Hi, everybody. Today Mila want to tell you her terrible story, which still haunts her in her nightmares. "That day we were sitting in the classroom as usual. It was a just another day, like many others before. Alison and Victoria were making fun of me again during the break. They thought I'm a stupid nerd and have no idea of how to dress and that hurt their sense of beauty. I was not even offended by these words. But that time they went too far.
In fact, these two girls had been making me suffer a lot through all those 7 years at school. They were nasty little bimbos, all fancy and wearing brands.
Well, I always got the worst of it 'cause my mom is single and she is just a janitor at our school. She also mops the floors of the entrance halls and works as a part-time street cleaner to keep us both alive. Of course, in this financial situation, I have never had any new clothes, let alone just fancy ones. But I never really cared. I studied to get a scholarship and then to go to college and find a nice job. In the evenings I helped my mom, because it was too hard for her. I had no one but her.
So, this is how we lived. They bullied me. I pretended not to notice their existence, and they bullied me for that even more. And that day they did manage to spoil my mood. My mom, I don't know how, had bought me a brand new schoolbag. I was carrying it like a holiday banner. I was very careful not to stain it. And these bad ladies poured cherry juice on it on purpose.
I was really offended. And suddenly the school building began to vibrate. Not shaking, I can't say that.
Well, we got out. If a lesson or even lessons are canceled, fine by us. When we first reached the stairs to the second floor, we felt the first strong shock. It felt like the building was shaking itself off like an old dog. Except that the dog is small, and the school is huge: it’s four floors and three wings. It got really awful. And then I noticed that Alison and Victoria stayed behind the others. Then they ran down the corridor.
I said nothing. First, I was truly scared and got those huge goosebumps, and second, somehow I thought this shaking would be a good punishment for them. But when we got to the first floor we heard a horrible rumble and another shock.
The teacher left us at 33 ft from the school, next to other classes.
Our school just folded in half. And then it suddenly fell down, like a house of cards. That was it. There was only a lot of dust that flew up and landed on us all. Teachers and rescuers began to count the students and check the lists. Then it turned out two girls were missing. Out of 2,000 students, only Alison and Victoria stayed in the collapsed school.
Everyone was asked if they had seen where the girls had gone. Everyone shook their heads, and so did I. I was still terrified of what was happening. Besides, I was afraid that they'd tell me off or accuse me of something. Like being responsible for their disappearance. Actually, it was true – I didn't say anything. So during this mini-interrogation I was crying, wringing my hands and denying everything.
The cause of th earthquake was simple, though very technical one. It turned out that during the construction of the building the workers made a mistake. They dug a pit in the swamp. It was an ordinary swamp, pre-drained but not yet sunk. In many years the water came back, washed off the foundation and flooded the basements. No one had looked there for a hundred years. There was some kind of bomb shelter or something down there. All boilers and pipes were higher.
Well, the foundation started floating and took the whole building with it. I'm not a good explainer 'cause there was a lot of things I didn't get, let alone remembered, so it is as it is. They have been looking for the girls under the wreckage for two days. When they found them, of course,
We and the girls' parents were told that they had died immediately, without suffering. A ceiling beam collapsed on them. They were found near the restroom, by the way, so at least it was clear where they were going. But all this time I have been tortured by a completely different question. Not with my hands, but with my inaction. Just because I was holding grudges against them for my ruined backpack".
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