It all happened that day, the day my life changed. The day that left me with bruises and nightmares, the day when I almost died.

It was a beautiful morning, not one you’d expect a disaster to occur on. The sky was blue and the sun was so bright that it almost seemed as if it was smiling at us. We were in our classes, bored by our teacher’s tediously long lecture on ‘discipline’.

I silently wished for a miracle to happen so we could get out of class and enjoy the beautiful weather. Then suddenly, as if my wish had come true, the desks started shaking, the frames on our classroom’s walls fell and shattered, making us jump and the ground trembled and shook. We simply sat there looking at each other, unsure of what was happening.

Slowly, it dawned on us, it was an earthquake! We yelled and scrambled off our chairs and ran for the door. Outside, I could see other children running, some tripping over in fright. The whole school swarmed in the ground, running helter-skelter. Some kids were climbing trees, some yelling and sobbing simultaneously, while some just looked around, not knowing what to do. Then, without any warning, our hall’s chandelier, which had an array of crystals, fell down. I knew that we were doomed.

The building was crumbling away and pieces of bricks were escaping from them. I ran hopelessly looking like a chicken without a head, thinking that my time had come. Tripping over a pile of rubble and feeling pain shoot up in my leg was all I could remember before blacking out.

I slowly came to my senses and realised a huge piece of brick had come flying out of nowhere and hit me on my leg, causing it to fracture. My forehead was trickling a river of blood and staining my uniform. I was hopelessly gazing at my leg when I heard a loud creak and groan, and saw that the school building was making its way to the ground. I desperately pulled my leg and tried get free it, but it was all in vain.

I twisted my shin a bit and, fortunately, freed my leg! I shuffled around helplessly to move as far away as possible from the building. The building fell with a thud, just missing me and sending thousands of pieces of rubble flying, some hitting my head and knocking me out.

I can recall the wailing sound of an ambulance and people piling a very groggy me on a stretcher. I woke up in a hospital with my parents at either side, holding my hand and reciting prayers. I was told I was going to be alright in a few months. Surprisingly, I found myself bearing all the pain with patience and made a speedy recovery.

Even though it all happened years ago, I still remember it as if it was yesterday. I now know I was lucky to have survived all this and have lived to tell about it.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 24th, 2016