Blades of fire and hearts of ice

Reality is hard

Sam sobbed uncontrollibly.

"I-It was terrible.. She said run- she was my BEST FRIEND" She cried

"Who.." I asked

I looked around. And realisation hit me. She was not here. She did not make it. I thoguht everyone was here. 

"Sam I-" 

I hugged Sam 

"I am so sorry- I-I thought she came but no. This is my fault.. I should have made sure she was here now its too late..." I cried into her shoulder

Wendy and Amelia exchanged a look of concern and Lux too realised who we were talking about

Lux walked over, a single tear streaked her cheek. We should make sure nobody else is missing.. Chole would have wanted that" She whispered to us.

The Earth rumbled again, aftershock. 

"We should take cover, trees are falling like dominos, we would not want to get crushed.." Amelia said, taking charged.

"Lyam, Lucas - go make sure everyone else is here and take Rex, Ash and Nora, go find somewhere safe and open and inflammable, Bob, Craig and Wendy gather everyone" She said, trying to sound strong but I knew her long enough to figure out how scared she was. 

We all scruied around, doing as Amelia instructed. I knew just the place to go.

I ran to a huge clearing the few trees had already fallen as I suspected and there was nothing that could do damage, we looked around to make sure of that. As we ran back, the ground shoke agian. Cracks appeared and swallowed a cycle nearby. 

When we got back the others were waiting and we made our way to the clearing, careful not to fall into the many cracks or the once perfect roads. We had settled down after a while. The air was solemn as all of us, inculding the juniors cried about loosing Chole ndMax, who was another juniorl, only 7 years old. 

It dawned on me how much could change in a matter of minutes. Not more than 30 minutes ago, my world was perfect, full of laughter and joy. Now, I lost everything. I thought of Chole, he lopsided grin and playfull jokes. I would do anything to have another prank from her played on me again. How she had been so full of life and energy minutes before her death. And the poor kid Max, I had seen him. Adorable kid, whom had shared Zane's love on Micky Mouse. It was unfair how early he had passed. 

I letout my tears, but not for long. I had to make sure the others was ok. I checked on little Zia first, she wasthe youngest of us all, only 5 years old, and she was sobbing so much, that if we ran out of water out here, Zia could satisfy our thirst with her salty tears. I cradled her in my arms and hushed her into a deep sleep. I wrapped her into a soft blanket from the supply bag Miss Thron had gotten and lay her dow next to Amaya, her sister.

I then moved to Sam, who sat on a tree branch, in shock. I sat beside her in silence and put an armaround her, just letting her know I was there for her. We sat queitly for a while .

"Thanks Nora" She said softly "I'm sorry.. It just happened so fast- there was nothing I could do..."

"There is nothing to he sorry of" I replied, mustering as much positivty as I could but inside I was hollow. Chole had been so close to me too.

"You should go see the others, I just need to process everything just now.." She said queitly

I walked around camp, making sure everyone was okay. They all were shaken up about the earthquake and the news of Max and Chole hung in the atmosphere like a cloud. A few people had bandages and tiny cuts but nothign serious. 

Finally Miss Thorn, Miss Scott and the head of the orphanage, Miss Berry adressed us. 

"We have all had quiet the night and our deepest condolences to Max and Chole, may we all have a minute of silence in their honor" Miss Berry spoke and her steely voice cut sharply through the cold night air.

We all hung our heads and remianed silent for a few minuets. Then, we grabbed sleeping bags provided by Mr. Walt's camping supply store nearby for free. 

Youw would probably think I did not fall asleep and stayed awake thinking of everything that happened. But I slept. And I did not wake throught the night. I guess I was more tired than I let on. Before I slept I could hear soft sobbs from the orphans (now campers) around me.