The Sinners

Sin: part 9 (e)

And then, first time in my life I saw a miracle—

Suddenly, a deafening explosion sound came from the volcano and caused convulsions, shaking the earth beneath us. I stumbled on the ground and as my eyes shockingly witnessed, a big part of the ceiling collapsed and fell only on the priest leaving Joshua, the knife fell out from his hand near me. For a second I was dumbfounded at what just happened. It was like if God actually heard me.

But before any more earthquakes occur and it fell on Joshua I had to free myself. Stretching my leg as far as I could with the tied hand, I slid that knife with my feet towards me. Without wasting any more time, I cut the rope and freed myself. The priest didn't get up and I couldn't care less about him. 

I hastily went to Joshua and started patting his cheek, "Joshua? Baby wake up," but he didn't react, "Wake up, honey, wake up, I'm here. I'm here with you, Joshua," My eyes started tearing up, I got beyond scared when he wasn't responding even slightly, "Joshua, Wake up!" his body was getting cold. Please no, please no. This can't happen. 

I had to check his vitals, I tilted his head slightly and placed my two fingers on his neck to check the pulse, it was weak but it was there, "Oh God, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you" I hugged him tightly. A tear fell from my eye on his face, thinking how big of a danger I put him in. Guilt was written all over my face, I couldn't stop thinking about the harm I've caused to him.

I examined the cut on his neck, thankfully it was only a thin line like a paper cut, but his hand was bleeding more. I took off my shirt and tied it tightly on his arm. As always, I couldn't decipher those letters written on his arm. That's when it occurred to me, how Joshua could understand this language, it must be in his family, and that's how the priest knew it too.

The weak earthquakes kept occurring every minute or two with various volcano sounds. The loud evacuation siren could be heard even here, probably alerting the townspeople.

 "Just wait a little, my love. We're just about to be free," I touched his face and went to open that door. But as my bad luck always follows me, now it was locked from the outside. "Shit! Shit!" I kicked it in annoyance. I glanced back at Joshua, just to find another headache, "Oh, no!" the ceiling above him was about to collapse too. I knew it would happen. I quickly ran, lifted him in my arms just in time, and it fell after a second. Phew! It was a close call. I took a breath.

 If this kept happening, we both are going to die here soon. I gently laid Joshua down beside the stairs supporting his back on the wall. I could find no other way so I started banging and kicking on the door, "Seungkwan! Seokmin! Anyone out there?!" I yelled, "Wonwoo! Mingyu! I need help guys! We're stuck in here!"

I couldn't imagine the outside scenario, who must've died and who escaped. Is my team injured badly? Did I put them in danger too? What if something had happened to them too?  The weight of guilt kept increasing with thoughts.

And in the next moment without any warning, a more powerful blast occurred and I fell down the stairs hitting my head, "Ah!" 

It was so vigorous, I bet the earth shook to its core. But I didn't know it was the start of a series of events— Suddenly I heard the sound of something colliding. I lifted my head to see that those old statues were falling on one another like dominoes. My eyes widened in dread when I saw the last one was in front of Joshua. 

"Oh, no, no, no, no, why? Just why?!" I got back up on my feet.

The heavy Jesus statue was going to fall on Joshua, I had no time to move him from there, so I ran immediately and went under it, holding it on my back, while supporting my hands on the stairs.