Breaking

It was hard just to hear oneself thinking as people ran in a panic in every direction, screaming their heads off as the earth roared and shook, and began to simply pull apart, tearing the surface apart in jagged lines with no predictable pattern. Dirt and concrete alike were torn like paper, and the people tried as hard as they could to stay out of the line of destruction, but many could not outpace the consuming void, and disappeared into the expanding and gaping hole beneath their feet. The destruction had come without warning. One moment life had been proceeding as usual, and the next, the ground beneath their feet had opened and begun to steal the lives of any unfortunate enough to be in its path.

Those who were not in the path of opening earth watched in terrified wonder as their homes shifted. They could hear glass shattering and wood and stone collapsing as the violent tremors shook loose their possessions and sent them tumbling and shattering to the floor. The buildings of the cities separated, some from each other, and others from themselves. It was hard for them to know just how wide spread the destruction was - whether they had been cursed and only their homes taken so violently away from them, or if it was happening all over the world. But as it continued, the cracks continued on to the horizon, and they could see no end to them.

When the tremors finally came to a cease, and the world once more feel quiet, the people were stunned, unsure of what to do or what to think. Slowly, as one, without speaking a word, those who remained moved toward the massive fissure to peer down and see just how deeply the hole ran. They wanted to see if their homes, possessions, friends and family whom they had lost could still be recovered, even if it would take time.

But when they looked down into the earth, they saw nothing but rock and darkness. The walls of the rift were rough and sharp, but nothing had stuck to them. Everything that had been taken by the abyss had simply vanished far below without a trace, as though they had never existed in the first place. Across the rift were other people doing the same, and they looked up to see the other's glancing back. Any bridge that had been there previously was gone, and the hole was far too wide and deep to build a new one. Any friends and family they had on the other side were gone.