If you can survive

A small piece of news I’ve just came across on The Net made me write the short story below. I bow before the scarifies of all mothers.

By Junate E.

First, a thunder like sound resounded through the ears of the young woman, she could not figure out what was going on. The light bulb was swinging left to right…Before the total blackout, she could manage to cover him up. He was the son and only three years old.

His husband was out and working that night. She did not mind. Because she had much fun with her little boy. But she never thought the darkness would spoil their fun that night.

She woke up in coughs under heavy rubbles. She wanted to get straight up…but she could not. Actually, all she could do move her fingers and her head…They were under a huge cement column block of the room…Shortly, she felt that deep pain…she felt like all the bones fractured…She wanted to say a few words…she could not do it either…the broken tooth pieces stuck in her throat.

“Oh, My God…please help,” she begged in her mind, which is the only undamaged part of her. “Baby, Honey, are you OK?” she shouted…there was no answer. She remembered she has made her body a shield for him before the damned earthquake. With a forced effort she could push her hand under her belly and felt the warmth of a mass. ”Oh, baby are you OK?” Still there was no response.

Meanwhile, the first team arrive the earthquake location. The location was in China and it was really a big earthquake. The rescue unit was a military one. The leader of the team turned on his radio and said, ”The Captain speaking…The damage is way beyond what was estimated…God damn it, I hear moans and begins from almost each house here…we need more rescue teams…these guys are perishing here.”

As soon as he turned it off, he rushed after his dog. His name meant “Rebel” in Chinese. Rebel jumped into one of the collapsed houses across the street. He started digging at then father end of the debris. The Captain followed him.

“What do you have, son?” he asked. Rebel was keeping on digging out. The Captain was using his hands to clear away the rubbles and pieces of cement blocks. He knew it would be dangerous and damaging to use a pick or shovel in this type of collapse. As the Captain was going into the debris, his scream was heard at the other end of the street, “Bring down an excavator quick. Not long before an excavator showed up. They tied a steel wire to the cement block in the debris. The Captain said, ”OK, Lad!…now pull it up slowly and gently. The young soldier carried out what his commander instructed literally. Once the large blocked was taken away, they saw a woman…The woman’s pose appeared to be ”strange” to the commander.

She knelt on her knees and she looked like a person who is worshiping; her body was leaning forward, and her two hands were supported by an object. The collapsed house had crashed her back and her head.

The Captain bent down and put his hand on her neck with a hope of seeing her alive. She was so cold and stiffened that there was not even a need to check her pulse to see if she is alive. Yes, she was already dead.

The Captain murmured himself, “It’s too late for this lady.” He turned back in rush. He wanted to help someone alive. But he noticed Rebel was not with him. He turned back and saw Rebel was standing at the same ruined house. He was looking and moaning. He was trying to tell something to the Captain.

“C’mon Boy…there must be  a lot of survived people out there…move along!”

The Rebel stepped backward. His moans were getting stronger. “Okay, okay,” said The Captain as he turned back to the house. Rebel ran to the woman on the ground and he started pushing his nose under her. Again, the Captain knelt down and used his hand through the narrow cracks to search the little space under the dead body. Suddenly, he screamed with excitement,” A child! There is a child! “

The whole team worked together; carefully they removed the piles of ruined objects around the dead woman. They saw the baby boy wrapped in a flowery blanket under his mother’s dead body. It was obvious that his mom had made an ultimate sacrifice for saving her son. The little boy was still sleeping peacefully when the team leader picked him up.

The doctor came quickly to exam the little boy. After he opened the blanket, he saw a cell phone inside the blanket. There was a text message on the screen. It said,” If you can survive, you must remember that I love you.” This cell phone was passing around from one hand to another. Everybody that read the message wept.