I woke to the sound of an explosion, like someone had just detonated 1,000 bombs. I figured that I was just imagining things since I was half-asleep, but something made me shot up and without a second thought leaped out of bed and felt for my dressing gown. I felt the soft warm coat that was my dressing gown and made a run for it. I sprinted down the stairs into the garage to get the emergency water supply and while I was at it grabbed a backpack and some blankets.
I zipped into the foyer grabbed the keys and unlocked the door. As soon as I set foot outside I was blasted with screams of terror and I knew immediately that I had to get out of town. I looked back at the mountain and saw a colossal cloud of ash, it seemed to be moving fast, really fast. Then it hit me, I had read about these in books, when a volcano erupts it can unleash a huge cloud of ash that moves up to 170km/h clearing everything in it’s path. This was no mere ash cloud, this was a pyroclastic flow.
I felt myself going double the speed I was before. I could hear screams of terrified people being burnt alive in the distance which made me run even faster. Now I was darting up the streets and was only about 100m away from safety. I was getting so tired now but I had to keep going. I realized there was an abandoned cabin up on the hill I looked back and had the fright of my life. It was coming up the hill, I was only a couple of meters away and my instincts took over me. The cabin had a deck that was facing away from the pyroclastic flow. I made a dive for it and with my back against the wall witnessed the cloud flow past me at immense speed hearing the screams of everyone who hadn’t made it in time. This was something that would echo throughout my life for the rest of time.
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