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Hannah heard the distant sound of the church bell from her room striking five times. It was five am, and Hannah hadn’t been able to sleep. Something didn’t feel right, but she didn’t know what it was. Maybe it was the fact that she had never lied wide awake in the middle of the night, or that feeling in her stomach as she tried to get some rest.
“Tossing and turning isn’t going to help me, is it?” Hannah thought, getting up from her bed and quietly creeping to her mother’s room to tell her about her lack of ability to sleep.
But as she was halfway through the hall, she felt a sudden shaking, almost losing her balance.
“What’s that shaking?” She thought, before gasping, thinking she should hurry to her mother before the building collapsed.
She quickly ran to her mother’s room, and when she burst the door open, she saw her mother in the dark room already attempting to get up.
“Hannah!” She exclaimed, almost a bit relieved, but mostly scared, “We’ve got to go down, we can’t stay here.”
“C’mon, then,” Hannah said, taking her mother’s hand and running down the stairs. In her panic, Hannah almost tripped, but got held up by her mother.
When they exited their building, they saw the rest of the neighborhood, where some of the other buildings were falling to pieces.
“Hasn’t the shaking lasted too long now?” Hannah wondered aloud, knowing that earthquakes normally only lasted from ten to thirty seconds.
“I don’t know,” Hannah’s mother replied, “But we’ve got to get out of here.”
Hannah began to run, trying not to lose her balance or trip on the road, and then the shaking stopped.
“Glad that’s over with,” Hannah said, relieved.
“I don’t think it’s the end of it,” her mother replied, pointing at a building that had some flames at the bottom edge. But the flames were growing quickly.
“The gas pipes!” Hannah exclaimed, feeling afraid all over again, “They must’ve broken and leaked.”
They saw a man run up to the building with a barrel of wine, throwing it onto the flames to put it out, but the fire had spread to another building. Hannah and her mother ran over to the building. Her mother searched around and eventually found a small water source. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to put out small fires. She grabbed a bucket that was lying around and filled it up with water, throwing the water onto the fire.
“Are there any other buckets?” Hannah asked, searching the area.
“No, Hannah,” her mother said sternly, “You go find safety, I’ll deal with the fires.”
Hannah wanted to protest, but as she saw more people approaching the buildings and her mother working, she decided that it would be best to listen to her mother.
Hannah didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye before some people began pushing past her. So, she turned around and ran away to find safety, just like her mother said.
The ground shook again for a few seconds before stopping.
“Aftershocks,” Hannah murmured. She saw debris falling from buildings, and she knew she’d have to be careful. She stepped on a piece of paper and picked it up.
“A map!” She exclaimed, excited. But the excitement was short lived, knowing she was still in danger in the middle of the street. How was she supposed to know whether a place was safe or not?
Then, she remembered her grandparents lived nearby, and realized they could be in danger. Using the map, she ran faster than a cheetah to her grandparent’s home. As she approached the building, she saw it was destroyed. The roof and walls were all over the place, and their belongings were scattered as well. Hannah felt tears well up her eyes as she looked around, seeing lots of people but no signs of her grandparents. She quickly wiped the tears away, though, since she was still not in a very safe place, and she laid the map out on the ground.
But she couldn’t observe for long, however, as she heard a woman yell, “Fire!” and pick her up.
“Hey, put me down!” Hannah yelled.
“I apologize, girl,” The woman said, “but a fire just erupted near you.”
“Oh, thank you,” Hannah said, looking back at where she was, and sure enough, there was a fire, which was now eating at her map.
“You’re welcome,” the woman ran off and turned a corner, to where Hannah couldn’t see her anymore.
Hannah began to roam the streets, trying to find a place where she could be safe. She saw a man, running away with two kids.
“Hey, sir!” She yelled, getting his attention, “Do you know where there is a safe place?”
“Yeah,” he said breathlessly, “Golden Gate Park, I’m heading there right now.”
“Thanks!” Hannah exclaimed, running off. She knew where Golden Gate Park was by memory, as she and her mother went there a lot when Hannah was younger. The memories made her sad, because she knew life wouldn’t be the same after these events. But she had to push through.
~~
After lots of running, she made it to Golden Gate Park, where people were already camping. She looked around for an empty tent, and saw her grandparents. Hannah ran as fast as she could without disturbing any other people staying there.
“Grandmother! Grandfather!” She exclaimed, stopping and giving both of them a hug.
“Hey, Hannah, dear,” her grandfather said, “Where’s my daughter?”
“Oh, mother?” Hannah replied, “I don’t think she will come.”
Her grandmother’s expression fell, “Where did you last see her?”
“She was putting out a fire,” Hannah replied, “but… we’re safe, right?”
Both of her grandparents hugged Hannah as she began to cry.