Certain memories you want to forget, stay with you forever. Constantly on playback, I will never ever forget what happened that day, it is engraved in my brain. How cruel, vicious and scary nature can be. Do we really live on a stable earth ?

On Tuesday the 22nd of February 2011, at 12:51pm. An unexpected, terrifying 6.1 earthquake hit Christchurch New Zealand. Over 240 lives were lost, hundreds were injured and 181000 houses were damaged. 

It was a normal lunch time at school. I was standing on the monkey bars with my friends Summer and Olivia, when suddenly, a loud rumbling sound filled the air. It blocked out every other sound. It sounded like a growl an animal would make before pouncing on its prey. Except it didn't sound like an animals growl, it sounded like it had came from an unknown species. Then screams of terror began to fill the air, now the rumbling sound and the screams were competing against each other.

I quickly jumped off the monkey bars and onto the bark, fear and disbelief consuming me. I tried to run but the ground was shaking beneath my feet, like it was having a massive tantrum. I sprinted towards the end of the playground, trying to steady myself and not fall over.

I jumped off the playground and onto the concrete, I sat on the concrete and tucked myself into a ball. Covering my neck with my hands, so if any thing fell on me I wouldn't be paralyzed. This was known as the turtle. I looked at the concrete as the ground continued to violently shake, mentally willing it to stop. A couple of seconds later the shaking stopped. 

I slowly lifted my head, unsure of what I would see. When I did, I saw that a couple of meters away there were bumps and cracks in the concrete. I sat up and realized there was more. They weren't there before, a teacher not far ahead of me was crouching on the ground, slowly he stood up. "Its ok, it over," he said as he stood up. I slowly began to stand up as I did the earthquake bell went off. "Go to the field, now," the teacher yelled. As I started heading to the field, I saw Summer and Olivia. Olivia was crying, "Are you ok" I asked even though the answer was obvious. "Its just, I don't know if my mum is ok," she replied crying harder. "It's ok, she'll be fine" I replied trying to comfort her. I then began wondering about my own family. Are they ok ?

When I got to the field, we all had to sit in our classes. Just as the teacher finished calling the role, an after shock hit. Every one screamed. First came the rumbling, second came the shaking. I got on the grass and did the turtle, trying not to cry. Why did this have to happen to me ? I thought. A couple of seconds later the shaking stopped. The after shock had been less powerful than the earthquake, but still scared me out of my wits. I stood up and noticed, the whole school was crying. 

I looked over in the distance and saw Mrs Alice hugging my cousin caleb. I ran over to him just as she let him go.  My cousin caleb was very upset.  It was very unsettling to see how affected my little cousin was. He was so scared, he couldn't stay still so he was pacing. My tough little cousin, I couldn't watch any longer so I pulled him into a hug. I let go when I saw a familiar face walking across the oval. My auntie gave Caleb a quick hug, then looked him in the eyes and said, "It's ok, I'm here," caleb began crying harder. Auntie Nicole's boyfriend picked caleb up and sat him on his knee, gripping him tightly in a hug. "Are Jessica and Hannah ok," I asked. " I'm not sure, Jessica is on a  field trip at the beach, and hannah is in town on a field trip.

Hannah and Jessica are Caleb's sisters. 

"Ab's," someone behind me said. I turned around, and standing behind me, was Mum. "Mum"! I said surprised, I hugged her, happy she was safe. " Are you ok my little angel," she asked. "I don't know, but I'm happy your ok, I replied".

As we started walking across the field to Mum's beaten up red volvo, I asked what she was doing when the earthquake hit. " I was heading into the garage to get some meat out of the freezer. When it hit, I was thrown backwards and I grazed my knee. The book shelf in the garage fell over, where five seconds ago I had been standing. If it had hit earlier I could have been crushed by a bookcase". 

The drive home took two hours at a slow paced crawl, stopping every few meters. Normally it would have taken only five minutes to get home. But every one was in a big rush, and it didn't help that the road was covered in sand, sewage, bumps, cracks and potholes. 

Mum had turned the radio on, apparently the Cathedral (the big church in town) had collapsed with people inside. The grand chancellor hotel in town was on a lean. Lots of buildings had collapsed with people inside, and in town people were lying on the streets dead with blankets over them. "What if Nanna and Grandad are trapped in a collapsed building or a dead already" I asked starting to cry. "Don't think like that, their probably fine" Mum said. How do we know that for sure, I thought.

When we got home I walked round the back gate, then stopped walking when I saw there was sewage up to my knees. One of the sewage pipes must have broken.

                               *

Police and fire sirens screeched loudly through out the night. I slept with mum, she held me tight when an after shock hit during the night. We had no power or clean water for two weeks. It turned out that my family was alive. When I found out, a wave of relief fell over me like a gust of cool wind on a hot day. (Although I still don't know to this day if some of my friends are even alive).

                                                                                                    *

Sometimes horrible things just happen for no reason at all, and we are left in the wake of what has happened.

This is my story. Only one story of many.

All who died on the 22nd of February 2011 shall rest in peace.