My Cloud 9

1

"30, 31, 32 ,33,-" The shaking still hadn't stopped. This was my twentieth time counting to sixty. Earthquakes aren't supposed to last twenty minutes, not at all. School drills could never prepare me for this. See, this was real. This killed my Grandad a year ago, and it came back. This wasn't supposed to ever happen again. This was why I'd never cried before. This made us feel. A sparking burst of light exploded behind my eyes, separating my body from thoughts.

My mind wandered hopelessly for some alternate reality, burried deep within my skull. But instead I found a memory, and not a very pleasant one. One of my brother, Vahvempi, meaning Stronger. And he was. He always told me, "Someday, my little Kivikova, I will be free, and I will fly right over the cliff and be welcomed into Gods kingdom."

"But Vahvempi, we don't have wings. We're people. We have arms and skin, not weightless bones and feathers. And we are free. We have a lovely home and a beautiful estate. Plus the cliff is out of bounds. You'll never get passed the electric fence."

He smiled and said "watch me." That was the last time I'd ever get to watch him. Halfway through falling he called up to me "this is flying!". And I was left with no choice but to watch him perish in the deadly waters below.

My Aunts scream woke me to conceouseness immediately. "No!" her voice shook like the earth had only minutes ago, and somehow, I knew she'd been crying. But the thing is, my family never cries. "No, it can't be-" her voice was softer now... almost fragile. That can't be Aunt Hildy. She's one of the strongest women I know. "No. No no no no no no no no no. Merdia- Merdie say something! Tell me to back off! Tell me to, Say it. Say anything, something...Please--" Aunt Hildy sounded so frail, I wanted to break something.

"She's gone." A strong, dry voice countered. "Give it up." Dad, he's alive! Boom. Merdia is my mother... No. No no no no no no no no. "They're all gone! All of them! My wife, my daughter, my brother-"

"NO! This is the Feanever family you're talking about! Merdia Villa-rosa wouldn't pass on in an earthquake!" The arguing continued making my stomach curl up into a tightly knotted ball. I wished I could do the same. Then I'd roll away. I'd roll up so tight I could squeeze through the little crack in the rubble by my feet and away down the mountain, over the cliff where my brother flew, and into the river below where I could fly with him. Then I'd be allowed to feel too.

"Kiviova! Kivikova!" My dad's voice clawed over the mountain and crashed down into the valley below like a rolling wave. " See? My daughter died too."

"No! Daddy, I'm Alive!" I screamed crushing through the pile of rubble surrounding me. "Dad! Dad, I'm ok! I survived I'm--" The knot in my stomach must have redone itself even tighter because the first thing I saw was all the colour in my father's face escape down the towering cliff and slide away into the ocean, then I saw my mother, and my Aunt Hildy's broken body hunched over her. And then, I saw nothing. Felt nothing. Nothing.