The Secret Billionaire

Chapter 38

ERIS

"That's amazing, Elijah!" I clapped, and he giggled. He had just finished explaining his game in his cute baby voice, and I looked up at Alana.
"How do you understand him?" She asked me.
"I don't, but when I don't say anything, he keeps pulling and asking for me," I laughed.
"I'm going to grab water. Do you want anything?" She stood up, and I shook my head.
She walked away to the kitchen, and I looked down at Elijah. There was a loud explosion, and then the building started shaking.
"Alana!" I grabbed Elijah and covered his head. Stuff started falling, shattering all over the floor. I made my way to the kitchen as best as possible and saw Alana holding Emma under the table.
"Stay down!" She yelled. I held Elijah down, and the rumbling stopped. I looked up, and we both stayed still for a few seconds.
"Was that an earthquake?" I asked, and she shook her head.
"I don't know," She looked down at Emma and stood up. She walked over to me and examined Elijah.
"Should we call Nathan?" I asked her. He and Mathew left for their secret meeting. They kept postponing it for a long time and had to do it today. There was a phone ringing from the living room.
"That's probably them,"
Elijah started crying, and I attempted to calm him down.
"Are you okay?" I asked, and Alana nodded. We walked to the living room, where she sat on the couch. I stepped over the broken glass carefully and picked up my phone.
"Hello?"
"Eris? Are you guys okay?"
"Yes, there is a lot of-"
"Hello?"
"Can you hear me?"
"Eris!"
"Nathan? We are still here,"
The line went dead, and I looked at the blank screen.
"What happened?" Alana asked.
"It was Nathan, but the line cut off," I placed my phone down, and Elijah started getting squirmy.
"I can't let you down. There is glass everywhere. You can get hurt," I tried calming him down.
"Should we go to the lobby? I don't think it's safe to be this high up," Alana suggested.
"We don't know what happened. What if it's worse? We might have to wait for the boys here,"
"Eris, we don't know what it was. All I know is that we need to get lower just in case this worsens," She said, and I nodded. I grabbed my phone, even though it might not work, and a throw blanket. Alana did the same, and we headed down the stairs.
"This is going to take forever," I groaned.
"It's safer than the elevator," She pointed out.
We began making our way down. Other people got the same idea and went down the stairs. There were some pushing and running through. There was screaming from the lower floors, and I looked back at Alana. I fixed the blanket over Elijah's head and held his head down.
"Stay close," I said, and she nodded.
"Someone call an ambulance! He's bleeding!"
"My leg hurts!"
"Please, someone help me!"
We walked by a lot of people. Some were injured, and others rushed to get out of the building. We kept walking, and I saw someone on the floor. He pulled on my pant, and I looked down. He looked terrified and in so much pain. I looked back at Alana and let Elijah down.
"What are you doing?" Alana panicked.
"I need to help him. He's frightened," I peeked under the blanket and smiled at Elijah. "Stay here next to your mommy, okay? Do not take the blanket off, no matter what you hear. You understand that?" He nodded, and Alana grabbed his hand. She sat down next to him and pulled them close. I turned my attention to the man on the floor and bent down to his level.
"Sir? What hurts?" He lifted his shirt, and a large piece of glass was impaled on his side. "Okay, can you stand up?" He tried to get up, but he groaned in pain.
"Place your hand under it. Keep the glass in place. As much as it hurts, it has to stay there, or you could bleed out," He nodded, and another man passing by stopped next to us.
"I can take him down," He offered and lifted the injured man off the floor.
"Thank you so much," I smiled at him, and they went down.
"Let's go," I picked up Elijah and continued walking. The lower in floors we got, the more crowded it was.
"I need the blanket!"Someone yelled and attempted to pull it away from me.
"Wait, no!" He pulled it off of me, and Elijah looked around. "Sir!" He used it to cover his baby and ran away. There were people with blood and yelling all over the place. I didn't want him to see any of it.
"Elijah, you must keep your head and your eyes closed. Just like hide and seek, okay?" He nodded and placed his head on my shoulder. There was another rumbling, and everyone panicked. I laid low and protected Elijah's head, ensuring Alana was always okay.
"This isn't an earthquake, is it?" She yelled over the crowd. I shook my head and felt myself being pushed away from her.
"We need to stay close!" I yelled at her.
"Fire!" Someone shouted. I looked up and saw the stairwell filled with smoke from above. In a second, I was squished between people. I turned away when I saw someone falling through the middle and heard a distant thump.
"Eris!" Alana yelled. She was pushed away from my sight, and I began to freak out.
A lot of people were falling and screaming. Going down the stairs was getting difficult. I would trip on my feet, and people kept pulling on my shirt.
"Mommy?" Elijah picked up his head, and I put my hand over him. "Mommy?!" He cried.
"Right now, we will find your mom, okay? We need to get out of here," I told him. The ones falling over the railings were hanging on for their life. I could see the light from outside finally coming into view, and I looked back to see if I could find Alana. We finally arrived at the lobby, and everyone tried to run out of the building.
"Alana?!" I looked around, clutching onto Elijah. "Alana?!"
Tears were brimming in my eyes. I couldn't see her through the herd of people. What if she fell? What if she was trampled over and hurt? I had to go back and check on her.
"Eris!" I heard someone yell my name. I turned around and saw Mathew running over to us. I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I heard a creaking sound, and I looked at the ceiling. There was a large crack, and I looked back at him.
"Mathew, stop!" I saw the panic flash in his eyes before the ceiling collapsed in front of me.