This year my National Novel Writing Project took an unexpected turn. My realistic fiction piece titled #nerdyjock turned thriller when my protagonist's sister turned up missing.Here's an excerpt from this work in progress because, to be honest, I don't have the energy tonight to create something new.
Lo on Earthquakes
We’ve been having
all of these earthquakes lately. Some people say it’s because of fracking,
others say it’s the fault moving little by little which might actually be
saving us from the big one. Or maybe, it’s just getting us ready for the big
one.
But no matter how
small, I hate earthquakes. They jolt me wide awake, send my heart racing and
force me to imagine a world of absolute destruction.
None of them have
come at school, so no one really knows how freaked out I get, but Mom and Dad
have a hint. They try to ease my fears, show me the earthquake preparedness kit, tell
me they have a plan for what we will all do if the big one hits and we are at
school and work.
The last big
earthquake in Southern California was the Northridge quake. I wasn’t alive when
it happened, but Dad talks about it sometimes, how he got motion sickness from
all of the aftershocks. Mom wasn’t living in LA at the time, so she’s never
been in a really big one either.
It’s the pictures
that I can’t quite get my head around, how the earth shifted causing freeways to collapse and buildings to crumble. I never pass under a
tunnel without thinking about how it would be a terrible place to be during a
quake.
And every time we
have one, I get a little more nervous and wonder what would happen in my life
if the big one hit.
The thing is,
sometimes earthquakes aren’t of the fault-slip kind. Sometimes earthquakes shake up your life, hit when you least expect them and leave you
devastated. What I want to know is: am I ready for the big one?
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