The Earthquake | Teen Ink

The Earthquake

February 4, 2019
By Vivienne_Freudman BRONZE, Chicago, Illinois
Vivienne_Freudman BRONZE, Chicago, Illinois
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

I wandered out of my home and continued my way to the train stop. It was a cold day in Chicago, where resting on the sidewalk laid the winter snow which was covered in dirt, leaves. Some of the snow was melted by the rain because of our unpredictable weather. When I reached the train stop I followed the herd of people making their way to work. I blended in with their crowd and we walked synchronized through the gates when all came together to pay. We then all waited for the train to come so everyone could run to get a seat and sit with a bored expression on their face. We all knew when the train was about to arrive because of the flickering lights and the roaring sound it made. As the train arrived, we all took a step back and then formed a lines to enter.

I walked on the train and stood by the door holding the pole for a grip just as the train jolted us forward. I waited patiently for a seat to clear which happened at the next stop which was announced by a load nearby speaker. I found a seat next to an elderly woman who chuckled nervously, “The weather was awful today!” I nodded to her agreeing with her comment and unknowingly I interrupting her thought. She continued “You know tomorrow”, she paused and laughed again, “the weather is going to be in the 50’s. “The 50’s!” she said again. “Can you believe it?” she said in amazement. I nodded again and then put in my earbuds to listen to music while I waited for my train stop.

I sat in silence when the next stops where called, “Grand, Chicago, Divison next” announced the loudspeaker. There was only one more stop until I would be released from the train. The lady who sat next to me stood up to exit when the train unexpectedly came to a rocky stop causing her to hit her head against a pole that made her fall. We all stood in astonishment as her blood was scattered on the pole. We noticed she wasn’t breathing so we attempted to open the train doors, but when they wouldn’t open. We thought the doors became stuck on the walls of the train station because our cart went off tracks. We all worried if this tragedy was caused by an earthquake.

We soon began to realize that there was another train behind us and it would be only a few more minutes until it plowed into our train. We knew that we needed to move quickly to the head of the train or we would be in danger. There were a few people in our car and one of them was still unconscious which made our travel to the front of the train complicated. We thought of jumping off the coupling that holds the cars together or possibly getting off the train and walking down the tracks. We soon realized that both ideas were too dangerous, especially if another car were to come down the tracks. We decided that the safestway would be to continue going from train car to train car.

While we were making our way through the train cars the floor started to shake again and more people were thrown to the floor. It was a second earthquake. We all were panicking and nervous but we continued moving forward. The constant shaking of the earthquake made it harder and more dangerous for us to move between the cars. After a while the group of people that had been walking on the tracks was able to find a way up onto the train station platform as we continued to travel through the train cars.       

We were only a few cars from the front train car when we heard the rumbling sound and flickering lights of another train that was quickly approaching us. Just then a huge cluster of the ceiling stone fell and broke the coupling that allowed us to cross, but in the process, we ended up in a train car that was less safe. When the other train hit us, it left us all injured but pushed us down the tracks. We luckily were pushed right up to the next train stop which allowed us to walk of the train safely onto the platform. We all then went to the hospital and everyone was safe and survived.    



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