Shock

-19-

Darkness greeted us as we entered the house. Instinctively, I reached for the light switch, but then I realized it was no use. Power was out. We'd have to navigate by touch.
Holding Peter with one hand, I slid the other across the wall. We made our way towards the living room.
"Mum... Dad?" I shouted. "Cam?"
We stepped further into the house. My foot caught on something, and in the faint light streaming from the windows, I identified it as a part of mums favourite vase.
As we crossed the hallway and entered the dining room, I saw the table had been wrecked by the earthquake, scattering wood splinters all over the floor.
"Cam?" Peter called out.
But the room was vacant. We checked the kitchen next. Then we went upstairs, checking the bathroom, pantry and all of the bedrooms.
No one was there.
Defeated, we trotted down the stairs. Through the doorway, I could see Haley, Paisley and Nathan sitting on the front steps. As we exited the building, they rose.
"And?" Paisley asked, a hopeful tone in her voice.
I shook my head.
"It's empty."
Empathetic expressions marked their faces, but I couldn't handle their pity.
"You know, maybe this is a good thing," I said. "Maybe they... Evacuated or something. To a safe place."
I didn't believe it myself, but I had to say something. It it wasn't for me, then for Peter.
He'd been so eager to see his brother again and now we were standing in front of our house, and nobody was there.
Tears stung my eyes, but I forced them back. I had to stay strong.
I suppose Peter was thinking the same thing, because he didn't shed a single tear. Still, Haley walked over and hugged him tightly.
I smiled at the act of kindness and again, the unfairness of the situation hit me.
They were so young, so vulnerable.
I didn't want them to have to endure this kind of trauma. I didn't want them waking up in the middle of the night, screaming because of their nightmares.
"What do we do now?" Paisley asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
My brain immediately jumped to Gregg, but I knew that was impossible. He was studying in Cambridge, and no matter how worried I was about him, there was simply no way to reach him.
Returning to the diner also wasn't exactly the best option.
What would we do there? Wait for somebody to come rescue us? I didn't think I could do that. Plus, that would mean this entire excursion had been for nothing.
"We could check some public places," Nathan suggested.
"I mean, if they really did evacuate, there have to be some shelters around, right?"
I felt a bit of hope returning. It seemed logical for big cities to set up safe places for residents during disasters like this.
The only problem was that in the time I'd lived here, there hadn't been such a disaster, so I had no idea where to start.
I tried to think of large public spaces. Sport halls, theaters...
"What about ugly duck?"
Peter suggested.
Ugly Duck was a venue located on Tanner street. It was maybe a five minute bike ride.
On foot, I'd take a bit longer, but it wasn't too far.
"Great idea, Peter! And if we don't find them there, we can check Youth Music next."
Youh music was a charity music centre, also located on Tanner street. I was pretty close to Ugly Duck, which was pretty convenient right now.
"Sounds like we got a plan," Paisley said.
"Yeah," with one last glance at my house, I started down the road again.

Ugly Duck was a big, grey building. It had some wear and tear, but it had been that way before the earthquake. I pushed against the door. No movement. Probably locked, but I kicked it anyway.
It didn't open.
"No luck."
I turned away from the theatre. I forced myself to hold on to the hope that they'd be in the Youth Music centre. Or some other public place.
"We'll find them," I muttered under my breath, as I backed away from the door.
"Maybe there's a window open," Paisley suggested.
Part of me knew that was useless. If this place was being used as a shelter, the door wouldn't be locked. But another part of me, the part that desperately wanted to find my family, didn't want to leave a rock unturned.
"Okay," I said. "Let's give it a try."
We walked over to the side of the building, where we found a garage. It was pretty high, so I asked Paisley to give me a foot.
Naturally, she suggested Nathan do it instead and winked at me.
Nathan walked over and interwove his fingers so his hands formed a basket. I put my sneaker into it and my hands on his shoulders.
"Okay, ready?" I asked.
He nodded. I counted down from three and pushed off.
As Nathan lifted me as high as he could, my hands grabbed hold of the garage roof. I braced my free foot against the wall. Using all the power I could muster, I flexed my biceps.
Much to my own surprise, I managed to pull myself up on the roof. When I stood, the window was directly to my right. I wiggled my fingers in between the wooden pane and tried to get it to open, but it wouldn't budge. In fact, it seemed like the window wasn't even able to open.
I sighed.
"I won't open!" I yelled down.
"Then break it!" Paisley shouted back.
I was about to protest -destroying public property wasn't exactly on my bucket list- but then I looked up.
Most of the windows imbedded in the side wall were already broken from the earthquake.
Well, they're gonna need new windows anyway.
"Stand back," I commanded the others.
I took a deep breath. Then, I put my left foot backward, shifted my bodyweight and swung back forward, kicking up the leg as hard as I could.
Glass shattered as my sneaker made contact with the old window. I felt a sting in leg, but my adrenaline-high brain chose to ignore it.
"I did it!" I squealed. "I actually did it."
"What now?" I shouted over the edge of the roof.
"Huh," Paisley said. "I hadn't really thought about that."
I snorted. Great. I was stuck on a rooftop with a broken rooftop and no plan for what to do next.
"Maybe you could go in and see if you can open the door from the inside?" Nathan suggested.
"Good idea!"
I stepped closer to the window and put one foot one the sil.
"See you on the other side," I joked as I disappeared into the building.

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