Catalysm

Sounds of objects hitting the ground forced my eyes to open. Everything it sees were blurry but it depicted chaos at first sight. I thought I was in the middle of some bar fight but I saw my favorite wall clock that once hanged in my office on the floor, broken. So no, that's not it. My head was heavy and so was my body. I wasn't sure what exactly was happening , why the ground's shaking , and why I was hearing crackles everywhere. It was dark outside and it's kinda weird that the usual view on my window wasn't the same anymore. It's kinda moving that time. I looked around and slowly the pictures were clearer. Not that it was actually clear. But clearly, my office was slowly torn apart -- literally! So I had to put all my remaining strength, which I definitely don't have much left, into that one nerve-racking leap or I'll fall right straight to the ground together with my favorite wall clock from approximately 325 feet high.

"Here goes nothin'!"

And yes.

I survived.

Barely. At least...

I wasn't able to reach the floor of what was supposed to be my office but I was able to grab one of those reinforced metals that surfaced after the floor was broken apart.

I was supposed to be drunk but at that moment my consciousness forgot that I finished a bottle of champagne in just a few hours.

"Aarggh!"

For starters, it would need a hot drink or soup and a lot of sleep to get past hangovers but this was on a whole new level and I hate how effective it was. I grabbed another one of those reinforced metals and struggled my way up back to the floor level; the safer one, obviously.

My heart felt like it would burst off my chest at any moment. I sat on the floor and looked around. Half of WCE and the rest of the city was torn down by what appeared to be an 8.2 magnitude earthquake. Other buildings, although it wasn't that visible, but I could hear them collapse and stumble on the ground, some even caught fire. I could hear emergency vehicles on the road and on the air. Some faint cries here and there. Some of those were probably from the other floors in WCE.

And finally, I remembered...

"L-Leonna.. LEONNA!"

I rushed out of the door and into the staircase and repeatedly shouted her name. It was almost pitch-black inside the building but I was able to go down the stairs. Thanks to the time I spent almost living in WCE for years, going down the stairs from my office was almost a muscle memory.

"Help!!"

I could hear cries everywhere. I can't barely see anything even my next step. I just relied on my other senses. I can't pinpoint their exact locations because of the dust, ashes, and the time. It was roughly 5am in the morning I could see the breaking dawn outside from large cracks on the wall. I accidentally kicked an emergency light explains how dark it is inside. Then I thought maybe she already got out of the building hours ago. I pulled my phone out of my pocket but I can't find it anywhere. Then I realized I probably dropped it when I fell off my seat that night. With haste, I ran back to my office and there it was all dusty but it's still working.

"come on, pick up."

Her phone rang once but the signal was in and out that I had to make another call.

All of a sudden, the ground started shaking again. The intensity was severe that it made me lose my balance and fall on my knees.

"Oh boy. After shock."

I thought to myself as I hear cracking sounds again. And my instincts never failed me, it came from the floor where I settled myself down...

" Sir? Sir! Can you hear me? Please follow the light with your eyes if you do"

𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆? 𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏?

Words that came to my mind as I involuntarily followed the light with my eyes as it swayed infront of my face from left to right. I really wish it was heaven though but it wasn't. I was in a rescue tent in I didn't know where yet. The rescue personnel rolled me to my side and tilted my head upwards. Seconds later, I could already see the people laying down on stretchers like me. Some of them were mumbling their prayers, some were crying out loud as the doctors were trying to save their lives, some were just staring blankly somewhere, and some were covered with sheets. I was still lucky I guess. Patients kept on coming in stretchers and in wheelchairs. They outnumbered the medical personnels attending the wounded. Medical personnels were dripping in sweat as well as the rescue teams that was carrying patients in.

Then I remembered...

"My phone, where's my phone?"

In a faint voice I asked the nurse closest to me as I tried to get up.

"Sir, please stay laid down. You need to recover. You fell from--"

The nurse tried to stop me but I was persistent. I needed to find my phone in order for me to find Leonna but it's nowhere to be found.

"Damn, this is my fault!"

I said to myself finding my way out of the huge military tent. I could feel the tingling and pricking pains all over my body but it wasn't an issue anymore for me. I had to make things right. I needed to.

As soon as I got out of the tent, dusts covered me as a Chinook just landed right in front of me. Soldiers rushed in carrying badly wounded people inside. I believe they'll be brought to the nearest funtioning hospitals for futher treatments. The air was balmy, soiled and malodorous. There were a lot of body bags laid on the ground and people checking them if they contained their love ones. The tent was situated meters away from WCE building which by the way was holding roughly 29 floors out of 50. My office was on the 30th floor so it's safe to say that I fell only a floor down. Lucky guy on a not so lucky day.

Not very far from where I stand, an old lady dropped to the ground as soon as she saw her little boy inside one of the body bags. She screamed and asked the heavens why. The guy behind her seemed to be her husband was holding back his tears while holding her tight around his arms.

The same question lingered in my mind. Why? How did it come to this? I was eager to find the answers but I needed to find Leonna first.

"Leonna!"

"Hi, did you happen to see a girl this tall with short hair, green chinese eyes, with white complexity, and wears a yellow uhm, a yellow tank top and a black cardigan?"

I asked..

and asked..

almost every one I bumped into but they all had the same answer.

"No, I haven't"

I don't want to do it. I want to think that she's alive and well but I want to make sure so I checked the body bags around. Each time I opened a bag brought me back to that time, the blooded and deformed faces of corpses flashed back the faces of my family as I found them in body bags years back. It was a cruel thing that I had to endure. I finally arrived to the last body bag and slowly opened it up to the neckline. It was a short haired girl. Her hair covered her face and the hair color was familiar. My hand was shaking as my fingers cleared the hairs that was covering the face.

My tears began to overflow.

Thank God! It wasn't her. It was a guy in a cosplay suit.

I couldn't explain what exactly I was feeling at that moment. Relief, exhaustion, joy ,and trauma were on the table at the same time.

I sat on the pavement beside the road. Exhausted but I need to think. I still can't get a hold of Leonna, even Ed, and Mr. Zellwinger. Moments later a van pulled up a few meters away from me. The door opened. A guy wearing a cap rushed outside, followed by a guy in black suit that was holding a mic and three other people came out after. They were members of the media that was about to shoot a news footage regarding the catastrophe that's happened. I stood up and went to them.

"Hey, hey" I uttered twice since they were too busy setting up everything.

"Can I borrow a phone?"

"Sure but we're in a rush. We arrived late due to the traffic and damaged roads. Mind if we'd ask for your statement in a form of a short interview? I'll let you use our Sat. phone in return."

Finally, There goes the interview. I was live on TV.

Leonna's phone was out. I couldn't reach her even using a satellite phone. I gave up. I then started calling Ed but even Ed won't pick up. Then I called Mr. Zellwinger. While his phone was ringing, I heard the News broadcast was already live and on air so I turned my attention towards the TV inside the van.

"Six to Eight magnitude Earthquakes were felt simultaneously all over the world early today, November 9, 2023. Countless lives were lost and damages arising to roughly trillions as we speak. However, the unfortunate events didn't end there yet. Abnormal rise of oceanic temperatures were detected early today. Marine ecosystems in the pacific and the Antarctic oceans are believed to be depleting as we speak. Corals are burnt alive and smacks of jellyfishes were detected to be increasing its numbers annually. Glaciers on north and south poles are rapidly melting. Experts believe that this is the effect of the largest hole in our Ozone layer that's currently increasing in size. Greenhouse gases produced by the excessive burning of fossil fuels by mankind is what the experts believe to be causing this phenomenon. They say it would take years to recover if all burning would stop now and on the current situation, there's not much time left. On the other hand, Billionaire and Space expert, Elon Must, proposed that it's time for everyone to have a new home. A home he built for the survival of mankind. The planet Must or previously known as the Planet Mars. After years of research and progress, planet Musk is now proven to be safe for mankind to live in. Slots are limited so call those number or visit this website shown at the bottom of the screen"

[𝚃𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍]