Earthquake

A sudden rumble that shook the whole building, a scream from my roommates, the pattering of footsteps and people unlocking their doors, I awoke from my sleep to find that an earthquake is happening. It was one of the largest and longest earthquake I have ever experienced, and I know in the course of four years there will be more of these happening. After staying awake for another three minutes and convincing myself that it has passed, I dropped back to sleep.

The alarm went off at exactly eight o'clock in the morning, as was my usual routine. But today was different, I woke up ten minutes earlier and surveyed my surroundings. The door was left opened last night in case an earthquake happen again, and we can run to safety immediately. Preparations for my day began, everything seemed as normal as ever, until I turned on the computer and checked the earthquake reports. It seemed that there were three earthquakes last night, and two of them were considered dangerous, hitting a 5.1 and another of 4.7 on the Richter scale, and I slept through the last two. Facebook status' were all about the earthquake, people were afraid and spent half the night awake. Only I slept as soundly as possible. When I thought about how easily I might have gotten myself killed, it made me shudder inwardly.

Over the course of twenty years, I never need to be constantly on my guard against earthquakes. Night time meant sleep, undisturbed sleep. But after last night, I realized I have to be more careful. It will not be funny if my parents read about earthquake happenings in Taiwan and calling my cellphone only to find that I did not receive their call. That thought alone made my blood run cold. I have so much things left to do, so many things that I never got to say, so many little regrets that seemed so insignificant until now. My dreams were not accomplished yet; broken relationships that have never been fully mended; and new relationships that did not blossom out. I have fallen in love with this place, but this is not home. I have many unfinished business, and I am not ready to leave yet. Not now, at least.

It's funny now you come to think of it. I have only just initiated contact with Mr. Virgo, and we talked like old friends. There are some wounds that we knew it would never heal, but at least we can try to hide the scar. I missed him, like a dear friend, and I hated the fact that we never talk again after that parting. They say some things were better left unsaid, but that's not true. Some things were better left untouched, but not unsaid. Come to think of it, maybe the earthquake happened to make me realize what are the things that are important.

The aftermath of the earthquake left everyone worried, but life goes on as usual. Everything continued as before, and I wonder when will the next earthquake be.