William woke up that Sunday morning to the tune of the birds chirping outside. As he was about to snuggle back into his soft blanket, a gust of cold wind blew through his open window and knocked over the papers that were sitting on his stool. William glared at the window, willing it to close itself. After a few minutes of having a staring competition with his window, sighed and got off from his thin mattress on the floor and trudged over to the papers and put them onto the stool, mumbling curses directed at the window. On his way to the window on the other side of the small room he and his sister shared, he looked over to Kate's bed and wasn't surprised to see that she had already left. When he got to the window, another gust of sweet, minty, wind that you get at the crack of dawn, blew into his face. William shivered and closed the window, careful to make sure that he latched it shut. He'd forgotten to,last night, and that was probably why the window was open. Well i s'pose that it was a good thing since i would have slept in otherwise William thought as he got changed. Wen he was ready to tackle the day ahead, he stepped out of their room and went towards the kitchen, where he heard his parents' and his six year old sister Kate's voice. Well, he thought as he stepped in and took a seat at the family table with his family

another day like yesterday . Little did he know how wrong he would be.

Only when William had gotten himself comfortable on the hard wooden chair in their Kitchen, did he notice that his mother was crying and that his father and sister was trying to soothe her. His sister was trying to calm her down by saying things like,

"itsh owk mamma, down't cwy, do you wawnt my dowy? she'sh vewy nish" And other things that six year old said when trying to stop their mother from crying

"What's wrong mum?" William asked, feeling ashamed that he didn't notice his mother crying.

He suddenly notice that she was holding a yellow letter, that looked a little like the ones that used to come during the war to inform families if someone closely related to them had dies or gone missing in action. But it can't be, he thought shaking his head Jacob's... no longer with us. He felt a sudden stab of pain in his chest

when he thought of jacob, with his laughing blue eyes and strong muscular arms, lifting him up as a child. He felt tears threaten to fall from his own golden blue eyes, so he squeezed eyes close and shut the painful memories to the back of his mind. Anyway William thought, trying to change the direction of his thoughts, the letter must be important or else mum wouldn't be crying.

"Wha-" William started to ask what the letter was for, but was cut of by his father.

"Don't worry son," He said with a strained smile on his face "Why don't you and Kate go out to play with your friends before breakfast eh'? a little treat."

"But what's that letter abou-" He was one again cut off but this time by his mother who had managed to pull herself together.

"William," She said smiling softly "We'll tell you what the letter's about at dinner, it might be good new or it might not,

you'll just have to wait and see"

"But" William tried to argue, but stopped when his father's stern voice.

"William do what you're told to do" He said "Besides you're sister;s already putting her shoes on" He added chuckling lightly.

William looked over to the hallway to see his father was right. But his sister had finished putting on his shoes and was now waiting impatiently for him.

"Hawy up Wiwiam" She she begged giving him the puppy eyes.

William sighed, his sister loved playing outside and if she was refused, she would throw a tantrum that would leave a lot of things broken, so their family tried to avoid making her angry.

"Fine" William sighed as he went to get his boots.

Later that afternoon, the two siblings were just comming home from playing outside when William had the sudden urge to go visit the pet cemetery to pay a visit to their late pet, Sam. So he told Kate to go on home ahead while he went to the cemetery. Williams's pet dog Sam, had to be put down during the war because all the sounds of the bombing and sudden attacks just scared the poor animal too much. Besides Sam could have gone feral and the last thing the city needed was another dog that was violent and could put the lives of people into more risk. So with a heavy heart, William had agreed that it was best to say goodbye to Sam. And now after the war the people of their town decided that it was best to call the cemetery a pet cemetery as there was way more animal bodies there than human. William was surprised to find that he had already gotten to the cemetery. I need to concentrate more William thought as he walked into the cemetery.

"Hey Sam," William said smiling as he keeled down next to Sam's tombstone. " How have you been doing? Is it fun up in doggy heaven? Well we've been doing alright here although i do miss you a lot from time to time. I miss your Golden fur tickling against my face when you jump up on me to play, or how you wake me up in the morning by licking my face with that tongue of yours." William wiped the salty tears off his cheeks and looked up at the sky and slowly got up when he saw the soft glow of the sun setting and the swallows flying back to their nests across the sky.

"Well" he sighed lightly brushing the dust off from his knees "I'd better go home, mum and dad have something important to tell me and Kate. See ya mate. I'll come back soon, I promises." William swore, then hesitated "...and one more thing, i've got a request for you. Thing is even though they're trying to act like they're alright, i can tell that it still hurts them that Jacob's not here so can you put a word in with the big man up there in heaven to make something happen which could make my parents at least a bit more genuinely happy?" I'll be going now William said smiling. But as William e the gates, a sudden shake made him topple over and scratch his arm on the fence.

"Ow" William exclaimed he felt the metal wire cut his arm "What in the world was that" He mumbled as he got up examining his cut arm. the first thought that crosses his mind was if they were being bombed again. Na, h e thought, they signed a peace treaty, it must be something else. Thinking it was just a freak of nature he went towards his house, but a few steps later, another shake, a more violent one made him fall on the post next to him and bump his head on the metal. It's definitely not a bomb he thought the bombs didn't make the ground shake this much, but then what is it? When he tried to balance himself while ignoring his aching arm, yet another shake, which seemed to rattle the world, made him bump his arm on the fence behind him. Wincing in pain, William straightened himself and started to go towards his home faster, his feet picking up speed by the second. Suddenly, jolting streaks of lighting started up in the sky and it's alarming yellow flashes of electricity frightened William. He'd always been a bit afraid of lighting. People were running around the streets, trying to get to their homes before another shake came, and the words earthquake could be heard. Earthquake? William thought What in the world's an Earth quake unable to figure it out William went faster. William suddenly stopped when he saw a little Girl crying for her mum near the local school and that was when he remembered about Kate.

Kate would be home by now, it's not like i told her to go on ahead by herself when we were that far away. It should have only took her around five minutes. William thought as he tried to reassure himself. Yea she should be fine, after all, i did spend around twenty minutes at the cemetery, so she should've had plenty of time to get home, im sure she's safe at home with mum and dad by now. But no matter how hard he tried, he's fear kept growing. Knowing Kate, she'd stop by and look at every little thing on the ground and would waste her time talking to people she met on the street. Since Kate was extremely afraid of lightning, William was sure she was hiding somewhere, crying by her self. Just that image made him sprint towards his house, and what he saw then, made him freeze in his position.

William's house was on fire. Men from around the town were trying to stop the fire by throwing water at it, but William knew it was useless, the fire was just too big. He looked around for Kate and was releived to find she was alright. Kate was crying in the arms of Mrs. Watters, their neighbor. But when she saw William, she ran into his arms, and dug her small body into him as if she was trying to get away from here. Like she wanted to escape. That's exactly what William wanted to do right now.

"W-what happened?" William managed to stutter "Why's our house on fire?"

Mrs Watters sighed "Well i was out shopping when the Earthquake came an-"

"Earthquake?" William asked

"Yea you know when the ground shakes, anyway as i was paying my bills, the first shake came, so after i had all my bags securely i my arms, i rushed to my car, and got in. But as i was about to drive off, the second, more violent shake came. That's when i saw your sister. Kate was crying and was staggering towards your house and i knew that it would be dangerous for a six year old girl to be out during an earthquake, so i got out of my car and went to her. As soon as she saw me, she ran into my arms and started wailing.