The silence after fire

An explosion.

The last thing I remember before the burst of flame was the presence of other people around me. Everyone was laughing, enjoying each other's company, moments before they were all torn mercilessly to shreds.

I remember my palms placed flat against my ears, and him jumping to wrap his arms around me. I remember cuddling against his chest, seeking solace in his scent like it was a physical wall that could protect me.

You don't know what 'loud' is until you hear silence.

It was deafening.

The silence was screaming from within me, threatening to split my head wide open. It was louder than what any concert or clap of thunder could ever be.

I don't recall how long I closed my eyes... I squeezed them so tightly I thought my eyelids would have eventually ripped apart.

I opened them to see everything gone. Pasir Ris, the town where I'd grown up in, nothing but ruin and debris. The grass stained with blood, roads littered with burnt body parts.

I'd closed my eyes with his arms around me. When I opened them, they were still around me.... Just his arms. The rest of him was gone. Whatever had been left of him was a mangled, charred mess with the remains of everyone else.

Everything and everyone was in ashes, and I was the only survivor.

The sound of the explosion completely deafened me, but the silence and still that followed was louder, that it masked even my screams.

I jerked awake from my mattress and released a breath I was unconsciously holding.