The waves were crashing against the mountainous rocks that lay right off the shore. The sky had little overcast, and the sun was setting on the far ocean horizon. I had been deep in thought while gazing upon the waves rolling on and off the sand in front of me, and I lost track of time. Crunching comes up behind, I feel the air shift, and someone is crouched behind me. I close my eyes. I know who it is: Nick. Nick wraps his arms around my shoulders. “Aren’t you cold?”
Feeling his warmth through the jackets we are wearing comforts and calms me. “Yeah, kinda. You know how I am in the cold.”
“Yeah, yeah… Come in the house, it’s warmer in there.” He starts to lift me out of the sand.
I didn’t fight with him. I would usually, but I was still lost in the sunset and in a neutral mood: calm and relaxed, but worried and stressed. I felt drained of emotion. We walked the little ways on the beach to the door to the rental house. Everyone was inside watching TV and munching on grilled cheese and hot soup. I could see them through the window as we walked up the path. As soon as Nick opened the door, a wave of heat blasted my numb body. We scurried over to the plates and bowls, not taking off our shoes or dusting off the sand, and got some food to warm us up. I started to go towards the room that Tyler, Jes, Nick, and I shared but was pulled out to the living room by Allen, my four-year-old cousin. How could I say no to such an adorable little kid?
We were in the little town of Apple Valley, Washington. It was a small town with not much to do, but it wasn’t home, and we were looking for a place to be instead of home. It was time to relax, but our relaxing didn’t last long. There was talk in the town about a tsunami possibly coming. The news went on and on about it. Of course, no one was paying attention, they were too busy eating and talking about irrelevant topics. Meanwhile, I had zoned in on the news anchor that was talking to see the real story behind the rumors. Apparently there had been an earthquake in Hawaii that nearly killed half its population a few days before, so there was no power and no way to contact the west coast cities and warn them of the mass quake. There still were a couple of days until it would hit the west coastline, and we would be on our way home by then. I still felt my stomach dwindle. There was this small voice in my head telling me, It’s going to come sooner than expected.
The voice kept going on in my head. “Hey, you okay?” My mom looked at me, puzzled.
“Yeah.” I had been thinking about the tsunami. “Just spacin’ out. I didn’t sleep well last night.”
“Were you tossing and turning, or just nerves?” She knew I was going to be acting different if we brought Jes and Nick with us on this trip when she had first mentioned it.
“Tossing and turning,” I lied.
I don’t like lying to my mom, but I didn’t feel like telling her why my nerves kept me up the night before. I was afraid of bringing Nick on a family trip like this. When my mom said that Nick and I would be sleeping in the same bed, my nerves skyrocketed. That’s why I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about what she had said and how she was giving us this much trust. We are in the same room as Tyler and Jes who were sleeping in a bed of their own, but they are older than us, it’s more understandable for them.
My mind had been racing all throughout dinner and the games of Sorry, Monopoly, Chinese Checkers, and Mad Libs. It was finally time to get ready for bed. I opened up my backpack and pulled out my toiletry bag and my pajamas. As I was walking out of the room, Nick came in the doorway, looking at his IPod. I wasn’t paying any attention; I was looking through my toiletry bag for my toothpaste, so we smashed into each other and stumbled to the ground.
While laughing, I managed to say, “Are you okay? What just happened?”
“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?!” He rolled over on his side to face me, giggling.
“Well, you don’t look like you’re seriously injured, so I’m gonna go get ready for bed.” Giggling, I tried to get myself up, but Nick was already up and pulled me up.
Once I was on my feet, I started to walk towards the door again, but something stopped me. Nick had grabbed my hand and was pulling me towards him. I tried to pull away so I could go to the bathroom and get changed, but he is stronger than me. He managed to twirl me around to face him and he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close.
“Really? I wanna go get changed and go to bed,” I said sassily.
“I want a kiss first,” he said. He was staring into my eyes; I couldn’t look away from them. They were as gray as rain clouds.
His grip on my waist got tighter and he pulled me closer. Looking into his eyes had made me forget about today’s events, and I thought of how much I love him. “Come on, you can have a kiss later. I want to get my pjs on.”
“Not even one?” He was trying to be cute, and it was working. I had given in to his tricks. I wrapped my arms around his neck, toiletry bag and pajamas in hand, stood up on my tip toes, and kissed him on the cheek.
Wiggling my way out of his arms, I turned and left the room. “Is that it?!” he yelled after me. I smiled and kept walking.
Once I made it to the bathroom, I changed into my frog pajama pants, sports bra, and WACKO pajama shirt. I threw my dirty clothes in the corner and opened up my toiletry bag. I pulled out my toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed my teeth. Afterwards, I pulled out the mouth wash and swished some around the inside of my mouth. Tingles went all throughout my mouth after I spit out its blue mintiness and watched it swirl down the drain. My nightly routine, whether I’m home or not, never changes.
The voice had gone away until I was done in the bathroom. Unlocking and opening the door, I picked up my dirty clothes. I went to the room and put them next to my backpack, and then out to the living room to say goodnight to everyone. On my way back through the kitchen, I looked at the microwave clock: 10:49 PM. I didn’t realize how late it was. I knew that Jes and Tyler would still be up for a while, but I didn’t know when Nick would want to go to bed.
As soon as I walked through the door way to the room, I saw Nick sitting on our bed. He was holding my favorite blanket and is in his pajamas, too. He looked up at me: “Ready for bed?”
“Yeah. Do you know where my pillow is?” I looked around the room; I could feel my heart pumping in my ears.
He grabbed it from the head of the bed. “It’s already on the bed. You put it here right after we unloaded the van. Jeez, you’re smart!” He stood up and walked over to me; I was trying to get my dirty clothes rolled up to keep the room clean.
Sitting on the ground, I turned to look at him. “Which side of the bed do you want?”
“I don’t care, it’s up to you.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me up and over to the bed. I crawled on the twin sized bed and lay down. Nick snuggled up behind me. My back against his chest, his lips next to my neck, I could feel him breathing. His left arm was around my stomach, mine on top of his, and both our left arms under the pillow, stretched out, holding hands. I was comfortable, but my mind still raced with the thought of the tsunami. It didn’t take long for Nick to fall asleep; he twitches in his sleep. It was cute, but it wasn’t enough to calm my nerves.

There was a sudden crash and boom. I sat straight up in bed, waking up Nick with the quick movement. I couldn’t tell what the sound was. I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep. Glancing around the room, I saw Jes and Tyler fast asleep in their bed. Looking down at Nick, who was rubbing his eyes, I asked, “What was that noise?”
“It was probably just the wind or thunder and lightning. You did say that the coast got a lot of thunderstorms. Come on, lay back down and get some sleep.”
I hesitated but did as he said. He was laying on his back now, and I laid back down on my side, facing him. Laying my head on his chest, he pulled me close with his arm that was behind my back. The sound came again. “I’m gonna go see if it’s a storm.”
Nick sighed and helped me off the bed. “Give me a sec and I’ll go with you.”
I made my way through the dark room to my backpack, pulled out my slippers, and slipped them on my feet while I waited for Nick. He raised his arms above his head, stretching out his back, and then walked to the hallway. I soon came up behind him and we walked slowly through the house to the living room. Another boom sounded through the house. I counted in my head: one Mississippi, two Mississippi, and three Mississippi. I went on until a streak of light shot through the starry night sky. It lit up the house, and I glanced at Nick as it happened; it made his face look ghostly. The ocean was dark and haunting. Through the window I could see it flash with the reflection of the moon and the lightning. Something was different, though; the ocean wasn’t the same as when I sat on the beach earlier that night. It had grown. The waves were much larger and coming up farther on the beach.
It’s happening, the voice said. Wake everyone up and get them out of the house before the big wave hits. Go to high ground. I turned to Nick, “We have to get everyone up, now.”
“Why? What’s going on?” He looked at me, very confused.
I moved past him towards the coffee table, “The tsunami is here and we are on the beach. We need to get everyone up and in the van so we can get to high ground.”
I handed him the keys that had been sitting on the coffee table. “Are you sure? The news said it wouldn’t come for another couple of days.”
“I know what the news said, but my gut is telling me that it’s happening now. I’d rather be safe than sorry. Can you go start the van and get it warmed up while I wake everyone up?” I started towards my moms’ room, hesitating, waiting for his answer. I felt a lot calmer than what I should have been.
“Alright.” He went through the front door out to the driveway.
Once he was gone I went into my moms’ room and nudged her out of bed, telling her what was going on, and she was instantly awake. I then ran into the room I shared with Jes, Tyler, and Nick and flicked on the light. I pushed and shoved at Tyler, but he was still out cold. I went to the other side of the bed and woke up Jes. She shoved Tyler off the bed and started to bag their things. I walked over to mine and Nick’s bags and quickly got all packed up. Once Jes and Tyler were up with their bags ready to go, we left the room and went out to the living room where my uncle Pete, Mom, and Nick were waiting. I looked out the paned window once more; the waves had gotten even bigger and were almost to the back porch. I turned to my uncle Pete. “Do you have everything? Is the little one already in the van?”
“Yep, we are all ready to go, so let’s get to higher ground before we run out of time,” he said shakily.
We all rushed for the door and piled through to the frozen rain and lightning that invited us outside. One by one, we climbed in the 18- passenger van and threw our bags and pillows in the back row of seats. No one bothered to buckle their seat belts. Pete shifted into reverse and the van shot backwards, making everyone jerk forward. Right as the van backed up, I saw it, and so did my cousin Allen.
“Daddy….” His voice was shaky and scared. I picked him up and sat him on my lap to keep him calm.
My mom’s eyes got wide as she turned to see it also. “Pete….Step on it…Now…”
She was worried, but she tried to contain her fear by lowering her voice. We all saw it now. The wave towered over the rental house. Pete shifted into drive and we sped up the driveway. I watched the wave tear through the rental house and come under the back tires of the van. Pete drove even faster to try and get out of the wave’s grasp. He managed to get to the top of the driveway before the wave started to recede. Its strength pulled the van with it. I heard Jes scream from the back of the van, Tyler trying to calm her down. Uncle Pete put the gas pedal to the floor, and we lurched out of the clutches of the receding wave, speeding up and out of the driveway onto the main road. Allen was crying, and I had a death grip on Nicks arm. Mom was now silent, with her hands covering her face. Pete made a rapid right turn up the mountain, trying to get us to higher ground. We kept going up the dark forest road until we reached the clearing. The ocean was on one side of us; destroying the little town of Apple Valley, and on the other; a ragged inn on top of a mountain.
Tears ran down my cheeks. I had given the now fast asleep Allen to my mother in the front seat. I looked at Nick, who was expressionless. I kissed his cheek and he looked down at me, wiping away a tear, and kissed my nose. I smiled slightly. “We’re safe. Everything is okay now,” he said calmly. I buried my face in his neck; he picked me up and set me back down in his lap.
We sat like that until we reached the inn. Uncle Pete and Mom went inside to get a room for the night. Tyler had calmed Jes down, and they were coddling each other fast asleep in their seats. I crept to where they were to wake them up so we all could go to the room and get some rest after the excitement of the night. I noticed the clock said 4:27 AM when we all drowsily walked into the room. There were two king sized beds and a fold out bed in the sofa. Nick and I unfolded the bed in the sofa and laid Allen in it and covered him with my blanket; mom soon after crawled into the bed with him. Uncle Pete decided he was going to stay up and go talk to the Inn manager. Jes and Tyler were fast asleep, cuddling in one of the two king beds. I laid down in the other and Nick snuggled up behind me once again. We laid there as we did before in the rental house bed. He fell asleep same as the first time, twitching and all, as if nothing had happened. I closed my eyes and soon fell asleep to the feeling of his warm breath on my neck and the warmth of him holding me.

I opened my eyes; the waves were still tumbling over one another on the sand in front of me. The sun still setting on the shifting waters, and the waves still crashing on the mountainous rocks. Nick was still crouched behind me with his strong arms around my shoulders. I looked up at him and him down at me, we smiled at each other and I kissed his nose.