A Short Story - 4:00 AM

Tuesday, 6:00 pm

Chang’s curly black hair is sopping wet. His curls droop over his forehead like a mop and he flips his head to get it out of his eyes. In one hand, Chang holds a brown bag, and in the other a white leash. Tobias trots along behind him, his cream-colored fur soaked in water. Around his neck, a white collar that connects to a white leash. Chang looks down at the small Labrador retriever. “Sorry bud, it wasn’t supposed to rain today was it?” Tobias sticks out his tongue and pants.

Tuesday, 8:00 pm

Chang is dry now but his hair is a mess. Tobias is dry too but continues to wear Chang’s towel. The towel was big on him, he wore it more like it was a tent that had fallen on top of him. Chang goes to the dinner table and unpacks the contents of the brown bag. He takes out the container of noodle soup he had gotten at that restaurant during him and Tobias’ daily run. He pours out some dog food on the hardwood floor. Tobias was a messy eater so there wasn’t really a point to using a bowl. The clock ticks and Chang eats his food. Tobias sticks out his tongue and pants.

Tuesday, 8:30 pm

Tobias runs around the apartment and Chang thought about how lucky he was that he lived on the first story of the 8 story apartment building. He was sure that if had lived with downstairs neighbors they would complain about Tobias’ scattering footsteps. Chang emails some business forms to his boss and rubs his forehead. He looks out the window that’s still sprinkled with drops of water. It’s quiet though, the random storm was ephemeral and had stopped almost as randomly as it had started. Chang rubs his forehead again unsure if it’s stress or if he’s caught a cold. Tobias stops running. Tobias shuffles over to his owner and reassuringly leans his head onto Chang’s legs. Chang gently pets Tobias. “Let’s go to sleep earlier today, okay bud.” Tobias sticks out his tongue and pants.

Wednesday, 2:30 am

Chang is fast asleep in his bead with white blankets tucked around him. Tobias lays at the foot of his bed snuggled up and fast asleep as well.

Wednesday, 4:00 am

There are shrieks coming from outside the window. Tobias jolts awake and howls loudly nudging frantically at Chang’s feet. Chang opens his eyes and grasps the sheets around him. The bed is shaking as if it were floating on the stormy waves of a tsunami. Then the entire room is shaking and everything falls on to the floor. Picture frames, a cabinet of folded clothes, a laptop, everything is in pieces on the floor. Chang grabs Tobias and rushes towards the door. “It’s going to be okay.” Then the ceiling and walls around them start to crumble. Chang feels the ground jolt and falls to the floor curled around Tobias. The last thing he thought was how unlucky it was that he lived at the bottom floor of an 8 story apartment building. Then everything goes dark.

Thursday, 11:00 am

Jade walks carefully around the place. People are scattered around the streets bleeding and crying. The earthquake had happened just a few hours ago and people were still shaken up. Jade had just arrived and she didn’t want to be there. She thinks about how stupid the news team was to send her here. “People don’t need a news reporter here, they’ve already heard about the earthquake,” she says to herself. Still she gestures for the camera crew to film the horrors around her. She watches as volunteers set up tents and hand out free food to victims. She watches as rescue workers pull children from rubble. Then, she watches five men yelling and moving rocks out of the way from the bottom of a building that’s been turned on to its side. “Go check it out,” one camera man yells at her. Jade rolls her eyes and unwillingly heads in the direction of the commotion. A dog. They’ve pulled a dog out of the rubble. Jade can’t tell what kind of dog it is. She thought the dog was pretty ugly with its brown and musty fur. The men carry the small dog out of the rubble and hand him to Jade. “Wait come back.” But the men had already left and gone back to the building to look for victims. Jade pets the dog and the brown comes off on her hand to reveal a coat of cream colored fur. It was a Labrador retriever and he was, to her surprise, very much alive. After standing frozen for a few seconds, Jade takes the dog over to a random lady and leaves to do her job. She takes pictures and jots down random notes on her hand.

Thursday, 1:00 pm

Jade impatiently waits in a long line in front of a tent. Volunteers are giving out free food to the rescuers, victims, news people, and other volunteers. They hand out bags filled with rice and hot soup. Jade reached the front of the line. She starts to reach for a bag with there was a large bark. The Labrador retriever she had met a few hours ago had jumped up on to the low table. He growls and grabs the bag with his mouth before dashing off. Jade watches as the dog rushes towards the direction of the sideways building.

Thursday, 1:15 pm

Chang thinks that he’s dead. His head is throbbing and he cannot see anything. He can’t feel his feet or move his arms because they’re stuck under boulders. Chang doesn’t know that though, he think that he’s dead. All he can see is a crack of light coming from in front of him. Chang can’t scream, he doesn’t know why. “Help.” No one hears the whisper. Then the light is blocked by some figure. It’s Tobias. Tobias drops the bag on the ground and rips the bag open. He ripped a hole in the soup container. Its contents flowed through the crack of the collapsed building and to the area where Chang lays trapped. Chang strains his neck to drink the soup. “Thanks bud.” Tobias whimpers and then gets really loud.

Thursday, 1:35 pm

Tobias barks loudly. He howls and wails so much that his voice echoes and bounces off the collapsed structures around him. At first no one moves. The volunteers stay at their posts and the rescue workers continue resting and eating food. Tobias barks louder and does not stop. A man walks to where Tobias is and tries to carry the dog away. Tobias growls and barks louder gesturing to that tiny crack in the pile of rubble. The man looks through the crack and he sees another man laying perfectly still. “There’s someone here!” he yelled. Immediately three more workers drop their food and rush over. Jade sees the commotion and walks towards it. “What’s that dumb dog doing there,” she thinks. Jade keeps her distance and takes pictures as the men attempt to shuffle the debris strategically so that nothing will collapse. With each scattering of wreckage, the dog whimpers. His little body quivers with fear. Jade frowns. She almost feels bad for complaining about coming to the site when even the dog is suffering. She watches as the men continue to work carefully, some even calling out to the man stuck underneath saying that everything was going to be okay. “C’mon, they’re almost there,” Jade whispers. She hopes that the trapped man heard her. She hopes the dog heard her too.  

Thursday, 10:00 pm

Jade walks up the flights of stairs carrying in one hand, a camera and in the other a briefcase full of papers. She unlocks her apartment door and walks in feeling drained and exhausted. She doesn’t sleep yet though. Jade walks to her desk and opens her laptop. She starts typing about the disaster scene she had saw and how painful everything was to watch. She writes about the rescue workers and their bravery. She pauses and then starts a new paragraph. Jade writes about Tobias and the man stuck under the rubble. “They did it. Well, the dog did it. The man under the building was saved despite terrible odds. I heard from nearby people that the two were sent to a hospital in another city. May we pray for them and everyone still at the scene of the disaster.”

Friday, 4:00 am

The hospital is relatively quiet. The constant beeping of heart monitors echoes down each corridor. Chang is fast asleep in a bed with white blankets tucked around him. Tobias lays at the foot of the bed snuggled up and fast asleep as well. Tobias jolts awake to hear the constant rhythmic beeping disappear. It was just one long beep now. Tobias sticks out his tongue and pants.