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All that lies before me is destruction.  There’s nothing left but rubble, twisted metal that used to be cars and boats and buses.  Everywhere I look I see empty windows, broken and shattered panes of glass.  Someone was looking through that window just a few days before.  I cannot find our home, nor can I find my parents.  My auntie and uncle did not make it out of the house, they were too slow, and just too old.

I yell out for my Mother, but she does not answer.  My throat is dry, and sore from crying and screaming for her.  It’s cold, and I forgot my jacket.  I pick up a torn one from the ground.  It is salty and wet, but I feel better with it on.  I want to find Mother and Father.  All I see is wood and sticks and stuff lying everywhere.  There are no people here.

I’ve walked all day it seems.  I saw the sign from the front of my school.  It was under a car and a big boat.  There were some school papers on the ground.  I saw one with one of my classmates’ name on it.  A drawing of our school, with the sun above it.  We were all holding hands and smiling.  I liked that picture.  But he is not here now.  I wish I could find him.  I wish I could find my Mother, too.

It’s almost night time.  I’m very tired and hungry.  There is food all over the place, but it’s dirty, and I don’t want to eat it.  I stole a bottle of water out of a crashed car.  I was so thirsty, I couldn’t wait for Mother or Father to bring me some water.  I’m sure they’ll find me.  I hope they find me soon, it’s getting dark, and I don’t know where to go.  It’s getting cold and windy, too.

There is a fire over there.  I see people!  Perhaps it’s Mother and Father!  Oh I hope it’s them, I’m scared out in the dark by myself.  Father never lets me play outside after dark.  “When I’m older,” he says.  The people let me sit by the fire.  They are cold and wet, too.  They do not know my parents, and have not seen them.  They will let me stay with them, though.  A nice lady with a bloody shirt hands me her blanket.  She wraps me up in it.  She called me by a different name.  She is crying as she holds me to warm me. Mother and Father will come soon for sure. I just know it.