'Through every challenge and every monster, two there are and there always be, lest one person he said there might be, and not cushy our lives should have been.'

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'An event causing great and often sudden damage of suffering; a disaster.' That is the common definition of catastrophe in English dictionary. But for Ackley and Naia, catastrophe is a test of ones' loyalties.

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The longer hand on the ticking clock pointed the number six, and the shorter one pointed ten. Ackley's phone dinged for the last time. The words glared in his eyes only for two seconds before the phone died and so was the day.

Naia wasn't sure if Ackley had read the message she just sent, but she was sure he would read it eventually. The thick blanket struggled up, enveloping her in the end of the day.

−

A clanking sound was the first that woke Ackley. It was a sudden rattling from somewhere in his room, but he couldn't be bothered and returned to his cozy dream.

Another minute passed by. Ackley was getting annoyed when the second clanking echoed and obliterated his fine dream.

The atmospheric, galactic-themed bedroom lit up after the weak light illuminated it. Ackley thought he was still dreaming when the whole place vibrated from the bottom of his legs. Three seconds was what it took to alter Ackley's beating heart into a constant, giant throb.

The whole town went awake. The night was over even before twelve o'clock. Ackley scurried downstairs to regroup with his loving family, and to wake them if they hadn't notice.

Jerome, Mama, and Papa were all very scared and very sleepy at the same time. Papa was about to go upstairs if he hadn't bump into his fourteen year old son.

"Ackley, Jesus. Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"No, Papa. What's happening?"

He didn't answer. Ackley didn't really need it as he already knew.

Fifty-seven families bustled everywhere on the street; screaming, yelling, crying, running. They all toddled to the same direction: west.

The condition outside was like a maddening riot. Panic and hysteria seemed to be a popular thing among the blistering folks. They all ran and ran, running only for their lives and for the lives of their loved ones.

For the lives of their loved ones.

"Papa," Ackley said. "How about Naia? How about her and her family?"

Ackley's father shot him with a blissful look. His expression showed the impatience and anger toward the kid that infuriated him.

"We need to get out of here, Ackley. They need to worry about themselves."

As they ran, the policemen guided them one by one to avoid a mass panic and an abomination of depressions. They waited for their turn to be evacuated by the minivans when Ackley shook the officer's leg.

"Sir, what's going on?"

The policeman faked a comforting smile toward him. "It's nothing to worry about, Lad. Move along."

"Please, Sir. I'm fourteen. I'm big enough to handle things."

The officer considered this with a sigh. "A tsunami had occurred about thirty minutes ago from the East Coast. Hanzel Residence and Trojan Regency were the first to take the wave."

Hanzel Residence. Naia.

Hesitation wasn't Ackley's normal habit, so he stormed off when no eyes were looking at him. His legs maneuvered through the distress citizens and he jangled left to his house's garage. The blue bike shimmered as he opened the door.

The pedal couldn't go any faster when he navigated his BMX to the darkness. His father screamed his name, but he didn't turn. He rode with an unexceptional speed, heading toward the screaming thunders of the east. Minutes had passed, but for him, it was like an hour that he rode in the middle of nowhere, blind as a mole rat. The cold didn't bother him, nor did the shrieking alarms from the three towers in the coast.

Finally, water. The bike splashed, slicing the black water that was on his path. The water rose and it didn't stop rising because the pedal kept on going. Streams of water vapored from everywhere and nowhere all at once. The waterproof flashlight shined the urban area from Ackley's clutching arms.

The water was on his chest, tossing him here and there without any mercy.

"Naia!" The scream pierced the empty-like neighborhood. The replies were many, but none were Naia's. Desperate 'Help!'s and 'I'm here!'s were the only sounds he could hear, and all of them seemed alien.

Naia's sweet home was supposedly located at the entrance of Hanzel Residence, meaning: she wasn't far off from where he was then.

"Dang it."

Ackley's legs kicked the asphalt as might as he could. His body swerved frontward with a magnificent launch. The freezing liquid was like the Antartica to him, and the impact on his skin was unbearable.

Ackley's swimming lesson expired five years before, and he was already the best of the best. But nothing could prepare one for this.

Debris and branches lunged into his body crazily, fracturing his muscles and layers of tissues in his body. He yelled several more times, calling for Naia and hoped for a generous reply from a familiar voice.

The roof of Naia's house topped the mountains of sea water like a buried castle. A sigh of relief broke off when the throbbing, colonial resident displayed itself in Ackley's blue eyes.

"I'm coming, Naia!"

Ackley gasped as much oxygen as he could and damped them into his lungs. He sunk himself down before seeking for the pretentious entrance of her colossal home. The white door didn't budge, as it wasn't there anymore. Pieces of woods and metals almost stabbed Ackley and ended his life then and there, but his skill allowed him to avoid danger like a professional.

Ackley swam up after he met the grand staircase. Ornaments and Mr. Bodi's collection of antiquities flew weightlessly, blocking several paths that allowed Ackley to proceed.

The fight with nature hadn't ended just yet. Ackley bravely dodged woods and planks, pushing glasses and cloths aside from him and continued his impossible rescue mission.

The giant orb of pearl from Ghana charged its full speed to Ackley's body. One of Mr. Bodi's collections seemed to have a mind of its own, driving itself insanely and aiming for Ackley's belly. It crashed him, right there, on his stomach. The impact was making a huge loss of air for Ackley, but he surrendered not yet.

Panic and fear oozed with his blood like a maniacal disease. Death seemed to almost snatch Ackley's soul, but the luck of this fourteen year old hadn't run off just yet. A wooden dresser flew above him, kayaking on the surface of the water. He flung there with the speed he couldn't control. Spikes of woods and shards of glass stabbed him, but they didn't matter.

A loud gasp emerged from the current area. It was the sound of Ackley catching as much air as he could. He was desperate for air, very desperate for air.

"Ackley?"

The weak sound came from somewhere around Ackley's current position. The sound was like a fire in the middle of the ocean.

"Naia?"

There the little girl was, on top of a permanent cabinet.

Ackley bolted to her side, clutching the cabinet's side to fight the stream. He was floating up and down, freezing like a kangaroo in the South Pole, hurt everywhere including the inside.

"Ackley? Why did you come for me?"

"I can't just leave you behind."

"You could die."

"I know. I know."

A large painting swam pass through them, but Ackley gripped it with two of his fingers. He scaled his body up above the painting, balancing it before it could drop him again.

"Are you okay, Naia?"

Naia didn't answer. Ackley noticed that her left foot was hidden every time. Ackley shoved it for him to see, and the blood pouring from the open wound was implying that it was serious.

Ackley didn't think twice when he tore his soaking pajama open and wrapped it around Naia's bleeding foot like a bandage. He twisted and roped it very gently, splintering it like a field doctor helping a patient.

His skin was bare now. He had no literal protection from the wreckages and the cold.

"You were supposed to leave."

"I don't. I can't."

"We'll die anyway. There's no way we can escape this." The words weren't untrue as the water kept on rising and rising. The retelling waves seized the building, jangling it down with a super might.

"Then we'll die together."

Naia had no idea what to respond, but inside her heart, she was never feeling very lucky to have such a loyal friend.

Ackley breathed before continuing. "We will pass this together. We will die trying together. We will escape together, or we will fail together. We should always be together, because friends should always be together. We ride or we die. Together."

TO BE CONTINUED