The Day The Earth Broke

The day the earth broke was a strange one. Strange in that it was so normal. Bright and sunny. Cheery even. Women carrying water back from the well, gossiping. The earthen pots, which were covered with colorful designs, were gurgling, the liquid inside them swishing and swaying as they balanced it on their heads. Their hands covered with henna. There had been a wedding in the town last night, a large affair. It was the chief’s daughter, being married to a chief’s son from another village. Last night, the village had hosted the groom. Men tilling the fields, happy, focused. They had purpose, they had pride. They were not idle. No one in this village was. The chief had ensured that they would have a school. Children studied, so one day, they too could become big men, the chief said, even bigger than him. They studied earnestly. When they were not studying, they were helping their parents with the fields or with cooking inside the house. It was a happy village. Contained in its own little bubble.

The women were gossiping about the wedding, and how beautiful the bride had looked, some with pride that she represented the village, some with envy that she looked prettier than them on their own wedding days. All with an underlying sadness they could not explain or give words to. She had been married to a man she did not know. Just like most of them. At least they had known the men in the village as children, before they were married to one of them.

The sun cheered, birds journeyed far and wide, trees were calm and peaceful. The green and the yellow of the fields, the blue of the sky, the brightness of the sun, were all well contrasted by the behemoth that stood guarding their village. The mountain. Their ancestors had believed the mountain was a guardian god. Had worshipped it. Before the one true faith came to the village. They still believed the mountain was a guardian. A guardian angel though. Dots specked it, all concentrated in some areas, those were the shepherds taking their flock to graze.

The women chattered cheerily. The sun shone brightly. A loud crash. One of them dropped their pot, pieces scattering everywhere. Not sharp, just blunt and hard. Crash it sounded, as it landed on the baked and baking earth. The earth started to grumble, a sound made by a hungry stomach. It started to growl. One by one, all the pots fell as the women lost their balance, water sloshing everywhere. The cattle started to bay, and bawl, and baa, their sounds coming as wailing from infants. Dogs pricked their ears up, and started to howl and whimper, in turns. The growling never stopped but continued to increase, getting bigger as snow did when it rolled down a mountain. Collecting more with every turn. The ground shivered, the sun hid behind clouds, blinking momentarily. The women were terrified but they knew not why. The men were angry but they knew not why. The growls culminated in a series of crashes that seemed drag on forever, and take only seconds to finish. The mountain collapsed. The day the earth broke was a strange one. It was reported all over the world, but no mention of the village it collapsed into, a village that had long ago faded into obscurity.