A Synderella Story

“Daddy, come quick!” Six-year-old Ashlynn Carter sang out to her father across their living room. “The tree’s outside are dancing Daddy, just like Kathleen!” She explained. Little did young Ashlynn realised, she was witnessing the famous 1994 California earthquake.

Not knowing what his daughter was talking about, Andrew Carter at thirty-five years of age came to sit next to his daughter. On a pile of red cushions under a very large window, he glanced out and noticed several small trees were in fact ‘dancing’ like his daughters hero’s on TV, Hi-5.

It wasn’t long before larger trees began to sway. The swing in their backyard started to move on its own and in that second he felt the floor shake beneath their feet. As Ashlynn looked up to her father all she saw was fear and fright. She knew something was wrong.

Andrew and Ashlynn had failed to move and brace themselves. Whether it was shock, nervous or fear that was keeping them from moving, it was soon broken when a chandelier a mere ten feet away came crashing to the ground, shattering everywhere. Ashlynn screamed at the top of her lungs when a piece of broken glass cut her across the face.

The sound of his daughters’ scream made Andrew take charge. Standing up, he tore the cover of a red cushions and handed it to his daughter to place over her cut cheek. He lifted her from the ground and placed her in a doorframe. Andrew had not thought about his wife, Michaela, until he heard her scream.

At precisely 1.47pm, Michaela Carter felt the ground beneath her feet begin to shake. She was standing in the kitchen of her husbands’ modern two story, four-bedroom home when she heard the sound of shattering glass and her stepdaughters scream.

Placing the knife she held on the counter top, she moved to the doorframe of the kitchen, holding one side of the counter and the wall for support. She braced herself for the worse. Michaela was worried about her daughter. She tried to poke her head around the corner and yell out to Andrew when the knife slipped off the counter and landed on her foot.

In the heat of the moment Andrew turned to face a worried and scared six year old. “Ashlynn, you have to promise Daddy something,” he said cupping her face in his hands. “You have to stay here while Daddy goes to check on Mommy.”

Ashlynn’s eyes began to widen at the thought of her father leaving her. She began to shake her head, gripping onto his shirt and trying to pull him closer. “No Daddy. You can’t. Please!” She begged.

“I’m sorry baby, but I have to. Mummy needs me. Can you let me do this? For Mummy, please?” It was all Ashlynn could do but nod as her father grabbed her hand and begged her to let him go. She reached her hand out to its maximum length just to keep hold for that bit longer as he told her he loved her.

“I love you too Daddy. Promise me you’ll come back?” She said after him. You could hear the distress in her voice as her father turned around to assure her he’d be back.

As Andrew looked down at his daughter he considered taking the few steps back to be by her side again. Although she still held the red fabric up against her cheek and the cut wasn’t very deep, he didn’t want to leave his little girl when she was hurt. He knew she’d be okay though, where he wasn’t sure about his wife. “I promise,” he said with a smile.

Just as the words left Andrew’s mouth and made Ashlynn feel slightly at peace, another chandelier was awaiting its death and came crashing down to the ground directly above where he stood. Letting out her second scream for today, Ashlynn broke her promise to her father and ran to his side. She wiped bits of glass off his chest as blood gashed out his forehead and tears rolled down her cheeks.

“No Daddy, no!” Ashlynn yelled at the top of her voice.

After hearing her daughter scream for the second time, Michaela ran as fast as she could and saw a scene she wished she wouldn’t. She scooped Ashlynn up in her arms and moved them both to a safe place. Michaela got down on her knee’s as her daughter hugged her and sobbed into her shoulder. “Daddy will be fine baby,” she told her over and over again. “Daddy will be fine.”

Daddy was not fine. On July 1st, 1994 at 1:51pm, Andrew Carter took his last breath.

Notes