The Dream

A Story by Kelly

This is a dream that I had. A guy leaves his girl, she goes after him to get him back, an earthquake hits and the girl tries to find her love, hoping he survived.

It was a beautiful autumn day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and I hadn't slept all night. I was so excited, today was the day. I was getting married. It was the day I had waited for all my life. As I sat up in bed, I thought about all the things I had to do today. Hair, make up, jewelry, getting dressed and making sure I ate breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially on this day. I was just about to get up when I heard the door to my parents’ bedroom open. I heard the shuffle of my mother’s slippers. The sound got louder as I heard her make her way towards the kitchen, the sound stopped when she got to the counter to start coffee. The sweet and smoky aroma wafted into the room. I inhaled a deep breath. "Mm mm. That smells good" The curtains moved and mom poked her head into the room. Noticing I was awake she smiled at me. "Good morning sweetie"
"Good morning Momma"
"Come have some coffee and oatmeal"
"OK, I'll be right there. I'll just get dressed first."
All of a sudden the room started to shake and pieces of the ceiling broke off.
"Mom!! Mom what's happening??!!"
I stumbled to the doorway, avoiding pieces of drywall. I made it to the doorway and looked into the kitchen. Mom was nowhere around.
"Mom?! Mom where are you??!!"
The cabinets were shaking so violently, they threatened to fall off the wall. I narrowly escaped another piece of ceiling that fell as I ran to the wall to help me stay balanced.
"Mom?! Dad?! Hello?!! Where is everyone?!!
I made it to the basement stairs safely, my fiancé had been sleeping down there. Tradition says that it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding so we slept in separate rooms. Vincent slept downstairs and I slept in the family room.
"Vincent?!! Honey are you down there?! VINCENT?!!!
I was getting very scared and worried and slightly angry. What in the world was happening? We don’t get earthquakes here. How is this happening and where is everyone? The whole house began shaking more violently and the ceiling was cracking everywhere. Suddenly a piece of ceiling fell off and even though I tried to avoid it, I wasn’t fast enough. A piece of it clipped my head and I was knocked unconscious.
It felt like I was unconscious for seconds. I cracked my eyes open to look around, I had to keep them squinted because the sun was so bright. 'That doesn’t make sense, it was still pitch black this morning. Was I unconscious that long?' All of a sudden I heard a high pitched scream and my eyes flew open, I was staring up at the sky and everything around me looked different. For one I wasn’t in the house anymore, I was out in the open and I could see the ocean from where I lay on the hard but hot concrete.
'What is going in' I thought 'Where am I'
I lay my head back against the concrete and saw a very large chunk of brick falling from a building I didn’t realize I was so close to.
"S**T"
I quickly rolled out of the way and narrowly escaped being crushed.

As I stood up I saw where the screams were coming from. Everyone was running from everything. Buildings were falling, people were pushing and falling over each other. The ground was cracked everywhere, chunks of building were strewn across the streets. Bodies were on the ground everywhere I looked, some covered in blood, some with crushed body parts. It was horrific. I started stumbling forward, trying to find my way through the crowds of people. Suddenly I saw a flash of dark hair.

"Ashley?" I started forcing my way through the packs of people, pushing everyone out of my way.

"Ashley is that you? ASHLEY?"

The dark hair swung around at the sound of her name. It was her.

"Ashley, Oh thank the Lord I found you Ashley. What is going on? Where is Vincent? Where is your family? Why are we here? Where is here? Ashley what is happening?"

"Iris, Iris you need to calm down. We need to get someplace safe and I will explain everything to you?"

"But where is Vincent?"

"Iris it's not safe here. We need to go. Come on"

Ashley grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd. I had to hold on tight so we didn’t get separated. There were so many people, pushing and screaming. Finally after what felt like forever we found a safe spot to hide.

"Ashley will you please tell me what is going on? Where is everyone? Where is Vincent?"

"I thought he was with you. You came here looking for him"

"Where is here? I have no idea where I am. One minute we're all at home getting ready for the wedding, the next minute the house is falling apart and everyone has disappeared"

"Iris we're in Tokyo. You don’t remember anything that's happened?"

"No. Why are we in Tokyo? Why did Vincent come here? Why are you here? Where is Vincent?"

Ashley sighed heavily.

"I don’t really want to have to tell you all this Iris. The first time was painful enough."

"Please Ashley"