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Last Night :: Every Night :: Tomorrow Night
volcanic eruptions
2002-02-01
We were at some sort of elite gathering, near my house. Jenny and I were walking on the road towards my house, when I looked up and we noticed the volcano was erupting. We'd heard it was going to go, so we weren't surprised. We were excited and wanted to watch. However, rather than blowing up in a massive eruption of ash, lapilli and rock, it started spewing pahoehoe. Really thin, hot, fast flowing lava. It rushed towards us extremely fast. Almost immediately it was running down the street, burning everything in its path. Jenny and I started running, terrified, as it came faster than we could run, and the lava overcame her, and it burned her. We kept running. We had run, there was no turning back, and we lost everything -- family, house, possessions, everything. The only thing I was able to take with me was the birthday gift Jenny had given me, which she had apparently gotten at Mr. Peeps. As we ran as hard as we could, we caught up with some folks who were also trying to get away, on bicycles. We begged them to give us a ride, since they could go more quickly than we on foot, but they wouldn't. No one was helping anyone. Eventually, we were running in a small group, exhausted, but we couldn't stop since the lava was gaining. My grandfather was there. He's very old and not entirely present anymore. Somehow, I'd dropped the present Jenny had given me, and he picked it up. I lost the box, but I still had it. He handed it to me and we continued to run. He wasn't able to run very fast. Jenny and I were both sobbing, at all we'd lost. I said it wasn't right... volcanoes in Oregon at most spewed aa, a chunky, slower type of lava, not the swift, thin pahoehoe. Somehow I dropped her gift again, but it was retrieved, which I was very grateful for because it was all I had left. We ran up the street, and finally, we came to the apex of it, and the lava was far behind us. It had destroyed the entire area. We tried to decide where to go, and the road curved back a little towards the volcano, so we were wary of going that way. We were all homeless, and there was nowhere close to go. The city was not an option. We all decided to go very far away to my aunt's, up on the mountain. Her home was far from anything, in the forest. It was a long ways to any semblance of civilization, and the only way to get anywhere was to walk. It was as if we were the only survivors of a huge apocalypse. Those who came to live at the house were Jenny, another friend of mine named Jason, my aunt, another aunt, my grandfather, and a few others who lived there or were children of those present. I had a trailer outside the house, where I would live and I invited Jenny and Jason to live with me. There was no heat and so it was freezing. We were very sad, and hung out a while, glad for each other. It was too cold to stay there, however, so we went inside. We didn't have many resources, and were working on ways to survive and make money, get supplies and so on. We went to the large bedroom to be warm and have a little privacy. We partly avoided my aunt and grandfather, and were wary of them for some reason. We talked about it for a while, and decided the three of us should be in a romantic relationship. We lay around, mourning for those lost and for our lives that had changed so greatly. My aunt called for us. As we went, I showed my friends the doorway to the main bedroom. It was an open place, with no ceiling, and the rain fell through in sheets, creating a big shallow pool. It had been used in some sort of movie or something. Jason and I splashed through it, and warned Jenny to be careful. She was overcome with sadness, and she lay down in the pool, not moving, as the water started to cover her. She felt unloved and that everything was over. I walked over and pulled her up gently, and led her over to the side of the pool. She covered her face and told me not to look at her, but Jason and I assured her that she was beautiful and we loved her and everything would be okay. There were things I needed in the room that we needed to take. I felt I couldn't ask Jenny or Jason to go back in there, so I sloshed back to get them.
Last Night :: Every Night :: Tomorrow Night
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