I open the wooden and glass doors that lead outside into the terrace. The cool mountain air wraps itself around me as I breathe in the coolness. It has an overall calming effect. I walk the few steps that lead up to the ledge of the terrace and rest my hands on the wooden railing that is running around the the edge. The wooden railing is cold and has water on it – as if it rained some time ago. I look around as the valley takes shape and the mist dissipates. Apparently, I am at a hill station.

The mist clears and the valley stands stoically with all the bustling human actvity on its breast. I am still absorbing the scenary when I hear familier voices behind me. I am joined by my mom and dad at the railing with some more people behind them whose faces I cannot see clearly. I try to focus on them but features of their faces become more erased and flat as I strain.

We smile at each other and talk about how great the place and the weather is. We discuss the fact that being here makes it all worth it even though the drive was a bit long and tiring. We are talking when clouds enter the valley and submerge everything within them. We are amazed at how the mistiness percolates through everything until that is all there is.

“Wow, it’s beautiful”. Somebody from the faceless group comments.

I nod in silent agreement.

And then… after a few seconds of calm, we start experiencing a crushing invisible force – one very similar to the g-force experienced when you ascend in a high speed elevator. We all grab the railing with our hands to keep ourselves standing at our feet as our legs try to give way.

“What’s happening?”, somebody shouts.

I look at my folks and they are also wearing a similar expression of confusion and pain. I can’t see the other faces, but strangely I recognise their expressions.

All of a sudden the clouds drop and the blue sky rushes in. It looks like the clouds just literally ‘hit the ground’. I watch in shock as they descend faster than a train. My shock turns to horror as I look around and see the hills in the distance – all of them are going up and down – like the bars of an equaliser dancing to the beats and bass of a song. (The only difference being that magnanimous land structures and hills dancing vertically are much more menacing than the LED bars of an equaliser.)

That is when I realise what is happening – For some reason, the ground is rising up rapidly. The shakes add to the realisation that this is happening because of an earthquake. As the hills rise, I see rocks and large boulders falling as they break away because of the tremors.

“HOLD ON” I shout to my parents and the faceless crowd as I grab the railing for dear life.

Everything is happening very fast now.

The ground seems to be gathering speed as it ascends.

What the hell is happening. It should be slowing down.

I try to reason with the situation with the power of my thoughts.

I am kneeled down now with my hands still hooked to the railings. The force of gravity is making its last ditch effort to pin me to the ground completely. Still, I don’t want to let go of the railing. Panic rationale.

With the speed of ascent, the painful roar of rocks as they are moved from their unnatural state becomes louder and louder. It sounds like a beast that is being woken up against it’s wishes.

The sights and sounds seem to have changed dramatically from serene to nightmarish.

And then, all of a sudden, everything becomes quiet. Complete silence.

I look around but can’t seem to find any frame of reference. I look down from the railing and see the other hills which look static relative to us.

“I think it’s stoppped.” I tell my parents and they nod back.

“What in the hell just happened?”. Someone faceless asks. Somebody else sobs.

It feels much colder now.

Then we hear another roar – much louder and angrier than before. With that, the ground starts to fall. It feels probably how it would feel like inside a falling elevator.

This time, everybody is shouting. Like in a roller coster, nobody makes a sound when they’re going up – but they all shout when it comes speeding down.

I feel my feet rise from the ground as I continue to hold on to the railing. Science kicks in – we are falling down – but the ground is being pulled down faster than it can fall!

Soon, I’m horizontal to the railing as it tries to pull me down faster. The ground seems to be wanting to run away from us in the wrong direction. I look around – everybody is shouting and screaming but they are all faceless now.

I panic not knowing where mom and dad have gone.

The force of the wind underneath me is now becoming too much to handle. My arms strain as I try to hold the railing. Eventually, I can’t hold on and the last few inches of the railing slip away from my finger tips. The ground is now dropping even faster – become slower and slower by the seconds.

I am falling now. Just falling.

~and then I wake up~