How long had it been? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? The ground had turned to jelly under her feet, it had felt like it would open up and swallow her whole... Now it had stopped, and it had taken Karin's sense of time with it.<br/><br/>She was crouching down in the middle of a road not very far from where she and her boyfriend, Toby, had stood when the quakes began. They'd been watching the Christmas parade when the earth under them started to shake, and everything began to crumble. Not only the buildings around them, where a few lucky people began pouring out within seconds and avoided getting crushed under the debris, but also the people. Everyone, including her, had started running to no where in particular the minute the earth had started shaking. The crowd had dispersed in their panic - everyone, rich and poor, had had eyes full of fear and panic.<br/>Standing up, Karin surveyed her surroundings. The city was a poor excuse for itself now; few buildings still stood and none were unharmed. Toby was nowhere to be seen, and aside from the weak cries of the young children, everyone was quiet. Some were wandering around mindlessly, staring into the ruins probably looking for loved ones or maybe just to try and fathom what had just happened.<br/><br/>Karin herself couldn't even find the strength to move. Her hands were shaking, but she didn't feel cold at all.<br/><span style="font-style: italic">Snap out of it,</span>she told herself. Standing here like an idiot wasn't going to help her find Toby or his parents back home...<br/><span style="font-style: italic">Parents...</span><br/><br/>The sudden realisation was what finally made her move. Her father, back at home, was going to hear about the catastrophe within hours or less than that. She had to call him, she had to tell him she was safe. Her bag with the cellphone in it was gone though, probably still lying back where she and Toby had been.<br/>She broke into a run. Although the city was inrecognizable, she hadn't gone far from where she started. The spot was easy to find again, and as expected her bag was still lying on the ground, just two meters from where she had been.<br/>Just as she reached out for it, a horrifying scream tore through the air. Karin felt as though the sound was ripping her ears apart and dropped to her knees with her hands held firmly over them as she grimaced in pain. it was ten - no, a hundred - times worse than the sound of a wailing baby, a sound Karin until now had thought was the worst sound in the world. Through her hands she could hear a deep, rumbling sound along with the scream and for a moment thought the ground would shake again. Maybe it did, Karin wouldn't have noticed; the sound made her look up and she spotted the silver growth that already towered over the ruined buildings. It continued to grow at an abnormal speed towards the sky as if it was planning on piercing it, but just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. A massive, silver tree stood tall above everything else in the city and filled Karin with terror. She had to call her father now, find Toby and get out of here; this wasn't normal and it sure as hell wasn't safe.<br/>She grabbed her bag and found her phone; it was beaten up, but had miraculously survived the whole ordeal - although barely. She found her father's number and called, but merely succeeded in reaching a service message that informed her that she was not able to make calls at this time.<br/><span style="font-style: italic">Should have expected that...</span>