A Catastrophe

by Peadar Connolly Davey.

Day one.

"Goodbye!" said my family to me, as the train whistle blew. The train was about to leave. They bid to me their farewells, while my mother told me 'tips' about how to survive in the 'big dangerous city' by myself, which I thought were silly. I waddled my way over to the train, overwhelmed by the sounds of people saying their goodbyes, and the noises of the train. Just then, a sales woman came up to me and handed me a card. Organ donors? I thought. I put it in my pocket and she rushed off to another person.

"Goodbye everyone. I will miss you all!" I said to my family. My mother was close to tears, with my father with his arm around her, and my brother and sister were too preoccupied with bugging each other to notice their big brother leaving.
I stepped onto the train, and searched, through the massively overcrowded train, for an empty compartment to sit, peacefully, by my lonesome. I went to the end of the carriage, and finally found an empty compartment. I slid open the squeaky doors, and stepped in. There was a slight smell of mould and dampness, so I closed the doors, put my luggage onto the luggage rail, and opened the window. My family then ran over to the window of my compartment, like a flock of birds, and stood outside my window talking to me.

The train whistle went off again, to signal the train's departure. My family said there final goodbyes and steadily departed from the station.

My name is Otonashi Yuzuru. I am 18 years old and I have just graduated from secondary school, and was now making my way to my new college, and new life. I was overwhelmed with excitement about starting my new life. I had been accepted into a 'College for Medicine,' in a near big city. I stared out the gleaming window, out to the patchwork mountains and the painted sky. Everything was going great.

The train journey was supposed to take around 14 hours to reach the town, so I got myself comfy, a covered myself with the quilt my mother made me and stared out the window. After around one and a half hours, the tea lady came to my compartment, trying to sell me various rip offs and 'designer perfume' and such, but I declined. My mother had already stuffed my bag with various sandwiches and drinks. I took out a ham sandwich and took a bite. My mother's cooking always seemed to be too sweet. But I liked it. My thoughts at the time were so unessential. They were thoughts that never needed to be had, but boredom brought them out. I had no clue of the catastrophe that was going to happen in the very near future.

I looked out of the window. The sea peeked out from around the cliff. It was a royal blue, and everything seemed to be so calm. I looked ahead and noticed a tunnel coming. It looked old and crumbly. The train entered the mouth of the cave and was engulfed by darkness. The lights on the train allowed me to see my surroundings though.

I looked ahead to see the light of the exit of the tunnel getting bigger. I saw something fall, along with a bang, followed with another bang that nearly deafened me. The train came to a sudden stop, and I was flung, right out of my seat into the air and against the other wall. I became unconscious.

I was awoken by the light in my compartment flickering, and my splitting headache. I must have fallen asleep, I thought. I tried to open my eyes, slowly. Something was wrong. I was on the floor. I got myself up, and fell down on my seat, as my back was in agony. I looked out the window. It was pitch black, and the train was not moving. And on top of that, the train was tilted over a bit. I managed to stand up, while balancing myself on the walls and seats. There was an atmosphere of gloom and fear in the air.

I exited the compartment, to find other people. Had the train really crashed? I wandered down to the next compartment and looked in. A scarlet dribble was seeping down the glass. Blood. I nearly vomited. There was blood everywhere. I went to the next compartment, blood and the next, blood.
I couldn't believe it. I continued on, looking for life. Was I all alone? Was I the only survivor? In the next compartment, there was a man, just like me who seemed to be in pain as well. I opened the doors and stepped in.

"Are you…okay?" I asked the man, anxious to see whether he was alive or not. He looked up at me. Blood was trickling down his face, from his forehead.

"I'm alive. What…what happened?" he managed to make out. He stood up straight next to me.

"The train crashed. I'm not too sure what happened apart from that," I said to the man, holding his arm to give him support. I led him out of the train. The train was completely smashed. "I'm going to check for survivors." I said to him, courageously.

"I'll help," he said, hazily.

"Are you sure you're alright?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Let's start at the top carriage," he said, as we stumbled out of the compartment, heading toward the way we thought was the top.

We reached the first carriage, where we found out that the train had been trapped by the tunnel which had collapsed. We began to look for survivors. Looking in each carriage. It was like a nightmare in reality. We trudged through the bloodshed, continuing to find life. As a medical student, I used my knowledge to try and help those who were injured.

With the survivors, we formed a team, to help get the injured out of the train. There was no point in staying in the train. It was full of death, and sadness. We took everyone out of the train, to the massive, dark tunnel. Anyone who was still physically or emotionally stable helped to take people out of the train, or nursed the injured. I searched the train for food, and water, and gathered it all up in an unharmed compartment. I also found a few first aid kits, so I brought them outside. Obviously, the end that we were at was sealed, and there was no way to open it, but maybe the opposite end was unblocked, I thought. I decided that I would go.
"I'll check the other end to see if it is open! I'll get help if I can get out. I swear to all you that I'll come back. I'm borrowing a torch." I called out to the others. The man, who I found first, ran over to me.
"I'll go with you," he said.
"Thanks," I said, as we began to walk. "I'm Otonashi, by the way."

"I'm Igararshi," he said to me. He seemed so calm, as if nothing would happen. As if this catastrophe was all a dream.
We walked for around two minutes, until we came, unfortunately, to a dead end. I shone my torch up onto the wall.

"Dammit!" I shouted out. Then I felt a stabbing pain coming from my stomach. I fell to my knees, coughing like a hag.
"Hey! Are you alright?" asked Igarashi. I opened my jacket. My waist was bleeding, heavily.
"What the hell is going on?" I shouted. Hoping for the cave to open up, all of a sudden.

Igarashi helped me back to the others, where he bandaged me up. I stood up, to notice everyone staring at me, hopefully. There were around 15 people.

"Everyone listen to me. The tunnel is sealed at both ends of us. Our mobile phones cannot get reception, and we have no way of contacting the outside world. If we are going to survive, we need to work as one. We will gather and divide the food and water out evenly, and I don't want anyone trying to save just themselves." I said, trying to sound wise and reasonable.

"Just a second here! What makes you the leader?" shouted out a boy from the crowd.

"Then who should be out leader? Who will instruct how to tender the injured? He has knowledge about medicine. You weren't going to abandon the injured, were you?" replied Igarashi to the boy in the crowd.

"Of course not," said the boy, as he walked off in a sulk.

"Help will come! Just try to hang on until then! Let's work together!" I shouted out, trying to be optimistic.

Day two.

Igarashi poured a drink and handed it away.

"Let me know if you're thirsty. I'll tell you all when it is meal time! Tell Otonashi if you start to feel sick," said Igarashi. I was over with a man, called Rio who had become blind in one eye, when a shard of glass cut his eye. He also had some severe bleeding around his chest.
"Let me know if anything happens," I said to Rio, as Igarashi walked over to me. He handed me a cup of water. I stood up and we walked to a seat, and sat down. "How much food do we have?"

"We have a few snacks, a couple of packed lunches, five or six bottles of water and two bottles of tea," he replied.

"That's enough for three days…" I said. We were going to run out of food very quickly.

"HEY! STOP!" yelled someone behind us. We turned around to see someone trying to steal the water. We got up and ran after him. Someone caught him and pushed him to the ground, and he dropped a bottle of water, that spilled. We ran over, and Igarashi held him down. It was the boy who asked why I was the leader.

"So what are you gonna do now, great leader?" said the boy, with an evil smirk on his face. "Are you going to tie me up, and beat the crap outta me? I don't care. It's not like any of us are going to make it out of here alive, and we all know it!"

"That's not true. Help will come!" I said, trying to settle everyone down.
"That brat just spilled our water!" I heard someone yell out. They were outraged.

"That's okay. That was my share he spilled. From now on I won't drink," I said, ask I knew not what else to say.
"Someone punch him!" another person yelled out.

"I'll deal with him later, rest assured," Igarashi said. "Don't worry. I'll share my share with you. Now let's take this guy somewhere else."

Day three.

I was awoken by people shouting out my name. "Otonashi? Otonashi!" I could hear them shouting.

"Otonashi, get over here! Things look bad!" Igarashi called out to me. They were crowded around Rio. I got up and ran over. Things were looking bad. I tried to find his heart rate. Nothing. I tried to give CPR, harder and harder. I knew he was dead. But I continued trying to bring him to life, but nothing. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I let him die.

"Damn it…" I said.

Why have I been working so hard all this time? After I was given a new chance to re-live my life in this new college, in the new town…But now, I watched another life disappear right in from of my eyes. Nothing has changed. I am still so powerless. Not a damn thing has changed since then. The world is so horrible.

Day seven.

I lay on the ground, powerless. We were out of food and water. My mouth was dry, that my tongue was like sandpaper. I could hardly move. I had lost hope. I knew I was going to die. I just waited. It was like a countdown to my death. No one was moving. No one was talking. No one was hoping anymore.

I reached into my pocket. There was a card. I took it out, and read it. It was for organ donors.

"Igarashi? Do you have a pen?" I asked him. I was going to sign it. I was going to give someone else an opportunity to live, just like I didn't.

"Sure," he managed to get a pen out of his jacket pocket. He passed it to me. I took it, removed the cap, and built up my strength to try and write on the card. Igarashi was staring at me. I ticked the box to say that I wanted to be a heart donor, and signed my name. Igarashi took one out too.
"What is…that…?" said someone, who was also out of energy.

"It's the card they gave out at the station. I guess with this, if we die, our lives can be used to help someone else…It'll give us a reason to have lived…" said Igarashi. People looked up at him, and then at each other. They each took out the card, and a pen, and began to copy what I had done.

"Well, if you look at that…" Igarashi said to me. His voice was nearly gone, just like his energy. "You really are something. Even in the face of despair, everyone's entrusting their hopes onto someone else…You've given meaning to our lives…"

I dropped the pen and card. I was going to die…any second now…

"Hey, Otonashi…?" said Igarashi. "Are you listening to me…?"

I heard a noise behind me, that sounded like something crumbling. Then a bright light shone out. We were going to be saved. Well, they were going to be saved. It was too late for me. But I was going to die knowing that they would be saved, and live on to follow their dreams…But their memory of me would live on. I had an unfair death, but life isn't fair. At least I knew that my organs could help save someone…give someone my life, to continue on mine…

"Otonashi…" he began to cry. "You can't die…we are going to be saved! Don't die…"

"Good luck…everybody…" I said, using up my last bit of energy…And with that, I closed my eyes. Forever. Into a slumber that I wouldn't ever awaken from…

The end.