5 Minutes

This is just a short story. About the rest of the story you will have to wait until December.

June 28th, 1995

May was having a great time. A date. Finally! Drew asked her out. She knew that he had a crush on her, seriously, Drew kept glancing at her during class. It was so obvious that he did, and it would be weird if he didn't have a crush on her. "Do you like the food?" Drew asked. "Yes! Very nice." May said, giggling. Drew smiled. He asked her out on the restaurant located on the top floor of the biggest department store around. She told herself that she was very lucky.

May was almost done with her food when she heard a cry. "Mommy look! There's a crack on the ceiling." That moment everyone looked up. Some stood up, shocked. Some hurried out of the restaurant. "May, I think we should go." Drew said, standing up as well, he looked worried. "Right.' May agreed and looked up again. 'What was causing this?' She felt so worried.

She headed to Dawn's to discuss about the event. "Dawn, I saw a crack on the ceiling on the department store." She started. Dawn raised her eyebrow. "Are you serious? Just a crack isn't really a problem, right?" Dawn said. "Well, it was huge. And it was also all over the ceiling. Maybe you shouldn't go there for a while." May said. "No need to worry May. You worry too much." Dawn said, laughing. May smiled, but worried.

"Anyway, I heard that Paul actually asked you out." May said, changing the subject. She wanted to get rid of this bad feeling as fast as possible. Dawn's face brightened, "Yes! We are going to have a date for the whole day! Isn't it nice?" Dawn said, excitement shown on her face. "Yes! But just to remind you, don't go to that department store, okay?" May said. "Alright, alright. I won't. Stop nagging, okay?" Dawn said, sighing. "Fine."

June 29th, 1995

Paul was excited. Keep it a secret, he would rather commit suicide than let anyone to know that he was excited and nervous about going on a date with Dawn. Was it his first time? Well, no. He went out on a date multiple times but never have he felt this nervous. "Maybe I should get her a gift." He told himself as he looked into his reflection on the mirror. He grabbed his wallet and headed out.

He went to 5 jewelry shops to get Dawn a beautiful necklace that would shine on her neck like her eyes. He smiled to himself but when he realized that it was already the time for him to go he sighed. He trudged to the place where he promised to meet her.

"Paul!" Dawn was already there, waiting for him, arms crossed. "Hey I waited here for 5 minutes! Do you really think it is a manner to keep a lady waiting?" Dawn asked, scolding his boyfriend-to-be. "Hey I was just trying to get you a gift." Paul said, backing away a little. Dawn's face turned upset from surprised. Paul smirked, getting the feeling that it won't be hard to keep her in a good mood. "Really?" Dawn asked. "Yes. And if you can wait just a little longer, I would go and buy the gift." He said, smiling. Dawn pursed her lips, thought and turned around from him. He smiled and ran to get her a gift. "Don't worry. The department store will have the necklace." He shouted to her.

She blinked for a moment. About a minute after he was gone, it struck her. 'What if….' She ran. She ran to find him. "Paul!" She cried out, looking all over for the boy. "PAUL!" She shouted. She waited for the green light on the crosswalk. It was right across the street. The department store, it was right over there. She got there right after the light turned red. 2 minutes passed since she started to look for him. She stamped her feet repeatedly, nervous and worried. Why was she suddenly worried? She wasn't when she was talking with May…. But why now?

The time was passing really slowly. Everything was slow around her. She looked at the department store, 2 more minutes passed. And, before her eyes, it started to collapse. From the top, it started to crumble down. She felt tears crawling down her cheek, slowly. In less than 20 seconds, there was no department store standing there, just a ruin filled with concrete and metal bars. Screaming and sirens filled the area around her as tears just kept crawling down her cheek. Silently and slowly.

"Paul?" She said as she walked close to the ruin. "Miss, you shouldn't come near. It's too dangerous." A rescuer said, grabbing her arm and pulling her away. "But…" Dawn tried to protest but no word came out from her mouth. "It's too dangerous, miss." The rescuer said again, and to his surprise, she collapse on to the ground.

Dawn woke up in a hospital bed. "Are you okay?" a nurse asked. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." Dawn looked around. "Where am I?" Dawn asked. "You are in the hospital. You should be thankful that you are not really hurt." Dawn looked around more carefully. These people were rescued from the ruin. Dawn stood up. The nurse tried to stop her but Dawn walked around in a very fast pace and looked for the plum head. No. No. No. NO!

She screamed, waking up most of the people in the wing. The nurse pulled her out and told her to be quiet. "You are not the only one who lost someone. Please be quiet." The nurse said, looking sad. She turned away and went into the wing. Dawn asked every single men about her plum headed boyfriend. They all shook their head. "Him? I think I saw him." A man said. Dawn turned to the man, "Is he alive?" She asked. The man looked away from her and walked away. Dawn fell on her knees, she couldn't hear anything. She felt like the world was spinning around her. She screamed and cried. No one comforted her. They were all feeling too miserable to comfort her.

"Dawn, are you okay?" She heard a voice. She looked up, May and her mother was standing there. "Paul's dead." Dawn croaked out. May and Johanna hugged her, "I know…. Cry all you want….." Johanna said, and Dawn cried into her chest. 'Just 5 minutes….. Just…..'

18 years later

Dawn walked around the store, looking for a present to give to May. Her birthday was coming soon. May was married with Drew, had two children. Dawn, not married, but had adopted a child with purple hair. "Mommy?" She looked down at her son. "I think Aunt May would like this one." He said as he picked up a red hat. Dawn smiled at him. "Thank you Paul. I think so too."

Okay, some people would think that this fic is similar to my another fic, This is Me. Well, basically they are both tragedy and based off on a real story.

June 29th, 1995, Sampoong Department Store collapsed. It was only 5 years old, fairly new for a building but because of structural failure. Details are in Wikipedia, if you are interested type Sampoon Department Store collapse on Google.