heads down, not saying a word or consoling one another. When Fitch asked them what had happened, they ignored him, kept their heads down and walked on. One man was willing enough to share that he saw a while flash during the night, and the next thing he knew the entire city was in ruins. Another woman broke down crying as she clutched her arm. Fitch could see that the skin from the arm she was holding was sloughing off, as if it were a snake shedding dead skin. The flesh from within glistened a deep pink. The sight of it almost forced Fitch to spew out last night’s dinner. He tried to help the girl, but an older woman quickly pulled her up to her feet and beckoned her to move. As the last members of the group walked past him, Fitch felt as though he was floating out of his body, none of this seemed real.

Fitch turned his attention to the wreckage of collapsed buildings that lied just ahead of him. He watched the scorching blaze feast on the once durable concrete, covering his mouth from the smoke. Looking closely, about a dozen dark shapes resembling human figures appeared behind the curtains of fire. It was hard to tell what they were from how charred they had become. Fitch backed off, going in search of a way around the carnage.

As Fitch kept jogging down the road, he looked around. The destruction of the city hadn’t quite sunk in yet. This once

aesthetically pleasing city, toyed around with as if it were child’s play. He reached his mother’s house and immediately put his foot through the door. It took three attempts for him to break in. The house had been spared much of the devastation seen throughout the city. Scatters of broken glass and furniture were all over the house, but nothing had been set ablaze. Fitch raced around the house, scouring through all the rooms in search of his mother.

Maybe she got away with one of those groups of people seeking refuge elsewhere, then this would have been all for nothing, good riddance. Possibly the only occasion when Fitch would be okay with wasting all his time and energy.

Before the weight could leave his shoulders, cries for help rang from outside. Fitch’s ears tickled from the familiarity of the voice. His legs reacted on their own, leaping down the stairs to the garden door.

‘Please, I need something to drink,’ his mother mumbled.

Fitch’s eyes started stinging at the sight of his mother. She looked helpless sitting beside the garden fence, struggling to bring any life to her body.

‘Mum, it’s me Fitch.’

‘I know, I can tell from your footsteps. Could you get your mother some water,’ the words as lifeless as her body. Her face was tattooed in harsh burns, but it was her eyes or the lack of it that forced Fitch to drop to his knees. Her eye sockets were hollow. Crimson fluids were running down her melted eyes.

‘I’m so sorry mum…for your eyes, for everything,’ he said as tears started streaming down his face.

‘Fitch my sweet boy,’ she held her hand out to reach his face, unaware that he was too far away. Fitch crawled forward and held her cold, limp hand.

‘Why are you sorry? It wasn’t you that dropped the bomb.’

She didn’t say another word, not even as Fitch begged and pleaded for her to stay alive.