Our Journey

Chapter 1: Emerald

I remember what happened two years ago, on September 19, 2981, as if it were yesterday.  My twin sister Kathryn and I woke up and went to the kitchen. There we found a note from our parents. It said: 

Dear Kathryn and Emerald, We have to go to help in an emergency shelter just north of here. Please take care of your sister. We hope to be back in three days. Remember that we love you no matter what. With love, Mom and Dad.

Life for us continued normally. When Iris, our baby sister, who was three at the time, woke up, Kathryn made us all pancakes for breakfast. We gave our beloved cat Dewey  chicken from last night.  We all went downstairs to buy groceries, while Dewey hopped on my shoulder and purred as I stroked his neck.

When we went home I studied my math textbook to be prepared for Monday's test, with Dewey purring on my lap. Meanwhile, Kathryn prepared the soup for lunch. While it was cooking, she opened her physics textbook and studied with me.

We ate Kathryn's amazing vegetable soup, enjoying it greatly. When we where done, we spend the rest of the stormy afternoon reading and playing board games together. At 7:00 P.M. sharp, while Iris was taking her afternoon nap, I opened the news while we both lounged comfortably on the couch.

"After the huge asteroid crash of September 15, 2981, there have been huge tsunamis and earthquakes on the Pacific coast on North America, South America, and even Australia and Asia. Earthquakes with a magnitude as high as 9.8 have been reported in most of Asia. There have been hundreds of thousands of deaths all around the world. Authorities have established hundreds of emergency shelters and hospitals all around the world. Scientists have found out about a deadly virus on the west of U.S.A., which is quickly spreading all over the country. Named Mortevirus-81, it has caused 989,000 deaths in only California. The symptoms of this virus include coughing, headaches, stomach-aches, and red rashes all over the body..."

"Why did you turn it off?" asked Kathryn.

"It's too bleak. Besides, it's old news. We heard the same speech yesterday and the day before, only with different statistics," I replied, turning on the local news.

"Government has confirmed that California has been the most affected out of all of the U.S. states. Scientists have predicted that tomorrow, on September 20, 2981, early in the morning, a mega-tsunami and an earthquake of a magnitude of 9.9 will strike California, making it the highest earthquake in recorded history. They are urging all residents of California to evacuate. Today, San Francisco was destroyed by an enormous earthquake. All rescue teams in that area have either been reported dead or missing, but all are likely to be deceased. Once again, we urge everyone to evacuate from California and other coastal regions before it is too late..."

''You know what this means, right?" asked Kathryn, trying not to cry in front of Iris, who had just woken up, and was clumsily walking to the couch.

"Yes, I know," I nodded, whispering, "our parents were on one of those missions."

"I meant about about evacuating," replied Kathryn.

"We have to protect Iris, like our parents wanted," I said.

"Yes, let's just get packed. We can't go anywhere in this storm," agreed Kathryn.