The old version of my book is in black and the one i am going to be writing is in red. Tell me what you think.
Lost! I don't know what to do. My whole world has been turned upside down in a split second. I don’t know if I can do it. Every thing I have ever known is gone! left in the ashes of my town. Can I survive by myself? Maybe some others are alive. But it is almost too much to hope for.
Every thing I have ever know has been ripped away from me in one horrible moment. Everything i have known is gone, left in the ashes of my town. Can i survive? Can i figure out how to turn this around?
I can’t see any thing. I am blinded by my fear as my horse takes his own path toward the town. It seems as if snow is falling except for the facts that snow is white and cold, not black and hot. The trees all around were covered with it and every time my horse stepped down the ash would rise up and cover him and I.
Blinded by my fear and by the dense fog my horse takes his own path toward the town. The woods always seemed ghostly at this time of day but today it was alien.
I hadn’t known what to think when I was on that hill looking at my town from on top of one of the many hills surrounding it. It had looked so peaceful until that terrible boom rocked the hills and valleys all around and the black smoke erupted like a volcano. I didn’t know what to do but my horse did he turned and ran as fast and he could. Even my screams and the pounding of the horses’ hooves as they hit the dirt and snapped the dead branches that lay on the ground could not block out the terrible booms echoing from the town on behind me. I couldn’t think as my horse crashed through the trees. I could only hang on and pray that every thing was all right. The booms stopped long before I could get the horse to stop and come down. By then we were miles away from the town I had never ridden this far and had no idea where we were.
Everything had been so peaceful so perfect. Then there was a terrible boom that rocked the hills and valleys all around. The smoke was thick as it erupted from my town as if it was a small volcano. I was frozen not knowing what to do, but my horse did. He turned and ran as fast as he could tearing through the trees in a wild race to get away from the deafening booms. I clung to my horses back as he skidded down the hill and took off again at a full on run. Even my screams and the pounding of my horses hooves hitting the ground and snapping the dead branches that lay scattered between the trees could block out the terrible booms echoing from the town behind me. I couldn't think as we crashed through the trees. My mind was blank with only the terrifically horrid sight of my town being obliterated.
That’s when the ash started to fall. All around my every thing went from green to a ghostly gray it was terrible like a horrible dream. I couldn’t breath because of ash and I started to cough but that made it all the worse. I needed a bandana. Sliding off of the horse onto the ground was an odd sensation every thing felt way to smooth and way to quiet. Looking down I couldn’t see my feet. Already the ash was ankle deep. I just stared not really thinking or seeing. My horse nudged me, bringing me back to reality. I grabbed two bandanas and from the saddlebags and raped one around my nose then I did the same for the horse.
The booms had stopped long before i could get the horse to stop and calm down. He was a greeny and this was only one of his first ride in the mountains. Sweat was pouring off his sides and neck and he was heaving trying to get some oxygen into his lungs. Sliding off the my feet hit the ground and i clung to the saddle to keep from falling. My legs were shaking so bad they couldn't even hold my weight. I took a deep breath and carefully tested my legs. Soon i could stand without shaking to bad and i took a step back from the horse looking up at the sky above. It was about 10 in the morning and the sun should now be rising just enough to pour into the trees but it was hazy as if..., as if there was a fire.
I was jolted back to reality and the truth of what had just happened. I stared in horror as flames began to lick their way over the hillside to our right. The hill was a little ways off but still to close.
My mind had been numb. But one thought slipping through the fog, “why was there ash all the way out here miles from town?” It just wasn’t logical the ash could not have come all the way over here unless the explosions had gone off in every town not just mine. Which also would not make since because all the other towns were tiny, like really tiny. Then my mind went numb again but for one thought. “I had to tell my family that I was ok.” I couldn’t think any further. Even though if i could i would have realized that my family was probably gone just like my home.
Mounting my horse I gently turned him back the way we had come. He was only a little fidgety but was too tired to fight. I started to look around me only half seeing the strange and alien world that just recently was like a second home to me. The sky was dark gray with smoke that hung in the air, ash still falling gently down like black snow. Numbly I thought “this must be what it is like to be next to a volcano when it goes off.”
The anger in me starts to grow. “How had this happened? Why had my small world perfect world been turned into this evil hell? How could the would be so cruel as to take my family away from me?” suddenly anger changed to a terrible hurt. “Where was my family? Were they alive? How would Anthony find out, how would Autumn find out? Or were they gone to?” Panic welled up inside me my thoughts started to spin My older brother and sister didn't live at home any more so how would they know what had happened. “What had happened to the world around? I hated not knowing what was going on. All I did know is that I was Alone and i hated being alone. how can I survive the hurt. What would I do tonight hot having mom there to hug me and say that she loved me. What about in the morning I wouldn’t have a hot breakfast waiting and mom calling us down. What about Preston and Ashton I would not have Preston being so annoying and Ashton yelling him to “Shut up or else.” Preston would never come into my room when he was bored or just wanted to tell me some cool thing he was going to invent. Where would daddy be to say “Love, do this or that” or “do you want to come to town with me, love?” But there is no town to go to and no daddy to go with me. Do I even have one friend or my Bishop to tell me that is all right? How could they all just disappear! It just wasn’t possible, there had to be some one out there, maybe just as scared as me and if there is I’m going to find them. Maybe just maybe my friends and family were safe. There is always some kind of hope.
