Looking back the whole thing started rather ironically. The sky and ocean were both so blue you could look out on the horizon and not see where one ends and the other begins. Behind me, the lush green trees and flowers in a gradient of pinks and yellows bloomed. The air even felt cleaner than ever as the rain the night before had washed the grime out of the air and now only the fragrance of flowers wafted down and engulfed me.

I was out walking along the shore on the warm white sand. The warmth from sun trickled down from the heavens above just to lull me to sleep. It made my fear and regret of running from my family and their problems disappear for a blissful hour.

When it started, I was sleepwalking but unwelcomely awakened by the rumbling of the earth around me. It shook beneath my feet like a skateboard going down a bumpy road too fast. Soon, I couldn’t stand and found myself at the mercy of the ground below me. The ground, that just seconds before had been cradling, me was now throwing fistfuls of sand at my face and mouth. Soon it was everywhere and I couldn’t breathe.

Then it stopped. The sand in my mouth came pouring out as I coughed until my chest ached. Timidly, I rose to my feet and looked around. The birds resumed their blissful chirping from the eaves and I could still hear the gentle lapping of waves onto the shore. It all looked and sounded the same as when I had arrived; the sun continued to warm my skin, but I no longer felt warm inside.

Before I could spiral further into shock, the bleating of a siren blared through the songs of the birds. I recognized it from a test that interrupted my television program about 3 weeks ago: the tsunami warning. Horrified, I looked out on the ocean layed out in before me. It was supine; the only undulation occured as meager waves rolled onto the shore a foot before the sand. I could have looked out on the ocean forever if the screech of the siren didn’t grab me by the wrist and drag me away.

Years living on the island had constituted a knowledge of tsunami safety. I normally didn’t pay attention, and all of the information would go over my head. But on that particular day, I recalled the most important piece: go inland to higher ground.

I sprinted back down the beach and stumbled up the wooded path to the main road tripping over tree roots the whole way. I was shocked to find that the pavement was fractured down the middle for a mile. However I had no time to dwell on this. I had a wave to evade.

I was never a runner before this day, so I had been out of breath since the beach. Despite my inability to breathe I kept running up my island as it grew steeper below me. Up rugged Mount Au’lihia I ran hurtling shrubs and tree trunks. I  felt on the verge of collapse. My legs were moving and my eyes were fixed on the top of the mountain. My mind faded to numbness and I was vaguely aware of running. Spots creeped up on the edges of the my view; I tried to blink them away but couldn’t. The world started spinning around me; it was a revolving blur, and I felt I was trapped in a kaleidoscope of swirling colors with no solid ground. The open forest around me suddenly became claustrophobic. Then I was suffocating, but I didn’t dare stop my legs from trudging on without me; there were only before either my lungs or legs would fail and I’d be left at the mercy of the wave.

My toe came to an abrupt halt, but my momentum kept forward. I came crashing down like the wave that would be following shortly. There was no chance I was getting up I already knew in that moment. My ankle had began a sharp pain making consciousness even more difficult. I thought I had no energy for anything other than breathing, but I found enough strength to push tears out. I was going to die.

Through a vacuity in the trees, I could see my old friend the ocean. It was angry and became turbulent during my run up the mountain. The place I lay was hard as stone. I felt I wasn’t welcome, and the ground was trying to jettison me. The kapok trees jutted up around me and sprawled out at the top. Their only intention was to block my old friend the sun.

My daze was brashly interrupted by the snap of underbrush a few yards from me.

“C’mon guys hurry! We’ll be safer up here,” A woman’s voice called.

“I’m tired,” groaned a younger voice of about eleven or so.

“Well tired is better than dead,” snapped back the voice of an older boy.

“Both of you quit it!” The woman’s voice retorted.

“Oh my god!” The child’s voice shrieked, “Is that a dead body!”

He must have been referring to me. My undead corpse lay in the open after all. I tried to croak for help, but nothing sprung from my throat.

“Stay back boys,” The woman cautioned.

I heard her shuffle toward me, and I felt her warm hand check my crawling pulse. She seemed shocked to discover I was alive.

“Call 911!” She called back to the boys.

The last thing I heard was the sounds of screams from far below me. The wave had hit. I was helpless and mad at myself for letting myself run from my family end up alone here. I was going to die alone and it was my fault.