It was August 24th, 74 AD and I was walking in the streets of Pompeii with my two best friends, Cornelius and Silvia. We were on our way to the stadium to watch the gladiators fight. That day Spartacus was fighting against Marcus Licinius Crassus. That was going to be the battle of a lifetime. We ran to the stadium, and pushed our way inside. We knew if we didn’t get there early, we wouldn't get a seat.
I looked up to the time to tell what time it was, and it was about nine in the morning. As I walked into the stadium, I saw how crowded it already was. Almost everyone in Pompeii was in the stadium already. It amazes me that everyone shows up about two hours early just to watch the fight.
We ran through the stadium to find our seats. We wanted one that wasn't too close that we couldn't see, but wasn't too high that we couldn't hear. We raced around the stadium until we found a good one.
Once we had gotten our seats, we wanted to get something to eat. Cornelius stayed to hold our seats as Silvia and I ran to get the food and drinks. We waited in line for a while, but once we got to the front, it only took us minutes to get our olives and fried mice. We also got a cup of water for the each of us. We raced back to Cornelius so the food didn't get cold. Fried mice was only good when it was hot. We got back to Cornelius and gave him his fried mice, olives, and water.
As I bit into my steaming hot fried mice, the flavor exploded into my mouth. It was the best fried mice I have ever had! The olives were sweet and tangy like always, and the water as refreshing as always. As I finished my food, I heard a commotion. The fight was starting!!!
The crowd roared to life as Spartacus entered the ring on the right side, and Marcus Licinius Crassus entered from the left side. Minutes after they entered the ring, they were fighting. I've never seen a match like that before. Two great gladiators fighting until there would be only one standing. Right from the beginning there was blood drawn, and that didn't end there. They were truly going to fight until one of them would drop over dead. If they both walked away standing then they would be a disgrace to their family and even worse, the city of Pompeii.
As the fight went on I looked up to the sky. The sky was a soft blue, and the sun was a bright and vibrant yellow. The birds were flying in the horizon over the tall Mount Vesuvius. That mountain was green most of the way to the top, besides some that was black as the night. For some reason, nothing ever grew that high on the mountain. I zoned out staring at the sky, only to be shaken by Silvia. I looked at her confused for a moment, then looked back into the ring. There was so much blood and dust.
“What were you looking at?” she asked me
“Oh, I was just checking to see what time it should be.” I tell her
“Oh okay. What time is it?”
“It's about one.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks.” she says.
We took our attention back to the fight when all a sudden there was a loud roar from in the distance. Everyone's head turned to look at Mount Vesuvius, when the ground started to violently shake and tremor. It only lasted a few seconds, but it threw a lot of people to the ground. As everyone started to stand back up, there was another violent shake followed by another. This time everyone was thrown to the ground and carts rolled down the stand as the stadium shocked.
Everyone was looking around trying to figure out what's is going on as they stood up again. As people stood to their feet, there was a loud commotion. Someone is screaming bloody murder pointing to the sky. Head by head followed the direction the finger was pointing, to see a giant black cloud spewing out of Mount Vesuvius.
The black cloud was so thick and dark that you can't even see the blue sky beyond it. The cloud had gotten bigger and bigger. I've never seen anything so big before. It was bigger than our stadium!
“The gods are mad at us!” someone screamed
“Run for your lives!” another yelled
“No! It’ll be okay!” one man claimed
“We are all going t0o die1” a lady yelled
One by one, people started to scatter out of the stadium, running home to reunite with their family. As the people ran home, the cloud only got bigger and bigger, reaching for the sun. as they ran , they earth got dark, fast. The cloud swallowed the sun!
I ran out of the stadium and towards my house. The only thing on my mind was my family. As I reached my house, I saw my mom standing at the door. I into my mom's arms as she held me tight.
“I was so worried about you!” she cried
“Mom what is going on?” I asked her
“I don't know baby, but don't worry about it. Just come inside, and everything will be okay,” she told me
“Alright,” I said, believing her
We went into the house to wait out the black cloud, that covered up the world. Mom closed the doors and windows to the house, to keep the thick cloud out. Once everything was closed up, we sat together as a family, waiting for this to all be over.
As time passed, we heard a sound outside. It was like a small tapping noise. We heard it on the roof, and hitting the doors and windows. We went to the door, opening so we can see out. When we looked out the door, we saw little pebbles falling from the sky.
“The sky is falling mommy…” I said pointing up to the sky
“Get inside baby. The gods are mad at us and now they are punishing us.”
We got back into the house, locking ourselves inside. We moved to the middle of the house, making sure we were nowhere near the windows and doors. We cowered together, hoping the gods would end the punishment soon.
As the day went on, the pebbles became bigger, and came heavy, and trapped us inside the house. We could no longer open the doors or windows. The air in the room started to get thick, and it became harder to breath. We were in the house for who knows how long, but it seemed like we'd never get out.
“Mom, do you think the house can hold up to the falling stones?”
“Yes baby. Our house is strong. The walls are thick, and the roof is sturdy. We will be fine,” she told me, and I believed her.
I don't know what time it was, since the world around us was dark, and we couldn't get outside, we finally fell asleep.
We woke up to a loud crack. We looked around us not knowing what was going on. We heard another loud crack, when all a sudden the roof gave way. The roof came crashing down on top of us and we had nowhere to run. We screamed in horror as it fell and tried to dodge it, but it was all came down.
I felt a heavy weight on my body, and a sharp pain in my side. I tried to call out to my mom, but i couldn't get any words out. I tried to move, but there was too much weight on me. After struggling for a while, I got really tired. My body started to get cold, and I started to lose feeling in my body. At first I tried to stay awake, but after a little, I couldn't bare it no more. I closed my eyes, and left my life slip away.