“Hi, are you Andy Low?” asked a guy. I was brought into one of

Sichuan’s hospital after the fateful incident. “Yes, I am.” I replied.

The guy told me he was a reporter from Singapore and came to

interview me about what had happened during the earthquake. All

my memories came rushing into my mind. Tears came rolling

down my cheeks as I related the whole incident to him.

The whole landscape was bathed in the warm glow of the rising

Sun. My family and I had just alighted from the flight last night.

The Trip to Sichuan, China was a reward for my sister and I as we had

gotten good results for our SA1. We were staying in a 5-star hotel

and the room was so luxurious. My sister, who was 9 years old,

had just look through the tourist brochure from the hotel, looking

for the children’s section. She found out that Sichuan had a famous

cinema and wanted to go there to watch a show. I rejected it as I

know she would watch a childish show. Just then, my sister broke

into tears and ran around shouting “Brother don’t want to go with

me to the cinema!” My mum came and told me that I should go

with her. “Not again?” I moaned. Why mother was always so unfair!

I don’t like my sister because she was always snatched the remote

control and what’s more, I had to let her! Being a big brother was

always difficult! When we reached the cinema, my sister was over

the moon. She went around looking for all sorts of shows. She

made up her mind and wanted to watch ‘Tom and Jerry’, which

was in chinese. “What a baby!” I thought. We bought our tickets

and went in. We went to our seats and sat on it. The show was about

a cat chasing a mouse. How boring! Just when the cat was going

to catch the mouse, a lady in the front row stood up and screamed

at the top of her voice! Is she afraid that the cat would eat the

mouse? At that moment, my feet was registering some strange

pulse emanating as if it came from the floor itself. It felt like the building had a heartbeat and

I was strapped onto it. The pulse was something strong, and I could feel it up my ankles

and knees. “It can’t be happening.” I murmured. After that, the

whole cinema was in total chaos, everyone was running all around,

pushing one another. I stood up and held my sister’s hand and ran

with her. But we cannot escape in time as we tripped and fell onto

the ground we thought that this was the end of our live. “Are you

ok?” I asked. “Yes.” my sister replied. We were trapped and there

was no way out. Breathing became harder every minute. The

chunks of bricks and concrete that buried my sister and I were

pressing tighter by the hour, crushing us. We did not feed the pain

as our bodies had gone numb! Then there was the rain, sharp and

cold lashing at them through the cracks.

“I don’t think we would make it,” I told my sister. Our faces just

inches away and our arms wrapped around each other. “We must

have faith in ourselves,” she replied. We whispered encouragement

to each other. “Do you think our parents share the same fate as

us?” I asked. “I hope not. May god bless them,” she replied. I tried

to focus my mind on two things: How can I get out? How can I

stay alive? We did not feel hunger or thirst. We had to take turn

breathing. We had some sleep to save our energy. But we were

too terrified to fell asleep.

Then slowly the daylight began coming back through the crack.

Hours later, we heard crunching footsteps on the rubble and they

kept yelling “Is anyone there?” “We are here!” I shouted as loudly

as I could. I heard them saying, “Hold on, we are going to save

you right now.” At last, we heard the rumbling of heavy machinery.

After five or six hours later, a straw came down through the

crack. We took turns sipping the sugar water. The crack was

getting bigger. Some workers came and grabbed us out. Finally.

we were out! We went sent into the ambulance and they drove us

to the hospital. I tried to hug my sister but I could not as I was

badly wounded. Nearly a week after the rescue, we were both in

tremendous pain. I felt as my heart was being squeezed. I cannot

sit up on my own. We found out that our parents were safe and

sound. My stout body was covered in scabbed over with blood and

pus.

“Sorry I need to get some sleep.” I told the reporter. The reporter

thanked me and walked out of the ward. The terrible incident will

forever etched in my mind.