Sarah heard the voices from the above her face, but could not open her eyes properly. “She is trying to say something, Thank God she is alive.” A loud voice spoke.
“Stay still, we are moving you out from here” Her eyesight blurred, but not because tears were welling up. Everything became fuzzy; then she saw nothing at all.
Sarah came to Kilinochchi for four days with a group of 10 students to collect data for their research about cultural differences and the lifestyle of people living in a particular area. They rented a house consisting several small rooms with tiny wooden tables, wooden bed frames, and thick mattresses. The main room was where food was served. Two medium windows let in natural light. That Monday evening, after a delicious dinner of dosai, vade and sambar, they were discussing how to gather relevant details for their research and about the places they were about to visit.
Nighttime had always been the time when demons residing within nature came out to play; to bring out the worst. The sky was starless and moonless. There was no twilight, only blackness. The old father clock in the corner of the living room chimed 2.00 am.
“I feel sleepy guys. I’m going to my room” Janaka stood up yawning and suddenly the ground started moving and the noise was like extended thunder, only worse, because the vibrations were coming from below.
The walls screamed and lights flickered and swung violently from the ceiling.
All at once the house was being moved up and down with such force that they sprawled over the floor, falling heavily on the terracotta tile. The pictures fell from the walls, glasses shattering, and books fell off shelves.
They were all terrified and their screams were lost in the deafening noise, and as the shaking reduced they reached out for one another’s hands. Cracks appeared on the ground beneath, and the earth began to move as if it was a wave on the sea and buildings that had stood for centuries crumbled to their own foundations, crushing their occupants to a grisly death.
Sarah opened her eyes to the gray light of the morning and felt lifeless. She slowly tried to get up and sat on the small bed, in the refugees’ tent. Her head was aching and she raked her fingers through her tangled shoulder length hair, tied up to keep it out of her face. Her hand was covered with a bandage.
It seemed calm and clouds dominated the morning sky leaving transitory patches of blue. Though they were mostly white there was a hint of greyness, a suggestion that it may rain during the day.
She tried to trace everything that happened, with blurred eyes, the army was deployed to help and there were aid parcels sent via the international relief effort. Many of the injured were carried to the ground area where helicopters were landing. She felt emotionally paralyzed; all of her thoughts were in a mental traffic jam.
While she was trying to figure out what happened in the surrounding, she saw a Red Cross nurse rushing towards her with a Milo. “Hey, you woke up finally, do you feel good?” Sarah nodded, to say yes since she didn’t want to utter a single word.
“Don’t worry you’re fine. We’ve already treated your sprained hand” the pretty and kind face talked fast and gave her the Milo, and ran to the woman who was holding a screaming toddler.
“Poor girl, she is still in shock” Sarah didn’t want to turn her head to see who murmured that. She looked everywhere to look for her friends, when she noticed a little girl of maybe 6 or 7 sitting a few steps away, cuddling her precious blue eyed doll with teary frightened eyes.
Sarah tried to smile at her and signed to come closer as she was just staring without feelings. Sarah’s head started to spin again and she closed her eyes tightly while tears burst forth like water from a dam, spilling down her face.
“What would mom be doing right now”? The sadness flowed through her veins. “Colombo is also destroyed, many people have died.” A transistor radio sounded near her and her heart stopped and she couldn’t breathe, as if someone was choking her. Once again fear gripped her, and her legs felt weak. For the first time in her life, she found herself alone.
Her mother wasn’t there to soothe her fears, nor was her brother to tell her stories. It was just her, alone in a strange place with strange people.
When she opened her eyes the little girl was sitting next to her trying to adjust her doll’s pink floral dress and woollen hair. Sarah hugged the little girl as she was shaking with fear. She felt the little one’s cheeks wet with tears. Time passed slowly and fear gripped their hearts.
Sarah wanted to cry but her tears had dried up. She wanted her heart to stop beating but it kept on pounding. She needed to see a known face still alive, instead bodies were pulled up out of the ground with dust on their blue lips. Somewhere out there, are lots of people feeling glad they aren’t here, irritated that they are asked to help those unfortunate.
-Anushani Thilakarathna