The day my life changed began like any other day.
I stayed home and watched our slave Sofia prepare lunch.
Pompeii was a rich city near the mountain Vesuvius.
Most families in Pompeii had three to five slaves.
Our slaves were treated like family, and Sofia was my best friend.
My mother was at the market selling fish, and my father and brothers were fishing.
A little before noon, Sofia and I took lunch to my mother.
The market was crowded, and I didn't want to stay there, so I said, "Mom, Sofia and I will take lunch to Father and my brothers."
My mother looked at me and said, "Go. We're almost finished here."
Sofia and I left. We were both happy to be free of the city.
We walked through the Gate of Neptune and bowed to the god.
It was a short walk from the gate to the marina.
My father's boat wasn't there, so Sofia and I sat on the dock and soaked our feet in the cool waters of the Mediterranean.
Sofia shaded her eyes with one hand and suddenly shouted, "There's your father!"
Sofia and I waited on my father and brothers as they ate, while three slaves took the fish off my father's boat.
"How was the catch?" I asked my father.
"Fair," he replied.
"It's so hot," I said. "I don't want to go back to the city."
"Let's take the boat out and go for a swim in the cooler, deeper water," my brother suggested.
"Can we?" I asked my father.
My father could never say no to me, since I was his youngest and his favorite.
He looked at me and then at my brother.
"Marcus Octavius, you can take Julia and Sofia out, but no fooling around.
I expect you to be back by sunset."
"Thank you, Father," I said.
My brother took us out into the Bay of Naples.
The coastline was beautiful in the sunshine.
My brother dropped the anchor and said, "Let's swim!"
He dove in and then Sofia and I followed.
The water was refreshing and cool.
As we were splashing and playing in the water, we heard a thunderous roar, and the sky became dark.
We couldn't see anything; day had become night.
My brother climbed back into the boat, and he helped Sofia and me get in.
My brother was a good sailor, so he knew where to go even though we couldn't see.
As we got closer to shore, it became harder to breathe.
The air was filled with dust and bad-smelling gases.
We could also see large flaming rocks shooting out of the mountain and a river of red flowing down its side.
Sofia and I held each other and watched.
My brother said, "It's gone! It's all gone!
The marina, the city, our home—it's all gone," he cried out.
"How can you tell?" I asked.
"It all looks so strange, like some awful dream."
"It's gone," he said quietly.
"I use Mount Vesuvius as a guide, but half the mountain is missing, and our city has gone with it."
I held Sofia tighter and cried.
It seemed like it was the end of the world.
My brother turned the boat back out to sea.
The next day, we landed in Sorrento with Vesuvius still smoking and flaming in the background.
Our city was gone, but we remained.
My brother married Sofia and continued to fish.
I married a lemon merchant from Sorrento, but I never forgot the last day of Pompeii.
Mount Vesuvius erupted on August 24, 79 AD.
It destroyed Pompeii and killed most of the twenty thousand people who lived there.
The city disappeared, buried under seven to eight meters of dust, rock, and ash.
After 1,700 years Pompeii was rediscovered, and many of its buildings, monuments, and houses were uncovered and restored.
Today it is a famous tourist attraction.
Pompeii is a reminder to us all of the power of nature.