The Deepest Sorrow on My Engagement Day

Dinar Mukminia Asokya

0403508020

Writing V A

My name is Siti Julaeha. I will remind you about tsunami disaster in Aceh about 6 years ago. The disaster wrecked my birthplace and my important moment in my life. I could not forget when everything that I had prepared was gone in less than five minutes.

Sunday, 26 December 2004. Everybody got up earlier that day. We prayed tahajud and subuh together to start the day. We asked the God to make my engagement successful. That day must be my engagement with Teuku Anugrah, my beloved man since I was in senior high school. We had been together for 7 years. I hoped it would be forever.

The marquee was built by the work men outside my house. The table was covered by green table cloth. The curtain had the same color too. My Mother might a bit hyperbole about the green because she also bought green plates and cups for my engagement, but I knew she had good intention.

My mother, sisters, brother, and I were wearing green clothes, adjusted to chosen theme. Especially for my mine, my dress, my veil, my shoes, all of things that I had worn were green. From all of the green things my father wore white cloth. I did not know why my father insisted to wear white cloth. Maybe that was a sign. He looked so bright than other people who wore the green.

The tables filled with delicious food. The cups filled with various beverages. We started singing the praise to Allah while waiting for my boyfriend’s family. I was scripted to wait in my room until my father calls me when Anugrah arrived. I looked at my watch. That was already 7.50 a.m. I phoned Anugrah to ask where he was. He answered, he almost got my home. I waited with happiness.

Suddenly, the earth shook very strongly. All of things in my room shook irregularly. I fell from my bench. The mirror fell down from the wall and hit my body until it broke into pieces. I could hear people started screaming outside my room. “Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar”. I tried to get out from my room. When I opened the door, I could see my youngest brother, Iqbal, bended on the floor and tried to hold anything he could. I hobbled to reach the table to protect myself. I saw Iqbal tried to reach my table too. I caught my brother’s hand before the chandelier fell to hit him. The one we could do under the table was holding each other and prayed to God.

When the earthquake stopped, I got out from under table and screamed to find other family members. I saw around and everything was so chaos. Iqbal and I ran to the down stair and we met our mother and sisters. We ran away to outside the house and crossed the broken marquee. Many people gathered outside their house. They could not stop saying “Astagfirullah and Allahu Akbar”.

Not long after the earthquake, many people ran and screamed “tsunami…tsunami…tsunami…run…run….save yourself…” My family and I ran back into the house and climb up to rooftop. Fortunately, our house had three levels. I could not forget how the water came and crashed everything it could. We sat on the rooftop. We could not do anything. I hold my mother, Iqbal and my sisters, Nur and Aina. My mother started cry. I was speechless. I had never seen this much water. In minutes, the water changed my little hometown, Meulaboh, like an ocean. We hold more tightly when we saw a corpse floated in front of us.

Iqbal screamed and told us there was a woman hung on the coconut tree which was not too far from where we stand. We tried to help that woman. Iqbal put off his belt and swung the belt to the woman. Aina and I hold Iqbal’s hand until the woman catch iqbal’s belt. We pulled the woman together trying to help her against the swift water. Fortunately, she could reach Iqbal’s hand and stayed with my family. For a half of hour we had saved some people too.

Nur, my sister, asked something that we had forgot for a while. She asked where my father was to my mother. I was shock and my heart started beating so fast. We had not seen my father since the earthquake began. I saw my mother. She could not hide the fear on her face. I could do nothing. We hugged each other and prayed in our heart for safety of father.

When the water became calmer, I was thinking in my mind. “What mistake we had done until Allah punished us so hard and difficult”. I did not know where my father was. I did not know where my boyfriend, Anugrah, was. I did not know how my engagement day became like that. My beautiful green dress changed into black because of the mud from the water. My shoes and jewelry are gone together with the water. Everything was gone because of the water. When I started crying, Aina hugged me. She tried to make me calm. She said to me to remember Allah in my heart.

The water began recede very slowly. I felt like saw a nightmare. I hoped it was only a nightmare. Dozens of dead bodies lied down in front of us. There were dead bodies on the road, on the tree, among a broke boat. I could see dead bodies in everywhere. That was horrible.

We walked down to the road. We were aghasted after saw the house condition. My house was broken like the mirror which hit me. I cannot describe in words the view of my house and around it. Everything, anything was terrible. I instructed my mother and sisters to stay around the house while Iqbal and I tried to find my father.

As we were passing ruins of buildings and severely damaged houses, I witnessed the deads being pulled out of the wreckage right before my eyes. Some women were crying over the bodies of their beloved husbands and children, but some could only stare and watch in silence. They kept whispering the names of their loved ones, wishing they could revive them. Honestly, I did the same thing with them. I called my father and Anugrah in my heart. Not far from where I stood at the time, I saw a pile of bodies crushed by the roof of the house. My heart beated so fast. I asked my courage to stay with me for a while. I slowly began to get closer and to open one by one the roof tiles that afflicts the dead bodies. My soul seemed gone with the tsunami, when I saw two beloved people were among the corpse. Iqbal approached behind me. His eyes showed that he stunned looking my father and anugrah's dead bodies in front of us. He did not say anything. His feet slowly walked and he ran back to my mother who waited the information from us. I remembered Iqbal’s face when he cried as long as he ran. He might be thought about his responsibility in the future because Allah has chosen him to be the leader in my family since that day.

When my family gathered again. We hold each other and promised in heart to save our family, to love each and anyone more than before. My mother wiped my tears and said, “allow him, allow him”. We were both abandoned by our beloved men. I lost my fiance on my engagement day.

1. All of information about tsunami was picked from these website.

http://shofiqsula.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/saksi-tsunami-di-meulaboh/

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gempa_bumi_Samudra_Hindia_2004

2. The names of the characters and the story of the engagement day were a fiction.