Kestral. Lynx. Abyss. Prairie.

The Quake

-Prairie-

   When the earthquake hit at 6.7 magnitude, my parents and I were on Kiska Island- an island located in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
  We were there on vacation. My mom and dad wanted to go whale watching, so they left me with my aunt June in the lodge.
   We were filling the void with coloring books and crayons.
   My little fingers clutched onto a yellow crayon for dear life, as I scribbled furiously away on a picture of a duck.
   "That's looking great, sweetpea." Aunt June says, before showing me her colored-in picture of a group of kittens. "What do you think?"
   "I like kittens." I say, smiling at her picture. "Especially the little black one."
   "That one's my favorite, too." She lays the picture back down on the table. "You want a snack?"
    I nod my head vigorously. "Applesauce, please."
    She pushes her chair back and stretches. "I could've guessed that."
   I always chose applesauce.
   Aunt June goes to the fridge and pulls out two little jars of homemade applesauce. "I'll think I'll have one with you."
    She sets a spoon and the jar down in front of me, before sitting down across from me with her own applesauce.
   I quickly twist the top off of the jar and dig in.
   About thirty seconds later, I've devoured all of the applesauce.
    "It's all over your face." Aunt June chuckles, before standing and wiping my face off with a napkin. "Good thing we came prepared." She grabs another napkin from the stack laying on the table.
    "Thanks, Aunty."
    She nods, before tossing the napkins in the trash.
    There's suddenly a slight tremor that courses through the lodge. The table shakes slightly. I look at Aunt June, who's looking back at me.
  "What was that?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows. One of the crayon rolls off the table and clatters to the floor. I reach down to pick it up, but there's another tremor. Another crayon hits the wooden floor.
   "I don't know- let me call your mo-" She suddenly slams into the floor as there's another, bigger tremor. It's violent and lasts twice as long.
   I clutch onto the table as the shaking continues, fear invading my heart. There's a clatter behind me, as plates and cans start falling out of the cabinets. Several shatter.
   "Prairie!" I hear Aunt June exclaim, as she cautiously makes her way over to me. She grabs my hand, before swiping the phone off of the table. She then ducks down and pulls me under the table with her. "Hold on to the table leg, sweetie." She places my hand on the table leg.
   I tighten my grip on it, as the earth shakes again, this time more violently. The refrigerator door swings open, and the basket of eggs slams into the ground. The eggs shatter, and the egg yolks starts sliding towards us.
   "Aunt June?" I question, looking up at her. I'm starting to sweat and my hands are clammy.
     Her gaze is locked on the screen, as she desperately tries to find service.
    There's another tremor, and we are suddenly at a tilt. I look again and the eggs are sliding in the opposite direction.
   "Finally!" She exclaims, holding the phone up to her ear. After a moment, she gasps in relief. "Sasha!"
    She pauses for a moment. "Where are y'all?"
     I look from her to the food falling out of the fridge. The milk spills, the butter thuds to the floor, and the jars of applesauce clatter to the floor. Only one breaks and applesauce spills out of the crack in it like goo.
    "Are they okay?" I ask.
    "We are under the table. Prairie's okay. We both are." Aunt June says, wrapping an arm around me. "Okay. That's good."
    After another moment, the call abruptly disconnects. She looks at the phone, before sighing as she sees that she has no service.
    "Aunt June? Are they okay?" I ask, eyes wide.
    She sighs. "Yes, baby, they are. They're still on the boat, but they felt the tremors, too."
    "Are they going to come back?"
    "They're going to wait on the ship, until the quakes stop."
      I frown, and glare at Aunt June.
     "I'm sorry, sweetheart. It's too dangerous for them to try to make their way back right now."
     I huff, accepting the fact that they weren't coming back to see if I was going to alright. "Fine. What's going on?"
    "They're called earthquakes. It's when the earth shakes." She explains, half-heartedly.
    "Are we going to be okay?"
    "I hope so. But, we got to stay under here for the time being."
     "Why?"
     "Because, it'll help keep stuff from falling and hitting our heads."
     "Oh. Why?"
     She sighs. "Our heads protect our brain. We need our brain to function. Since the table is hard, it adds another...layer between us and any objects."
    "Why?" I ask, again, purposely being annoying.
     She sends me a glare. "I don't know. It's how humans are made."
    "If something hit my head, would I die?"
    "Probably not. Depending on how hard it hit..." She sends me a look.
     "Would you?"
     "Die?" She shakes her head, chuckling.
     "Stop laughing!" I demand.
     She stops after a moment. "No, I wouldn't. Stop worrying. Everything's going to be okay."
   I mull over the idea that I need a brain to function.
    After about ten minutes, I start to squirm, both from restlessness and a full bladder. The tremors hit every few minutes, knocking more stuff over. Each time something makes a crash or a thud, we both jump.
    "Aunt June?"
    She sets the phone back in her pocket, frowning. Apparently, she wasn't able to regain service. "Yes, sweetpea?"
    "I have...I have to pee."
    "Can you hold it?"
    I shake my head, dancing around nervously. "I really have to go."
     She waits a moment, before grabbing my hand. "Alright, we'll go after the next tremor. Try to be quick."
     The second the sentence leaves her mouth, the next shake comes. The earth trembles for a few seconds before subsiding.
   We make a run for the bathroom, having to dodge around tipped over furniture. My heart is pounding, and sweat is already dripping from my forehead. I'm just plopping down on the toilet, and Aunt June is clutching onto the bathroom counter, when the next shake comes.
   I quickly latch onto the edges of the toilet seat, as we tilt and shake.
   I close my eyes tightly, already feeling nauseous.
   The earth violently lurches, and there's a crash and a thud and I feel little, hard shards of glass pelt into me. I peel open my eyes to see Aunt Juno on the ground, surrounded by a sheet of glass. I gasp, and cover my mouth.
   I glance up to see the mirror completely shattered. There's drops of red scattered on the counter and in the sink. I jump up off of the toilet and hoist my shorts up.
   I rush over to her, carefully avoiding the pieces of glass scattered all over the tile floor. "Aunt June!" I shake her arm. "Wake up!"
    I pull the phone out of her pocket and hold it up, like I saw Aunt Juno doing, and try to call Mom. The phone just beeps.
    I set the phone down on the counter and open the cabinets, one by one. I finally find some bandaids and rubbing alcohol.
    I look back down at her, trying to untwist the cap on the rubbing alcohol. I knew that it's what mom used on me whenever I got a bad scrape. Cuts littered her arms. I carefully pour some of the rubbing alcohol on one, after finally taking the cap off of the bottle, before sticking the Band-Aid on.
   After putting some more band-aids on a few more of her cuts, I sigh. There was so many...
   I shake her again, harder. "Aunt June! I'm almost out of Band-Aids!! Wake up!" Worry fills my voice.
   She doesn't wake up.
   The phone has no service, and a little while later, my mom and dad walk in the front door. "My God," I hear her say. "Prairie! June!" She calls out and I see her step into a view.
   "Mommy!" I holler. "Help!"
   Mom enters the bathroom, dad right on her heels.
   Mom screams and drops down beside her sister, gently caressing her head. "June!" She sobs, examining her sisters head.
   Dad pulls out his phone and quickly dials a number on his phone and frantically starts talking to someone.
    A few moments later, and he comes back into the bathroom, leaning down beside mom. He presses his fingers against her neck.
   "What are you doing, daddy?" I ask, concerned.
   He looks at me. "Checking her pulse. To see...if she's breathing." He sighs. "She is."
   Mom sobs in relief, clutching her sisters head. "Thank God!"
    "The helicopter will be here in about an hour. They are dealing with the damage from the earthquake..."
He opens a drawer underneath the sink and pulls out some gauze. "What happened, Prairie?" He then looks down at the band-aids and chuckles. "Good job, little tyke."
    I smile. "Thanks...promise you won't be mad?"
    "I promise. It was an accident right?" He replies, slowly unrolling the gauze.
  "Yes..." I trail off.
  "Prairie." He looks at me with a Stern look on his face.
  "It was in the middle of the earth tremors and I had to pee...she brought me to the bathroom...and she fell and hit her head on the mirror."
    "That explains the glass."
    "I'm sorry!"
    "For what, sweetie?" Mom asks, tears streaming down her face.
    "She wouldn't have hit her head if I didn't have to use the restroom!" I burst into tears.
   "No, honey, you can't help it if you've got to go."
   "But-"
   "She didn't hit her head because of you. She hit her head because of the earthquake."
    I wipe my eyes. "Promise?"
    "Promise."