Chapter 25: Moving out

Seth and his family gets on the boat with Ali and his teams after he retrieved her daughter's urn. Both Seth and Jane decided to cremate her daughter as to not let her suffer anymore.

Mia has gone through so much. After all the hardship, being alone until the moment she died, as the parent, they decided that Mia would want to have her pride intact. To be seen beautiful even on her deathbed.

Jane sat next to Seth and clutched the urn's casing tightly. Her baby is inside...

Lucy and Suzy felt like all this is a nightmare. Sitting on the boat together, their eyes fixed on watching the beautiful sea. Just a few days ago, they all were having dinner together, with Mia being her goofy self making their dinner livelier with her chatter. What will their dinner be after this, with Mia is gone?

All of this time, they have put a lot of hope on the Search and Rescue mission, to find Mia, so that she can return with them, but now, all hope is gone. Mia has left them for real.

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It takes them 2 hours for them to arrive in South Kona. In the shelter, their cellphones are working again.

Ben quickly tried calling his father back in San Francisco. Its been almost a week since they have been out of reach, and his father might be worried sick. "Hello, Dad, it's me Ben. Yeah, I am fine, Seth and the kids are here too. We are out from Hilo and now we are here with the other survivors in Kona. Umm, dad... Mia is gone."

Ben quickly informed his dad, so that he will not bluntly asked Seth about his daughters when Seth talked to him. Seth's family is still grieving from the loss of Mia. It would be best if his dad could show some compassion when he talked to Seth later. He is hoping that his dad will not scold Seth as much as possible for losing Mia during the disaster. His old man put lots of hope on Mia as the eldest grandkids he has.

"Mia, my Mia is gone? How did Seth lose her daughter? He is a failure as a father! He can't even keep an eye on her daughter." Ben's father wept through the phone.

"It's not important anymore how Mia went missing dad. She's gone now. Hmm, well, but the others are doing good. We are not in danger anymore, here in Kona. We-we might stay with you for a few months to come. Mine and Seth's house were all destroyed in the disaster. Can we come over, when the planes are back on?"

"It's not like I did not welcome you guys to come over here, but the thing is, the authority asked us to move out from Cali as soon as possible. They said the San Andreas Fault would collapse this time." Ben's old man sniffed while he talks. "I don't want to believe them, but somehow I can feel that something is different this time. We experienced quakes more frequently, and I don't know, my gut feeling says that this time, it might be real."

"You might want to contact your friends living outside Cali if they are willing to take you guys in. I am going to Toronto, back to teaching. The semester is starting, and I need to get back to my apartment and do some cleaning." Ben's father is a Professor at the University of Toronto, and he only went back to California only once a year.

"Well, okay. That might work too. Then I-I'll called up some other friends, see if we crash over at their house. Then, safe trip dad." Ben's mind went blank when he heard that his old man is going back to Toronto. It is not even time for the school to start yet. 'The old man is probably trying not to meet Seth and the family, after what happened to Mia.' His old man, after all this time, he never changed. Still, he did not know how to express his feelings to his children.

"Seth, dad is not going to be in Cali. We need to find somewhere other than Cali. He mentioned something about-about some danger in San Andreas? Well, all he said that they were asked to evacuate as soon as possible. That place is going to collapse soon I think."

"Wha-What? Ben, did you say they were asked to evacuate? Who are 'they' we are talking about here? Is dad okay?" Seth stutters when he heard Ben mentioned about his dad.

"I am not sure myself. He only mentioned that they were asked to leave Cali as soon as possible, and they said the Fault might collapse soon. Dad is going back to Toronto. So he suggested that we contact our friends for a stayover." Ben was nervous when he speaks to Seth. He did not want to make the already grieving Seth, to noticed his father's indifference, and make Seth sadder than he already is.

Seth went quiet after Ben finished up his words. Looking up at Jane and his kids, Seth replied. "It's okay, we can go somewhere else. No worries. If Jane wants too, we can even go back to China, my job here in Hawaii is done anyway..."

"No, not China, my-my... father will not be able to face this. Not right now.. lets-lets go somewhere else... Please." Jane was in a panic when Seth suggested to go to China.

"Ben, can you check with your friend, the one who is working in the army? Can you ask him about what is going on with the evacuation in San Andreas Fault? If dad is not in the house, it is fine. We can still come back and live there." Seth suddenly has an idea to stay at his old house back in San Francisco. They don't have to bother anyone about their stay, they still can stay at the old house.

"Right away, Seth."

Seth stood up and he picked up some food and water from the counter and passed them to his family while Ben makes the call. He is hoping that the situation in California is not as bad as his dad mentioned. Staying at the old house would be best at this moment.

"Seth... I, I don't know how to say this to you. Um, my friend said that we better find some cover. He mentioned about some plates colliding together, and-and he said that he is going to an underground bunker somewhere in Alaska. He said we can follow him there if we have nowhere to go..." Ben tried his best to summarize Jason's words to Seth. Jason mentioned a lot of things that he cannot comprehend, but luckily he managed to catch some important part of the conversation.

"Well, you are the brother. I will follow whatever you decide. Anywhere is fine Ben. As long as we are together."