It is the year 2020 in Tohoku Japan. I woke up to a dark and cloudy sky. Everyone seemed to be going on with their day as if everything was fine and nothing would happen. I should’ve known. I had never witnessed an earthquake before, only heard stories about them. Since everyone else was okay I figured everything was going to be okay. I trusted them in a way, even though they were strangers, I trusted that they knew the signs, they’d know if it was going to happen. But it was different this time. Nobody knew it was coming.

It started while I was making breakfast. The shaking was so intense like nothing I could ever put into words. I was frightened, I was all alone, I thought I was going to die. Rushing towards a doorway to try and protect myself I catch a glimpse of the outside through my window, buildings are already crashing down, people are running as fast as they can to find any cover for themselves.
So many thoughts are going through my head. Like what’s the last thing I said to people? When’s the last time I saw my family? Will I ever see them again? Will I survive this? I was wondering when the shaking would stop, I knew it would...eventually. When you’re in the middle of a bad situation and you start to think it couldn’t get any worse, it does. A tsunami comes roaring in, taking people under as it goes. I couldn’t speak, I had no words or even sounds to say, I was completely speechless. Fear had taken over my body and it was like I was numb.
Memories starting playing themselves again and again in my head, like I was trying to remind myself of everything in my life before I died. I tried to get myself together to make one last phone call, to my mom. Running towards the phone I can hear the screams of people outside. I dialed my mom’s number as fast as I could and hoped she would answer. The suspense was killing me. She answered…”Hello”, I couldn’t contain my feelings and  started to cry, “Hi Mom”. She knew I was crying, “What’s wrong honey?”, “I just wanted to call and say that I love you”, “That’s really random, I love you too. What’s going on?”. Before I could say another word the call was disconnected, a phone tower was knocked down outside.”Mom? Mom!?” I continued to cry as I slowly slid against the wall down to the floor. That was probably the last time she’d ever hear from me and she didn’t even know what was going on.
I grabbed a pillow that was already on the floor and layed down and put my face into it. Being alone was one of the worst parts of it all. I didn’t have someone to comfort me, to talk to, to die with. Your last moments on Earth shouldn’t be spent alone. Then all of a sudden, the shaking stops. I sat there and thought it couldn’t be true. It was over, it was all over. This couldn’t be real. I got up off the floor and looked out the window, everybody was finding their loved ones and hugging them. It was really over, finally over. I was overjoyed. I had survived the earthquake.