Not Again

I was sleeping on the bed, next to my new born, exhausted and confused of the alien feeling of  motherhood, , when my husband gently woke me up,
" Did you feel the tremors?"
I didn't.
He who was sitting on the floor, quietly reading a book, felt them and saw us swaying in our sleep, mother and child.
We learnt later that day of the quake and of the thousands of people who perished in the 2004 tsunami.

Flash forward almost 8 years later, today, as I was lying on the sofa with my 4 year old daughter deep in her afternoon slumber beside me, I felt them. The tremors my husband felt years ago.
Confused at first, thinking that it was just a rumbling of a trailer truck on a highway nearby or my princess having a fitful dream, I ignored it.
But when it continued, the earth moving, the strange feeling of vertigo, the stale tea in the teapot on the coffee table swinging to the motion rhythmically, I grew alarmed.

And it's human nature, in the state of panic, we call on our loved ones.
I called out to my parents and son in the house ( my daughter still sleeping soundly). I called my other half who was 300km away living in a 10 storey apartment to stay safe. To be safe.
My brother called his wife who was away at her kampung a few kilometers away from the sea, worried and then rushing off to get her.

Images of the tragedy 8 years ago from the newspapers and tv flashed in our heads.
But it has been better. Since then, the world has been better prepared. We are better informed.

 I hope all is well.
I hope all will be well.
And if it's fated that some will perish, I pray that Allah will have mercy on their souls.
Moga mereka ditempatkan di kalangan orang yang beriman.
Amin.