Last Memories

• Jessie Szekely, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2007

The ground trembled under her feet as she ran, son in her arms, towards the docks. Looking quickly back over her shoulder, she saw the big suffocating black cloud of ash, heading towards the village of Moondrem, and her home. The red boiling lava followed quickly after, picking up speed as it crashed and burnt everything in its path.
Lily, along with the rest of her people, always knew the volcano would erupt. They had known for years. She would sit at her window facing the green rolling mountain and imagine the deadly liquid slowly rising to the surface. She knew that when the day came, when the lava instantly felt the cool mountain air brushing against it, that devastation would follow. But, they had not known it would be today.
Lily woke up on the morning of the eruption suddenly, with the warm sun shining through her pale, blue curtains onto her long blonde hair; making her face glow. For a moment, she did not know why she woke, until through the paper thin walls she heard her son Joseph crying.
“He never cries in the mornings” she thought as she made her way along the narrow hall to her son’s bright yellow room. As she held him trembling in her arms, she noticed tears glistening in his hazel eyes. “Bad dream?” she said softly, cradling him. But, even as the words came out of her mouth, she knew something was not right.
The day flowed as Lily went about her chores. Cleaning the washing, feeding her little pack of chickens and bathing Joseph. As the afternoon sun slowly rose in the sky she made her way down the long winding streets to the shops. Walking past brick square houses, she noticed a small, but grey cloud, hovering over the top of the mountain. Worriedly, she pushed it out of her mind.
After collecting her day’s groceries, she took Joseph to the local park. It was a lovely park; huge old oak trees enclosed the emasculate dark green lawn the gardeners took such care to maintain. In the middle was a big red slide. In any other town this could have been considered ancient. But here, it was the town’s heart. Admirably watching young Joseph play, Lily felt the last sign of the mountain’s movements. The ground beneath her trembled, sending birds in the nearby trees flying. In all of five seconds it was over.
The town of Moondrem was located in a valley, surrounded on three sides by lush mountains. Except for one side, where the ocean stretched out in a vast blanket of sparkling blue. The docks were located on the edge of the ocean, and this is where the evacuations began.
“We will be the last to be evacuated” Lily said to her friendly neighbour Mrs Smith. “As we live closest to the mountain.” Knowing that had at least four hours to wait, she placed Joseph in his cot, then fell into a restless sleep, preying the mountain would wait.
She woke, sweating, to the sounds of shouting, breaking glass and many footsteps. Grabbing Joseph into her arms she rushed outside. The volcano had erupted. A monstrous black cloud rolled towards the houses covering everything. She turned running towards the docks. Looking back over her shoulder she saw lava engulf her house. The place where she had grown up smothered by the orange, red and black mass seeping its way through the village. Holding back tears, she continued running, flying through the village. Her chest ached with every breath she drew, a knife stabbing into her will to survive, but she dared not stop.
Finally, after what seemed a lifetime, she reached the docks, to find the last boat disembarking.
“Stop, stop,” she screamed after the boat. Strangers grabbed her crying son from underneath her aching arm. Grabbing their reaching hands she sat, breathing heavily, looking back at her last memories of the now lost and crumbling village.