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MORPHING ASHES INTO A PHOENIX. Chapter 1.
INTRODUCTION
Naraba would never be the same again. Its 4 million population was already reduced to just half a million. The past decade has been catastrophic for the whole world. There had been pandemic of infectious diseases, wars, natural disasters- cyclones, earthquakes (Naraba was on the earthquake belt), volcanic eruptions, genocides of vulnerable groups and 'enemies' by tyrants, economic downturns. The world population was down to a quarter its previous figure. The survivors now walked around struggling with their character and attitudes, their dire situation guiding them to a new way of living together in families and communities. Never bad again was the motto. Rights and compassion for all. But it was a struggle to start reforming. And it was far from perfect.
CHAPTER 1: THE SETTLING EMBER
“Life will never be the same again”, said Grandpa dejected. “
Yes, everyone’s gone. Its your fault we are still here”, said Grandma.
“Oh mum, don’t say like that. I am happy we are all here together. And most of all I love you mum”, said John.
They all stood in the family lounge and starred outside their window. The world was a mess. The tallest building Naraba was famous for, had fallen right into a nearby building. Its spear like design was now left like a wreckage. Its shiny tiled pieces had sprinkled in a circumferential fashion. A crow flew in distance like a tiny stable black speck of matter in a vast galactic expanse in entropy. Why was it so care free? Had it lost any loved ones too? John thought to himself.
Sirens began to echo all around as they could see a chain of ambulances appear out of nowhere and take the track towards the ruins. This was one view of the top story lounge they had never imagined they would be seeing.
This big glass window was what persuaded Grandpa to make it into a living room. The view was always artsy. With the spears sheen always sparkling at it, the orange hue of the suns radiance probing through the herd of clouds travelling afar and watching the sunset setting life of the city to dim away as darkness overcame, it was a splendid view. Naraba was peace for the mind. It was a town developing into a city but had never lost its country vibe. It had grassy moors and the people too had a knack to keep it natural. All offices buildings were surrounded by heaths and gorses. You always felt an indie breeze breathe into you whenever the window was opened.
But now, it was a different art. The window spread sorrow. The art was unbound and abstract.
Suddenly, John thought of where the kids were. He had been feeling great gratitude towards God for saving him and his family. Everyone made it alive, but a piece of concrete fell on Alice’s foot. It got fractured. It would mean if another earthquake was to follow, John might not have another shot with two elderly and an injured to hurry to safety.
“Is Alice awake?”, asked John.
“She had a hard night. Her pain was not vanishing. The painkillers the doctor prescribed her have sedated her somehow for now but its excruciating for her to bear it at this age”, explained mum.
John went downstairs to see his little princess. She was magic.
No matter what fate brought upon her, she always made it out of the tunnel. She had recovered from a congenital heart deformity in her two years of age. She was still on advice for not exhausting herself during playtime. Now she was amongst the few luckiest people in Naraba to survive a major calamity. She can make it through with this fracture.
“Her persona was by far more gleeful and stronger than Johns ever will”, John consoled himself.
In came Sebastian, running around with a toy plane. His creative list of onomatopoeia had added a new honk. He circled around her bed before bumping into daddy’s legs for a hug.
“Where is mommy?”, asked John about Sarah. “She is making dinner in the kitchen with Aunt Tiffany”, said Sebastian, before running outside to take the stairs to Grandpa.
John looked at his phone. The signals were out. Did Andrew, Samantha and Gretchen make it in time? Their place was quite near to the site of the catastrophe. His heart beat found pace. His palms felt sweaty as he felt an alien energy drainage in his gut. He was worrying a lot and could not think either way before any external confirmation. He just hoped they were alive and the ambulances bring them back soon. The evening was awful.
It was night soon. The sky lead out full shine of the moon and her heavenly partners. They plainly highlighted at what Naraba faced the night before as they stood back and watched. Supper was ready. Everyone was eating quietly. All of them had explosions inside but had shut their mouths before any sad discussion began. Sarah went to Alice’s room for trying to feed her. The spoons made quite a rattle that John had never known before today.
“They say the magnitude was 8.3 and it lasted for seven whole minutes nearly”, Grandpa started.
“The neighbours told me when I went outside to see to the community office”. John followed, “Did you meet anyone at the office? What steps are they having in mind. And in this era, how does the world not know that we exist. I have not had any telephonic call with any of my friends and neighbours of my condominium”.
“They said the government has granted budget. Loans from so many countries has arrived to help during our already sustaining economic crises”, Grandpa said. “It is day one of the incident. The hospitals are flooded with rescue teams and volunteers. Everyone is eager to dig out alive people. Nobody has time to think clearly at any other prospects”.
John stated, “Yeah, the city was quite populous for the land Naraba held. It had become a stack of skyrocketing buildings. Any mishap had to stumble everything to the ground”.
The conversation was sharply voided by a distant siren. It stopped right in front of their house. All of them stood up and rushed at the door. The backdoor of the ambulance opened and a person dressed in red bandages was brought down. The whole neighbourhood came out to their gates. Mr Stark ran sobbingly towards it as the doctor called aloud for a Mr Alex. Alex made it. No matter how crushed, John’s school buddy was alive.
Slowly, the door opened again and came out his gorgeous wife Selena and his teen daughter Regina. Selena was badly bruised. Regina had an arm fractured. Thankfully, they could walk. All the neighbours happily rushed to cheer at them.
The one minute delight soon ended as everyone began questioning about different parts of the city, the situation and asked about random names from the doctor, if he was ever going to find them in his completely filled wards. Alex was brought on the terms that he was still stable and the bed had to be occupied to a worse patient.
The Vince family came back inside. Dinner was unofficially over, despite Tiffany’s efforts. “It will become better slowly”, said Mum. She had hope after seeing the first rescue.
“You guys have no idea. Back in our times, I survived pandemics, plagues and wars. We had no technology that you people have right now. With your cyborg arms, you guys never feel unattended. People had to compromise over things they had lost forever in our times”. “Grandpa! That's it”, John exclaimed.
“Compromise! That is what we need. What comes our way will have found its way by itself. But for now, being accepting of the present is what is going to help us through the quagmire. Being positive and constructive can give us back our life”.
“I am stressed about Andrew and his family. Where is my son?”, exhaled mum in a sobbing manner.
“Look outside! everything is destroyed”. John comforted her. “What is there to be stressed about. We will build it again”. John knew he had to show the an imaginary reality or else everyone’s situation would fall into destined despair and he could not allow it, not at times like this.
“You will never understand”, smirked mum, leaving for her room. A mothers instincts were something else. John had to control this exotic longing of his mum to keep away from eating her mental health.
Somewhere far away, a kick threw out a piece of concrete. A man screamed at the top of his lungs for help. Lights flickered into his eyes as he felt surrounded by the noise of people. He fainted. Help had arrived.
It was midnight when the silence was torn apart by the neighbours. Grandpa screamed from the window. “Oh no! That girl is about to jump off the balcony”. It was Regina.
© All Rights Reserved
Naraba would never be the same again. Its 4 million population was already reduced to just half a million. The past decade has been catastrophic for the whole world. There had been pandemic of infectious diseases, wars, natural disasters- cyclones, earthquakes (Naraba was on the earthquake belt), volcanic eruptions, genocides of vulnerable groups and 'enemies' by tyrants, economic downturns. The world population was down to a quarter its previous figure. The survivors now walked around struggling with their character and attitudes, their dire situation guiding them to a new way of living together in families and communities. Never bad again was the motto. Rights and compassion for all. But it was a struggle to start reforming. And it was far from perfect.
CHAPTER 1: THE SETTLING EMBER
“Life will never be the same again”, said Grandpa dejected. “
Yes, everyone’s gone. Its your fault we are still here”, said Grandma.
“Oh mum, don’t say like that. I am happy we are all here together. And most of all I love you mum”, said John.
They all stood in the family lounge and starred outside their window. The world was a mess. The tallest building Naraba was famous for, had fallen right into a nearby building. Its spear like design was now left like a wreckage. Its shiny tiled pieces had sprinkled in a circumferential fashion. A crow flew in distance like a tiny stable black speck of matter in a vast galactic expanse in entropy. Why was it so care free? Had it lost any loved ones too? John thought to himself.
Sirens began to echo all around as they could see a chain of ambulances appear out of nowhere and take the track towards the ruins. This was one view of the top story lounge they had never imagined they would be seeing.
This big glass window was what persuaded Grandpa to make it into a living room. The view was always artsy. With the spears sheen always sparkling at it, the orange hue of the suns radiance probing through the herd of clouds travelling afar and watching the sunset setting life of the city to dim away as darkness overcame, it was a splendid view. Naraba was peace for the mind. It was a town developing into a city but had never lost its country vibe. It had grassy moors and the people too had a knack to keep it natural. All offices buildings were surrounded by heaths and gorses. You always felt an indie breeze breathe into you whenever the window was opened.
But now, it was a different art. The window spread sorrow. The art was unbound and abstract.
Suddenly, John thought of where the kids were. He had been feeling great gratitude towards God for saving him and his family. Everyone made it alive, but a piece of concrete fell on Alice’s foot. It got fractured. It would mean if another earthquake was to follow, John might not have another shot with two elderly and an injured to hurry to safety.
“Is Alice awake?”, asked John.
“She had a hard night. Her pain was not vanishing. The painkillers the doctor prescribed her have sedated her somehow for now but its excruciating for her to bear it at this age”, explained mum.
John went downstairs to see his little princess. She was magic.
No matter what fate brought upon her, she always made it out of the tunnel. She had recovered from a congenital heart deformity in her two years of age. She was still on advice for not exhausting herself during playtime. Now she was amongst the few luckiest people in Naraba to survive a major calamity. She can make it through with this fracture.
“Her persona was by far more gleeful and stronger than Johns ever will”, John consoled himself.
In came Sebastian, running around with a toy plane. His creative list of onomatopoeia had added a new honk. He circled around her bed before bumping into daddy’s legs for a hug.
“Where is mommy?”, asked John about Sarah. “She is making dinner in the kitchen with Aunt Tiffany”, said Sebastian, before running outside to take the stairs to Grandpa.
John looked at his phone. The signals were out. Did Andrew, Samantha and Gretchen make it in time? Their place was quite near to the site of the catastrophe. His heart beat found pace. His palms felt sweaty as he felt an alien energy drainage in his gut. He was worrying a lot and could not think either way before any external confirmation. He just hoped they were alive and the ambulances bring them back soon. The evening was awful.
It was night soon. The sky lead out full shine of the moon and her heavenly partners. They plainly highlighted at what Naraba faced the night before as they stood back and watched. Supper was ready. Everyone was eating quietly. All of them had explosions inside but had shut their mouths before any sad discussion began. Sarah went to Alice’s room for trying to feed her. The spoons made quite a rattle that John had never known before today.
“They say the magnitude was 8.3 and it lasted for seven whole minutes nearly”, Grandpa started.
“The neighbours told me when I went outside to see to the community office”. John followed, “Did you meet anyone at the office? What steps are they having in mind. And in this era, how does the world not know that we exist. I have not had any telephonic call with any of my friends and neighbours of my condominium”.
“They said the government has granted budget. Loans from so many countries has arrived to help during our already sustaining economic crises”, Grandpa said. “It is day one of the incident. The hospitals are flooded with rescue teams and volunteers. Everyone is eager to dig out alive people. Nobody has time to think clearly at any other prospects”.
John stated, “Yeah, the city was quite populous for the land Naraba held. It had become a stack of skyrocketing buildings. Any mishap had to stumble everything to the ground”.
The conversation was sharply voided by a distant siren. It stopped right in front of their house. All of them stood up and rushed at the door. The backdoor of the ambulance opened and a person dressed in red bandages was brought down. The whole neighbourhood came out to their gates. Mr Stark ran sobbingly towards it as the doctor called aloud for a Mr Alex. Alex made it. No matter how crushed, John’s school buddy was alive.
Slowly, the door opened again and came out his gorgeous wife Selena and his teen daughter Regina. Selena was badly bruised. Regina had an arm fractured. Thankfully, they could walk. All the neighbours happily rushed to cheer at them.
The one minute delight soon ended as everyone began questioning about different parts of the city, the situation and asked about random names from the doctor, if he was ever going to find them in his completely filled wards. Alex was brought on the terms that he was still stable and the bed had to be occupied to a worse patient.
The Vince family came back inside. Dinner was unofficially over, despite Tiffany’s efforts. “It will become better slowly”, said Mum. She had hope after seeing the first rescue.
“You guys have no idea. Back in our times, I survived pandemics, plagues and wars. We had no technology that you people have right now. With your cyborg arms, you guys never feel unattended. People had to compromise over things they had lost forever in our times”. “Grandpa! That's it”, John exclaimed.
“Compromise! That is what we need. What comes our way will have found its way by itself. But for now, being accepting of the present is what is going to help us through the quagmire. Being positive and constructive can give us back our life”.
“I am stressed about Andrew and his family. Where is my son?”, exhaled mum in a sobbing manner.
“Look outside! everything is destroyed”. John comforted her. “What is there to be stressed about. We will build it again”. John knew he had to show the an imaginary reality or else everyone’s situation would fall into destined despair and he could not allow it, not at times like this.
“You will never understand”, smirked mum, leaving for her room. A mothers instincts were something else. John had to control this exotic longing of his mum to keep away from eating her mental health.
Somewhere far away, a kick threw out a piece of concrete. A man screamed at the top of his lungs for help. Lights flickered into his eyes as he felt surrounded by the noise of people. He fainted. Help had arrived.
It was midnight when the silence was torn apart by the neighbours. Grandpa screamed from the window. “Oh no! That girl is about to jump off the balcony”. It was Regina.
© All Rights Reserved
