Falling

• Ingrid Coram, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2012

FALLING
BY INGRID CORAM
Objects crashed around me. Blood poured through my rags, as I reached to grasp a cloth. Where was I? Had I joined the dead, or was I still with the living? Was I falling?
I lifted my broken head to scan the wreck that was Pompeii. Where was my beloved family? Had they been crushed by the tumbling ruins? Were they buried in falling ash?
This information I yearned to know; yet I did not. All hope seemed to drip away from my body, just like my blood. My heart broke as I heard a child’s cry, calling for help, trying desperately to survive.
I glanced back at my home. There was nothing left. Tears trickled down my cheeks, entering my wounds, causing me to experience sharp pain. I did not mind.
I plunged into darkness as the ash settled overhead. Pumice fell on me and shattered my bones. Families screamed as they searched aimlessly for shelter that no longer existed.
I coughed and choked on the ash that entered my body. Blood splattered all over our city. Streets were covered with dead bodies. My thoughts drifted to the surviving families of Pompeii, who took the Great Earthquake as an omen.
On that dreadful day, many moons ago, the ground had shaken, as if Vulcan himself was moving it. Thousands died; thousands left the city in search of a calmer place.
What had we done? I’d been a well-behaved lady, done my chores and recited my prayers. So why was this happening?
I moved my gaze to the giant mountain, Vesuvius, and my suspicion strengthened. Vulcan MUST BE inside.
When this horror had begun, people had scurried around like ants. I had attempted to escape the city, but that proved impossible. Instead, I, like others, have ended up lying down on the hard gravel.
My position is situated right next to the edge of a cliff. It is not an ideal location, as one slight push may send me tumbling down. The cliff is not too high, but the fall is fatal.
The chaos continued when I snapped back to my senses. A dead body suddenly slumped against me, and I let out a small scream.
Suddenly a police officer tapped me and suggested that I get up and run under shelter. “Is there shelter left, sir?” I asked in a trembling voice. The officer opened his mouth to speak when nearby people screamed.
A large dust cloud was zooming towards us at an astonishing rate. It killed everything in its way.
My heart pounded when someone waved to me. Mother! I knew it was her. “I love you, my darling!” Mother called to me. I shouted back, “I love you too!” And then the cloud took her.
I gasped. Through my tears I stepped backwards. And now I am truly falling.