The Hunger of Mount Pinatubo
Sleeping peacefully for centuries uncounted, Mount Pinatubo, last
year, woke up from a cursed nightmare. The gentle thundering and
rumbling of the volcano's hunger to explode, frightened farmers, who
grew their crops on the mountain's curves, the scientists and volcano
experts, who studied day and night, to come up with a possible
solution, and of course, the many thousands who lived in the valleys
and on the lowland, surrounding Mount Pinatubo.
"We are his family", said one of the locals, "He may give the odd
rumble, but he would never hurt us, I am sure. He is like our Father."
Father and I lived on the mountainside of Mount Pinatubo, above a
quiet tranquil town in the Philippines. Father was an archaeologist
and I was a student. Sometimes he would take his team, with a
helicopter, into the volcano and explore the deep depths and roaring
magma lakes, hundreds of metres below the surface. My Mother was dead,
but I inherited her crisp brown hair and emerald green eyes. I took
her beautiful wide smile and her rosy cheeks too.
Nothing could prepare me for what was going to happen on the 15th of
June 1991.
I woke up, clutching my four-poster bed, dumbstruck. The whole house
shivered and I sat bolt upright. The earth shook tremendously like the
sea slapping against a cliff, and the ornaments on my shelves fell and
shattered like rocks crumbling into the sea. A deafening sound hurled
through the doorway, and by now a cold feeling shot up my spine like a
stray bullet. Father scuttled through, just before the roof fell in
with an ear- splitting thud.
"Out the window!", thundered Father, as we dashed through the open
window, into a field of greyness. A threatening mysterious black cloud
covered the town and rained a thick coat of ash. Shocked, I watched in
utter horror, the world turn into filth and grime, as ash covered the
roads and houses, and it was so heavy, its weight caved in the old
of these I entered, but I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the
During the rumble, no one was going to start the rumble until Darry had courage to start the rumble. He was tough enough to say that he would fight on anyone (pg 142).
up the steps and entered the house. A combination of horror and amazement swept over
It began with the cold. Spots of cold. A moment of normal then cold, as if the heat were sucked into another dimension. These don’t bother me as much as the touch. A handless touch of nothing. Something grabbed by arm but no one was there.
“In my eyes he was immortal. He was a champion above and beyond the arena. In my mind, he was pretty much untouchable, and that drove home that nobody is untouchable” (Cain 1). Lane Frost.
stood upon, was frightening. The only was to go was down. I took a deep
I felt a strange shiver down my back as we realised that we had to
I felt the cold arctic blast of cold air conditioning hit my face like a concrete wall. I walked forcefully down the long well lit hallway. I walked past the state
Darkness washed over me briefly, as the limbs did their work. Finally, I broke through the wall of thorns, and into the neighboring yard. I lay there for a few minutes, the cold ground soothing the pain that resounded throughout my body as the blood flowed profusely forth.
“I felt a cold sweat run down my back as I realized what it would have
feel myself floating almost like someone was taking me from my room. I couldn’t feel
I felt shocked and a huge amount of anger mounting up inside me. I walked
"Sky, I know that's you in there." I kept walking, not feeling like dealing with her today. But then, when did I ever? There were soon foot steps falling close behind mine. Someone grabbed my arm and spun me around, facing me directly towards them.
My stomach retched, my throat dry, had I got myself into this mess? A distant thud echoed across the cold, hard floor, ricocheting into my ear. Someone was coming.
face, and it made your face cold, but inside, you felt warm and cozy, and you