The Earth Shook

 The Earth shook violently again. Mat clung to a rock, waiting for it to stop. He was beginning to wonder why he was bothering, to hold on to something during these quakes or whatever they were, or even to bother looking for any other survivors. He’d walked miles and miles, for so many days, it could be months even, how did he know? Crushed buildings, chopped up forests, great cracks in the earth, no other people, no animals. Everywhere was dark. He had got some food and bottled water he had picked up at the start of all this. Had he was stolen it?,

No, the store had slid down one of the gigantic cracks, and the things he’d picked up were teetering on the edge, as he was himself. He had rammed as much as he could into his backpack and pulled himself away from the edge. Was this the result of climate change or had the Earth collided with some meteor?  Shouldn’t that be the other way around, The meteor crashing into the earth? Why was he even asking himself such things. He’d been deep down in some caves, on a tour, looking at stalagmites and wishing other tourists would stop nattering. Then the caves had shook and began to crumble. He had been trapped between some rocks for a while, then pushed his way out. He hadn’t been able to see any other people, even after digging around in the rubble. No one had answered his calls. For a moment he had been afraid that Sarah was there. Then he remembered that she hadn’t been there. Mat had climbed out, expecting to find everything more or less normal, only to find that the world was so very dark. There had been load noises from what he thought must be alarms.

It was so very strange having no other human being to talk to. Before all this, he had got fed up with his job, hearing all those voices in the office, criticizing others, giggling about what they had been doing the night before, management going on about what they were going to have to improve on, when most of them felt pushed to their limits anyway. He’d quit his job and packed up and gone travelling, His beloved girlfriend Sarah, had left him, after an argument. He had no family, no commitments, some savings, enough to survive on. He’d gone out into a quiet country area, thinking it would be good to get away from all those voices. Then this catastrophe had kicked off. Now he would be so happy and relieved to hear voices. In fact, if he’d only heard a cow moo or a fox bark, it would be very welcome. Hear Sarah again would be the best thing ,but that wasn’t going to happen. He wondered what had happened to her. Had she been killed, or could she have escaped somehow? If he knew she was dead, he probably wouldn’t want to keep going, even though he would most likely see her again if she had survived.

It was dark, all the time and Matt had  no idea what direction he was headed. He could be walking around in circles. The moon was still there, but not even remotely on the right side of the earth, or perhaps he was going crazy. He had to keep still now and try to sleep. Walk around in the dark and he would fall down some great crack and that would be the end of him. How he felt right now, that wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.

In the day light, he felt a little more optimistic again and walked on, not at all sure where he was heading, just determined to keep going. As he walked on he suddenly though, daylight! There had been no light. Where things improving somehow?

Some birds flew over, high in the sky? He could hear them, though he couldn’t see them. It was so good to hear life. Matt shouted to them, then wondered what he had done that for, just the need to communicate with something living, he guessed.

What would happen to him first, he would fall down a crater, or run out of food and water, or he would go completely mad? He did feel hungry, and several times he had thought he was not thinking straight. He had been hit on the head by the rocks in the cave. His head still felt sore. He felt weak and wobbly too. When had he last eaten?

Suddenly he could hear some strange noises. An alarm beeping, and distant voices. There must be a building and people there. Could he walk over to them. He was not feeling too well anymore. His head was starting to throb, and he was having trouble dragging him self along. Then a voice called his name.

“Mat.”

 How was that, how did anyone know him? Perhaps he had walked around in a circle, and come back to his home town.

He tried to shout back, but he only made a slight noise. He couldn’t stop now, so close to finding other people.

Someone shouted Matthew. He preferred to be called Mat but they could call him Stupid, as long as they were there.

“Mat, can you hear me?”

That sounded like his girlfriend, Sarah. He must be going mad. She was his ex- girlfriend, now anyway. Someone touched his cheek, then held his hand. He looked sideways. Everything was bleared. He blinked and saw that it was Sarah, holding his had and in tears.

“Mat! He’s looking at me.”

“So he is. I can be fairly certain he’s safely through the worst.”

Who was that, and were had the rocks gone?

Mat tried to sit up and look around. He was in hospital, with tubes and other gadgets around him, and Sarah, holding his hand, a man with a stethoscope around his neck.

“What happened? I was walking on rocks.”

“You were in some caves when there was a slight tremor, from a distant earthquake and part of the caves fell in. Oh, I’m babbling. I don’t expect he needs to hear all that, right now.”

“It won’t hurt. It’s good to talk to him. Your doing well now Matthew, your recovering well. I’ll just update his notes.”

It all became clearer as a few days passed. And he could sit up in bed, hear equipment beeping, bird calling outside the windows, and best of all, Sarah, saying she loved him and was so glad he had regained consciousness.

As soon as he was discharged, he said to Sarah

“I love you so much. Will you marry me?”