Marie hided the little box on her mother's desk before she walked and directed herself towards the lobby, praying as she held the little necklace her mother told her was to be used for her "gift" that Father and Mother were well. Due to the strong earthquake the building lost electrical power and, since the building was frequented by people who were taller than her – one day will be taller than even Father!-, the furniture obstructed her surroundings.
She was not scared though the light was dim and pieces of shattered glass were all over the floor; Father and Mother were fine, and Mother told her Father needed her help because even though Father was smart and capable he still needed help;... but Mother and Father were all alone by themselves and, for that, she remembered Mother's warm hands and Father's kind voice as gave her encourages keeping her company so they didn't feel lonely.
She walked through the hallways and she suddenly stumped to a big door, she knew by the sign that there were stairs, but she wasn't going to assume the stairs were well cared. Father had said once that the building required management in different areas because they were bad evaluated and were danger to the society as a whole and she was scared to face the bad management on the building. She counted under her breath and opened the door with her eyes closed.
One…
Two…
Three…
She opened her left eye and at the sight of the well-kept stairs she breathed , well then, the stairs were ones of the few areas the building took care of; she closed the door carefully – as she wasn't supposed to be there to begin with but Mother told her to and , though Mother was more strict and did not hug her as much as Father Marie knew Mother made Father happy and, therefore, Father trusted her.
That was the only thing that mattered.
Marie smiled and started to go up the stairs – because they needed her and Father told her to not leave Mother but Mother fell and did not wake up no matter how much time she waited…
"…You are alive…!?
She directed her eyes towards the large figure that just had imposed opposite to her Father's place in court a couple of minutes ago and she admired her Father for his strength, because as he dwelled the words Marie felt something that she had not been able to name at her tender age but, without knowing it, she felt a horrible ice travelling though her spine.
She ran down the stairs because the man was behind her and he made Mother lay in the floor and she knew she did something to upset him and she wanted to beat him and show her strength as the Red Samurai would do it but she was weak and useless as Mother used to tell her and she was good on only a few things and those things did not help right now she needed to run faster and faster and hide, hide or everything will end.
He got her.
Everything ended.
Phoenix held his breath as his mothers and him were scattered with the neightbors in the streets, the earthquake striked when he was asleep while his mothers were cleaning the dishes on the kitchen and, with no warning they woke him up and walked down the road. The kind lady that lived on front of them provided the neightborhod cozy blankets to cover everyone from the unusual cold night, she said she made them to recover from a surgery from an old accident and she had made too much for her granddaughter and son to have and use in their house, Phoenix walked and bowed towards the old woman because his mothers told her that's what you do to show gratitude ; the old woman shacked her head and smiled though her expression did not reach her eyes.
"Don't thank me you dear... this is the least thing I can do. I can make blanks to cover ourselves but I won't be able to cover us for the storm that has yet to come"
Phoenix did not understand, his mother had told him that there wasn't going to be a storm and the blankets she had provided had warmed them more than what they could have asked.
The old lady shacked her head and, with a voice Phoenix could not distinguish, she told him something so sad he cried.
When his mother arrived to his aid he kept crying.
And he felt asleep on tears as well.
But when his mothers tried to ask him what happened he simply could not remember.