Muirne's Story:

It was a tragic day for this family. Their city was in shambles even before the great earthquake had come. A tightly packed family sat in one small dwelling made of rotten wood, cement, and tar. The only thing on their minds was food at the time. It had been so long since any of the family had eaten.

A small girl, barely a toddler, sat and watched the survivors of her family. They all looked pale, ill, and frightened. Sitting among them were the corpses of those they'd recently lost. This entire corner of the world had suffered. No one would bury their dead, for they knew that they too would not get a burial, and it was just too much work. In such heat, with no water and little to no food was no condition to go off digging holes.

The sickly looking girl with dark-red hair looked to her mother's body… then to the bodies of her two infant brothers, and her elder sister. Her uncle, his wife, and her grandmother, too. There were simply too many bodies to count. She looked back up to her father, who was sweating and trembling violently. He was ill, and becoming delusional. He began to laugh, and she, and her two surviving elder brothers watched him, a little confused, and a little scared.

"What is th' point of sufferin'?" He said loudly. He took a few moments to continue his outrageous laughter and that laughter soon turned into a cackle, and then into a breathless wheeze.

"Father…?" One of the boys said.

In a flash the father pulled a gun from under the table he sat at and shot the boy between the eyes. He would have cried out, had he been given the chance.

The girl froze, and the remaining boy tackled the father. He tore the gun from his hands and flung it across the room. The two spent nearly three hours punching, kicking, and biting each other. The girl found herself a safe corner to sit in, and she watched wide-eyed as her two remaining relatives fought one another.

"Damn yeu!" The boy said as he cracked his father in the face one last time. "We're all fightin' te survive, and ye go 'n kill us all yerself?"

"Why fight t' survive when ther's no use fightin', lad? End th' sufferin' now, and that'll be that! I'm yer father! I'm only tryin' ta help yeu!"

The two separated and refused to speak for days.

One day, the heat had become too much, and the father walked the tightrope between life and death. Without warning, he'd taken his gun and fired three shots at the boy, and had succeeded in ending the boy's pain. He slowly aimed the gun at his young daughter and pulled the trigger. The gun made a clicking sound and he dropped it, cussing.

"Ah'm sorry, love… I can't end yer sufferin'…" He spoke softly as his eyes began to close. The girl crept up to him and lightly pet his forhead.

"Thank ye, daddy…" She said to the dying man.

He smiled weakly at her. "We should'a moved back'n yer mother wanted ta get a job in the South Americas… One thing t' say t'ye, Muirne'…" He paused and coughed harshly.

"When th' sun goes black… 'n the moon goes red… 'n all the mount'ns an' the islands move… Hide… There's nothin' else y' can do, I'm afreid, lass…"

The girl watched him confused as he softly chuckled until he died.