Shock

-3-

Within seconds, all hell broke loose.
People started shouting, some running around, some petrified. One of the children beside me started crying. I heard glass breaking once more, but it was nothing like the first two times. The windows on the left side of the room had shattered, scattering glass all over the floor below.
On the opposite wall, cups and jars began rolling off the shelves.
"Under the table!" A husky voice shouted.
I didn't need to be told again.
As everyone huddled under the tables, the earth kept on shaking. The screams grew quieter, overpowered by the roaring earth. Above all that, I heard my heart hammering a million miles a second.
A hand grabbed hold of mine. I turned to find my brother seated right next to me.
"Peter," I breathed, hugging him tight.
"Are you okay?"
He nodded, "I'm fine."
We stayed put for a while, listening to the sounds of destruction.
After an eternity of chaos, the tremor died down.
Nobody dared to move. We stayed hidden for another five, maybe ten minutes. Then, a man on the other side of the diner crawled out from underneath his table. The other customers followed his example and soon, everyone was either seated, standing or walking around trying to clean up some of the damage the earthquake had caused. Everyone seemed to be talking at once, rattled from the event.
I took a broom from the break room to clean up the glass from the broken windows.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Mrs. Stratford putting away the cake, probably afraid something may have fallen in it.
I finished removing the glass shards and went on to collecting the items that had fallen from the shelves.
Much quicker then I would have expected, the mood in the diner went somewhat back to normal. People were still discussing the experience of course, but everyone appeared relatively calm. Other than broken windows and missing picture frames, everything looked normal.
I stood in the middle of the diner, not sure of what to do next. It felt strange to just go back to serving customers. I felt like I had to talk about the event. To turn on the news and just listen to conversations about it. London was not a place for earthquakes. Not like this anyway. Windows breaking, pictures falling... I didn't know much about earthquakes, but it felt serious.
Suddenly I remembered Rhonda. She wasn't in the diner, which meant she was in her office. I jogged towards the back of the diner, to the door that said 'manager'. But when I entered the room, she wasn't there. I frowned, thinking she must've gone to the kitchen to check the damage. To my surprise, when I got there, I found it empty too.
I was about to turn back and return to the diner when clatter sounded from the storage room.
"Rhonda?" I called. She didn't respond.
I beelined for the closet, sidestepping a fallen saucepan on the way. More crashing sounds came from the storage room, followed by a string of swears that did not sound like Rhonda at all.
When I reached the source of the sounds, I wasn't even that surprised to see the honey-blonde manes peeking out from between cans of beans and peas.
"Need help?" I asked.
DS looked up, startled, bumping his head on the shelve.
"Sorry!" I rushed over and tried to help.
"It's okay, I'm okay," He stepped away from the storage unit.
"You sure?"
He nodded.
"What's going on?" I asked, referring to the sounds I'd heard earlier.
"I was putting back some things that had fallen down..." he said, crouching again to pick up a few cans. "But they keep..." He shoved the items on the shelf, "...falling..." The items started sliding off, dropping to the ground, where they continued to roll around, "down!" He concluded, frustration clearly noticeable in his voice. I held back a chuckle.
"Maybe I can help?" I suggested.
He gave me a skeptical smile, but said: "Sure."
I started removing the cans from the shelf, figuring I could place them more strategically to fit more of them on there. When I reached for the last can, I could swear I saw it quiver.
I blinked, sure I was mistaken. I reached further, but a second jolt moved the can further away. I retracted my arm, looking over at DS, who was clearing out the shelf on the opposite wall.
"Did you feel that?" I asked.
"Feel what?"
Suddenly all the objects on the shelves started trembling. I saw the boy's eyes grow big as he felt it too.
That's when I noticed the storage unit rocking from side to side, increasingly violent as the shudder gained force.