The Ordinary Guy

The Earthquake

*Water flowing down the shower head*

Helena is taking a bath after a long day so she could have a relaxing afternoon.

"I wonder what I would do this afternoon?" Says Helena while staring at her hands that has some small drops of paint.

She is taking a warm shower after a long day to help her relax. After all, finishing a painting in a day is no easy task. She washes her hands thoroughly to remove the drops of paint. After finishing in the shower, she changed into a much more comfortable clothing. She wears a sky blue loose shirt and a brown loose silk pants. She might be a model but whenever she is alone and want's to relax, she is just like everyone else. She loosens up and doesn't care about anything else. She goes to the kitchen to get something to drink. She finds a bottle of champagne inside the fridge.

"Oh, this is nice. This will help me relax."

After pouring into the glass, she then heads back to the living room and sits in the couch. She sees the TV and turns it on.

"Hmm, I think I'll watch some YouTube videos first."

She opens up the YouTube application on the Smart TV and searches for her favorite musician.

"Oh wow, Fortis Animi just uploaded a new song. I bet this sounds great."

She plays the song and listens to it. It's a Jazz Instrumental song. A minute passes and she starts to feel sleepy. Her mind starts to wander off.

*Violin Playing Softly*

"You are one heck of a talented person Helena. I am seriously amazed."

"Well, that's very kind of you Jacob."

"What else can you not do, you're like a jack of all trade. I wish I could be as talented as you are."

"Nope, I'm not talented, I just work hard on things that I like. Since I like playing music, singing and painting, I work hard on honing my skills to get better at It."

"Oh, speaking of painting, I have something for you."

Jacob reaches for his bag and gets a paint brush.

"Since you are a great painter, I'd like you to have this. This is an ordinary and cheap paint brush, but it holds a lot sentimental value to me. It was owned by mom. She told me this was her first paint brush. I learned that you're birthday is coming up, so I wanted to give you something special. This might not be special to you but it's precious to me."

Helena was stunned for a moment. She did not know what to say at first. She gets the brush from Jacob and holds it in her chest. Her eyes begins to get teary. When she looked at Jacobs face, she sees him smiling but his eyes are looking sad.

Suddenly the lights in the classroom that they were in, started to flicker and eventually turnes off. Everything went dark.

*Ground Shaking*

"Huhhh. Wha-what's going on?! Oh my God it's an Earthquake!!"

Helena was woken up by the strong earthquake. She had fallen asleep on the couch earlier while listening to music. She immediately goes under the table to wait till the earthquake stops. the vases inside the villa and the wall decors started falling.

"Ahhhh! Oh god please help me! please please lord help me!" Prays Helena in a frantic voice.

After 5 minutes, the ground shaking stopped. Helena Immediately get's up, wipes her tears and ran outside of the villa. She ran towards the open space where the other guests are also heading. She sees one of the security guards on the resort.

"Ma'am this way please, we need to evacuate the resort. We just received a report that the taal volcano would likely be erupting soon!" Yells the security guard.

"Whattt??? I have to get back to my Villa, I need to get my stuff.

"No ma'am, we need to evacuate now, it's too dangerous!"

Helena did not listen and ran back towards the Villa. The security guard followed her to try and get her back to the rally point. Right as Helena enters her Villa, an aftershock of the earthquake started to shake the ground again.

"Ohh no no no, please just let me get that painting."

Despite the shaking of the ground, Helena runs upstairs towards the terrace but bumps into the door and hits her right arm on the stairs railing. That did not stop her and she still continues upstairs and gets her painting and the paint brush that she bought earlier. She heads down and gets her bags and keys and immediately went outside. She rushes to her car and puts all of her things inside at the back of her car. When she was about to drive the car when the guard caught up to her.

"Ma'am, you need to get down the car, right now, it's too dangerous to drive you might endanger yourself and the other guests. please listen to me!"

Helena came back down to her senses and listened to the guard. As the ground shaking stopped. She goes back to the rally point with the security guard.

"Ma'am, why didn't you listen to me earlier?"

I'm sorry Kuya, I didn't know what I was doing. I'm really sorry."

(Kuya is a Filipino Word that Means Big Brother. It is often used to address and Older Man even if you are not related to each other to show respect.)

That's Okay maam, atleast you are safe now. please don't go back in there again.

"Helena! Oh my God, are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Yells Lyndon.

"Wow, my knight in shining armor is here." Helana sarcastically responds.

"I was worried sick about you. Why are you holding your arm? Let me take a look."

"I'm fine, don't worry about it, it's just a small bruise. I just accidentally hit my arm at the railings of the stairs I was while leaving the villa."

"You need to go to the clinic to get some first aid for that."

"I said I'm fine, it's nothing serious, it'll heal up soon enough."

"Alright, geez, I'm just worried about you. No need to be so cranky."

*Megaphone turns on*

Good afternoon everyone, We are sad to announce that the Resort will have to close due to an impending eruption of the Taal Volcano. Everyone needs to evacuate the area as soon as possible. You can get your important belongings after we clear all of the villas. Please wait of our go signal.

After a few minutes, the the guests were cleared to get their belongings. Helena got the rest of her stuff and then immediately got back to her car. She drives to the reception area to settle her bill. She then heads back to Manila.

"Wow, what a day. I got stressed even more that when I came here." Helena shakes her head.

She turns on her cellphone and immediately receives a call from Karen.

"Hello Karen."

"Hey, are you alright, there was an earthquake earlier and I heard on the news that the Taal volcano is about to erupt!"

"Yeah, it was terrible. But I'm fine. Thank goodness." I'm heading back to Manila now. I'll drop by into your place later. I have a lot of things to share about my day today."

"I'm glad you're okay. Please drive safely. I'll see you later."

"Thanks. Bye"

-End of Chapter-