Suddenly a piercing light flashed before his eyes.
There, at the end of a tunnel were all of his friends.
Micky, Peter, and Davy were all there with Adriana, Katerina, and Ursula. He shaded his eyes from the blinding light and through squinted eyes, waved at them, calling to them for help.
The figures waved back, smiles on their faces, but stayed in place, totally unmoved at Michael’s predicament.
“Hey,” he hollered into the light, “help me out, guys!”
Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, his friends disappeared from sight. In their place stood the shadow of a woman.
Using every ounce of strength, Mike moved closer and closer to the light, his only hope of escape.
“Who are you,” Mike asked as he pulled himself along.
Finally, he made it to the light. His strength finally giving out he reached out for this shadow stranger’s hand. As he fell to his knees, his hand extended, he could see the shadow woman’s eyes. A piercing blue was all he could see before the light vanished.
Davy Jones stood up from where he had been knocked to the ground on 6th Avenue, right out side of the diner.
He looked to the left and right, surveying the area. Assorted people milled around calling for help, for loved ones, or just calling out in shock. Cars that had collided on the road had steam pouring out of the engines while their drivers examined the damage the quake had caused.
Looking behind him, he could see the Monkee Mobile was amazingly unscathed. However, many around him were not so lucky.
Hearing the sound of sirens in the distance, he hoped that help for these people wouldn’t be too much longer.
Brushing himself off, he quickly rushed inside the diner to check on Ursula.
Walking through the open door, he saw her sitting on the floor in the corner, next to a fallen table, holding her wrist and wincing in pain.
“Ursula,” he exclaimed, running to her side, “are you okay?”
“Davy,” Ursula shouted, surprise flitting across her features despite the pain, “what are you doing here?”
“Never mind that,” Davy said, shrugging off her surprise, “are you okay?”
“I-I don’t know,” Ursula said, running her hand along her wrist bone.
“Where’s Brendon,” Davy asked grimly as he looked at the scene around them.
The once bright and clean diner had been reduced to an utter shambles. Pieces of broken glass and dishes were all over the black and white checkered floors. Tables and chairs were knocked to their side. Even the Jukebox in the corner had fallen flat.
The people in the diner were in chaos themselves. Some were wandering around the place, examining the damage. Others were helping those that were hurt, while a small group of people just sat in the corner and talked.
“I don’t know,” Ursula stuttered in pain. “He was with me when the earthquake started. When it stopped, he told me he had to check on someone and left.”
“Hmm,” Davy said, glancing around. “Well, I’d betta’ try to get you some ice for that arm. I’ll be right back.”
Ursula nodded thankfully and Davy maneuvered his way around the diner into the kitchen. Opening the freezer door, he searched until he found a bag of frozen peas that he deduced would make as good an ice pack as any. When he turned to leave, he caught sight of Brendon, standing in the corner of the kitchen, his back facing him. Davy’s face grew dark as he saw Brendon embrace a blond waitress. Evidently Brendon wasn’t the nice guy he perceived him to be.
Everything within Davy wanted to go and confront Brendon, but Ursula’s painful expression entered into his thoughts and he continued his way out into the dining room.
“I hope you don’t mind this,” he said, when he returned, moving to sit on the floor next to her, “but it’s all I could find in the freezer in back. Give me your wrist.”
Ursula looked at Davy curiously.
“Come on,” he said, with a small smile, “I promise I won’t bite…hard.”
Ursula rolled her eyes and let go of her wrist. Davy gingerly took her hand in his and carefully placed the bag of peas on her wrist.
Ursula winced in pain and she willed herself not to cry out.
“It’s okay,” Davy said, moving closer to her, “This should really help the pain.”
Looking at her, Davy smiled and smoothed her hair away from her face. He couldn’t believe how he could have just let her go. Especially with Brendon, and what he had just seen. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to let her know what a jerk her new boyfriend was. How he should be comforting her and not some waitress in the back room, but he knew that she wouldn’t believe him.
“
“Thank you,” Ursula said after a few moments, managing a soft smile with a sniffle, “I really appreciate this.”
“This is just way too hard,” Davy thought as he returned the smile. He had to tell her. Whether she believed him or not, he had to take a chance.
“Ursula,” he began, cradling her wrist in one arm and placing the other arm over the makeshift ice pack, “I missed you.”
Then she said something he didn’t think possible.
“I missed you too,” she said quietly, looking down.
“Ursula,” Davy said, lifting her chin up and looking seriously at her, “I have to tell you something. While I was in back getting the ice I—“
Suddenly Davy was cut off by a loud, booming voice.
“What’s going on here,” Brendon shouted, gazing down at Davy and Ursula, looking taller and stronger than ever.
“Is everybody okay,” Peter asked, when the quake had subsided.
“Fine over here,” Micky announced as he helped Adriana out from underneath the kitchen table.
“Are you okay, Kat,” Peter asked his girlfriend who still stood in the doorway to his room where they had braced themselves during the earthquake.
Katerina slowly turned her head towards Peter, her skin pale, her entire body shaking.
“Wha-a-a-t wa-a-a-s tha-a-a-t,” she stammered, wrapping her arms around herself and leaning against the door brace, afraid to move.
“It was an earthquake,” Peter said, reaching out for her hand. “Quite a trip for your first one, huh? Gosh, Kat, you’re shaking!”
Peter took Katerina in his arms and the two walked away from the door and into the kitchen where Micky and Adriana stood, surveying the damage.
The cupboards were nearly all open and broken dishes cluttered the floor. As the four made their way into the living room, they saw pictures knocked off the wall, Micky’s drum kit in pieces all over the bandstand, windows broken, and even Mr. Schinder laying on the floor, without his head attached.
For a few moments they all just stood in silence, starring at the ruins of the beloved Pad, each of them finding it hard to comprehend the destruction. What they didn’t know was that they were, in fact, the more fortunate ones.
“What about Ursula,” Adriana questioned, breaking the silence, her voice laden with worry and fear, “And Davy, and Mike? If anything has happened to them I just don’t know what I’d—“
Her worrying was soon cut off by a sharp pain in her lower abdomen, followed by a strange feeling all over her body.
“Adrian,” Micky asked, looking at her, his eyes wide.
Adriana grasped her stomach and took in a deep breath as the pains started to grow.
“Oh my gosh,” she exclaimed, holding on to her stomach, her legs weakening beneath her. “Oh my gosh!”
“Adrian,” Micky shouted. “Oh, man. Help me get her over to the couch, Peter!”
“Micky,” Adriana cried as the two lowered her unto the couch, “I gotta go to the hospital.”
“Call an ambulance Kat,” Peter commanded as they helped Adriana settle onto the couch.
Everything within Katerina wanted to just crawl into a corner in fear and hide. She’d never been in an earthquake, or any disaster for that matter and it scared her to death.
Looking down at her shaking hands, she willed herself over to the phone. With unsteady fingers, she picked up the phone, only to discover there was no dial tone.
“I have to go to the hospital,” Adriana screamed again in pain.
“There’s no way we’d be able to get her there in time,” Katerina thought, looking over at her cousin. Memories of what she had seen her mother do many times, and what she had been training to do until she dropped out of school began to take prominence in her mind. “I’ve never done this alone, but I have to help her.”
Once again Adriana groaned loudly, her face reddening as the pain began to grow.
“Micky, Micky,” Adriana pleaded, practically blubbering, “you have to take me to the doctor!”
“I--,” Micky began, nervously running his hand through his hair while the other hand was in Adriana’s vice grip. Knowing not quite what to do, he looked to Katerina and Peter for help.
“There’s no time for that,” Katerina said, finding her composure as she surveyed the situation.
“Yeah, you hear that, Micky!?! I gotta go to the hospital,” Adriana screamed as she tried to get up from the couch.
“No,” Katerina said, coming to her side, pushing Micky out of the way.
“Adrian, Adrian, remember my mom was a nurse, right,” Katerina asked trying to calm her friend.
“Yeah,” Adriana cried.
“Remember how she was the midwife for a lot of women around town,” Katerina asked.
“Yeah,” Adriana groaned as she felt the pain getting even more intense.
“I helped out many times, so I know what I’m talking about Adrian,” Katerina said, looking up at Micky and Peter. “With everything that’s happening out there right now after the quake, and your condition, there’s no time to go to the hospital.”
“What,” Adriana cried as she looked from Katerina to Micky to Peter, fear shining in her eyes.
“What can I do, What can I do,” Micky asked, nervously flitting nearby, “boil some water or something?”
“Yes, Micky, go boil some water,” Katerina said, rolling her eyes and smiling as she looked at Adriana, taking her hand.
“What about me,” Peter asked, his voice filled with excitement.
“Peter, I want you to go and get me some different supplies that I’ll be needing, okay,” Katerina requested.
After she had told Peter all that was needed, Katerina smiled and took Adriana’s hand.
The sound of pots and pans clattering to the floor in the kitchen caused both of them to jump.
“You know,” Katerina whispered as she rubbed Adriana’s hand, “boiling water is just an excuse to get the guy out of the room for awhile. A few more minutes and we would have had a caged tiger prowling in the living room.”
This caused a bit of laughter from Adriana, until she cried out in pain again.
“Everything is going to be okay. Just take nice even breaths in and out,” Katerina continued.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing,” Adriana asked between breaths and bouts of pain.
“Of course,” Katerina said, patting her friend’s hand and smoothing her hair, already damp with perspiration, trying to convince herself as much as her cousin. “I went with mom to nearly every birth in town, since the nearest hospital was about an hour away. I was there even when you were born, kiddo. Although, I was only three years old, but I remember. I even remember when mom let me hold you. I knew we’d be friends even then.”
“I’m scared, Kat,” Adriana whispered though her teeth, breathing heavily as another shock wave of pain ran through her.
“It’s okay,” Katerina reassured her as she inwardly prayed she’d do the right things, “trust me, Adrian. I won’t let you down.”
January coughed and sputtered as consciousness returned to her. She looked around to find it was pitch black except for a small stream of light coming from a tiny crack, piercing the darkness.
Moving around a bit, she found that wherever she was, it wasn’t big. She couldn’t even stand up.
As she searched for a way to get out of the tiny space, she bumped into something warm.
In the dim light she could see Mike...and he wasn’t moving.
January’s eyes began to adjust to the dark and she could see his face. Reaching out, she ran her hand along his forehead. As she moved her hand back, January felt something warm and damp on her fingers.
Thoughts, wonderings, comments...
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