By Lucy Brock, TIWP Student

Prologue

I scan the empty roads. Nothing but the sound of my footsteps and the whistling of the trees fill the air. It is an unnerving feeling, when you go from a bustling city to the empty roads of a deserted town. I had tried to leave, to leave the torturous memories of this disaster behind me, but I couldn’t. I have to face it, I have to face this place in order to be able to move on. 

An hour later, I am still walking. My legs have become sore and my shoulders have started to ache under the weight of my bag. Although I had been expecting a long journey, it is still tiring. No bus would drive through the town anymore. They have all been too afraid, like me, I guess. The roads are also a mess. Driving through would be nearly impossible. Fallen trees leave cracks in the concrete that plants climb. Nature has started to take over.

Finally, a building appeared in the distance, the now-abandoned airport. Tears blur the sight of the wreckage as memories pour out. A small part of me feels an urge to run. But I can’t run anymore. 

I swung my front door open, leaving the darkening outside behind me. I couldn’t help but feel like I had left my daughter behind as well. However, I would be lying if I said that was my first thought when I walked through the door. My first thought was an overwhelming want for my pillow. But when that want was fulfilled, I was still trying to wrap my head around what she was studying at Oxford. Horology. She had explained what horology was to me so many times, but the speed with which she hurled them at me drifted them over my head. I was, of course, so proud of her big, confusing words. They would help her journey through this big life she was going to lead, a life without me. 

I jolted up to blaring sirens. Earthquake, tsunami. My legs moved faster than my head. I grabbed my keys, my coat. Then, only when I was in my car did I stop. Dalisay. I froze, not sure what to do. She should have left. I tried not to imagine it, but I could. Dalisay. Her being hit by the wave. Helpless, gone. Dalisay. I shook my head to get rid of the image, but I couldn’t. The scene played over and over again. Dalisay. My mind was a mess, not sure what to do. I could leave, I could go. No right answer. Time: 12:09 am. The plane was scheduled for midnight. She’s in the air. She’s safe. With my hands gripped around the steering wheel, heat builds up. My nails dug into leather. I drove. Away to the safety zone. Then I prayed. Prayed Dalisay was safe.

My mind zips back to the present, eyes still fixated on the building. No matter how hard  this will be, I have to do it. So, I continue walking until the airport is right in front of me. The glint of smashed glass on the floor catches my eye. I look up to see most of the windows looking more like holes in a wall. Vines have climbed up the crumbling concrete walls, outstretching in all directions.The airport is almost unrecognizable. I take a step and another and another, until I am at the doors. And I open them.  

Chapter 1:

As soon as I step in the airport, a chill passes through me. There is a silence that makes breathing sound as loud as thunder. Shattered glass covers the floor and a sea salty smell fills the air. I make my way through the arrival hall. 

Nature has started to take over what was once theirs, with vines wrapped around furniture and plants breaking through the floor. A once-white sofa was now mixtures of gray, black and brown after being tossed around by the unmerciful waves. I duck under a few fallen wires dangling from the ceiling and step over a pile of luggage scattered on the floor. I look around, feeling a certain feeling that I can’t describe. It is almost like there are people behind me but when I turn no one is there. It feels like I am the last man on Earth. 

Out of the corner of my eye I see a small sign flickering with light reading “Baggage Check” that laid on the floor. I glance around looking for some source of electricity but there is none. How does a sign flicker without electricity? With an urge to run, I hurry into an open door. 

A wave of shock hits me as I enter the room. I can’t believe how much one tsunami destroyed so many things. I thought there were so many wires hanging around in the arrival hall but this is crazy. Nearly everywhere I look there is a broken wire coming out of machines, computers and metal detectors with the occasional spark that came from who-knows-where. I haven’t spent much time in airports in my life. I always had the feeling I belonged in the Philippines, I didn’t need to go anywhere. But I definitely know what airports are sort of meant to look like and it is certainly not this. There are places that I know furniture is meant to be but the furniture is missing. I find myself crawling back to the same thought. One wave, how can one wave cause so much damage? One wave can smash walls, destroy buildings… kill hundreds. One wave destroyed lives, destroyed my life. 

CRASH! I turn quickly and run into a doorway to another room, looking around for signs of life. The room is big and goes on for a while. I suspect it once was filled with gift stores but now just wreckage and out of place furniture. Apart from my footsteps, the room is silent, but I wonder where the crash came from. I decide to come to a stop so other sounds become more clear, but my footsteps continue. I look down, I am not moving. Still there are footsteps. Panic fills me as I turn and turn and turn, trying to find the source of the sound. “I am the only one here…I am the only one here…” I repeat to myself quietly, over and over again. It doesn’t work. My panic stays… and so do the footsteps. 

“Don’t be afraid.” a quiet, angelic voice whispers softly in the wind. “They won’t hurt you, they’re just as afraid as you are.” 

I turn more and more, trying to now find the voice.  “Who are you?!” I shout into the wind.

“Harper” I jump and turn around to see a little girl with an extended arm. “Nice to meet you” The girl has icy blue eyes and ghostly-pale skin. Her platinum blonde hair sways in the wind, constantly being brushed out of her face. She is looking me directly in my eyes and looks small, probably only about 6 years old. 

“What are you doing here all alone?” I ask, looking around, although the better question would have probably been who ‘they’ was. 

“I’m not alone.” The girl said, her eyes still looking right into mine, with a dazed expression. I stumble backwards, glancing around. 

“Ok…” I look around again, the room is empty. “Who else is here then?” I crouch down to be in eye level with the girl.

“My friends of course,” said Harper as if it was an obvious answer. 

“Can I meet your friends?” I say, deciding it’s better to follow along to find out more. 

Harper turns to face somewhere else “Come on out!” She turns back to me after a moment, shaking her head. “They say they won’t come out, you’re not one of us”

One of them? My voice hushed into a whisper, “Are you dead? Are ghosts real?” 

“Dead!? I’m alive” Harpers voice drew more angry as wind swirls around the room. “You’re wrong!”

Terror creeps on my face as lights flicker. “You’re right! You’re right!” I put my hands up trying to calm the girl down. The wind stops, the lights go off. Harper’s emotions return to normal as anger is swept off her face. 

“Ok” Her voice is calm now, as if nothing happened.

“Are your parents here too?” I ask warily. 

“Parents? Parents…” A puzzled expression is painted onto her face. “Parents…”

“Yeah your mum and dad?”

“Mum… wave… dad… gone…” She seemed as if she was trying to pick words out of a fog in her head.