Short Stories

Rain water

We were used of heavy rain. Louisiana was known for flooding and hurricanes. It wasn't unusual to see a flash flood warning on your phone. Then there was flooding in Peru. The city of Loreto and some surrounding areas had pouring rain for days. They were not ready for anything, of course. The internet was bombarded with posts about the storm. Videos of the floods and pictures of the panic were spread across social media. The thing that made everyone afraid, though, was that everyone in the storm had gone missing before the rain stopped.

Rescue teams searched the debris and only found hints of the people that were supposed to be there. No bodies, no animals, and surprisingly no pictures were found. And no one knew what actually happened, even months after the researchers investigating this event as well.

It happened again a month later in New Zealand. The same floods, the same disappearances. People started to panic. Then it was Nigeria and Cuba 3 months later, and Australia 2 months later. All the same.

No one knew what was happening. My 6 year old son, David, became terrified of water. Some kids told him the water would kill us. He would fight me during bath time for a while but he eventually got used of it. He's still afraid of water outside, just not tap water. Most people, not just children, are afraid these days. I don't blame them, I'm afraid too.

When the rainy season started up, nothing was unusual. Except for the people worried about the chances of our town disappearing. The weather started picking up, David starting sleeping with me and his dad when it was a rainy night. The rain was normal, it started and stopped and started again like always. One night it started pouring down, and there was clear thundering. David woke up and ran to us as usual. The next morning it was still raining. I could tell Chris was worried, I'm sure he knew I was. We never let David know.

It kept raining. Our street started flooding. At that moment, looking out of the mirror at the darkened skies after the electricity went out for a second time, I knew it was happening to us. I've been in floods before, I drove my uncle's boat done the street to help people out after Katrina. I've never felt like I did at that moment. I was terrified.

We tried to keep the water out with sandbags and towels but soon enough the water came through and our house was flooding. Chris quickly made the decision to take us up on the roof once it got bad enough. David was sobbing as we climbed the latter outside. We sat on the roof holding each other and the bags of supplies we brought with us. The harsh winds hit me with drops of water that stung on my skin.

Then I felt the shaking. The ground wasn't shaking, my senses were. My vision went darker and I felt my lungs vibrating. I couldn't breathe and it felt like my body was being jerked around. I past out.

The sky was grey when I woke up. I felt a brick wall next to me, I was on the ground next to a building. I didn't see Chris or David as I looked around. I also couldn't see any familiar buildings. I started walking down the street I was on with my clothes still soaked and my backpack still on my back. There were some people walking down the street as well, didn't they question why there was someone on the ground?

I looked around more. There were a couple of other people here and there unconscious on the ground the same as me, looking like they packed in a hurry and soaking wet. One man was laying in the middle of the street that was cracked and very old. This was all so strange, and I noticed that the people on the ground are the only things that are wet, everything else is dry. Everything seems old, too. Broken, torn down, or faded.

I walked up to a woman walking out of a grocery store. "Excuse me", I got her attention. "Did you see a little boy with brown hair and a blue shirt around here? Or his dad?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry I haven't. You just got here, right?"

I was a bit surprised by how normal this seemed to her. "There was a storm and-"

"The flood took you here," she finished my sentence. "They should be at the Church." She smiled.

"What happened to us?" I assumed she knew more than me.

"You can ask questions at the church, they might know something." She gave me the directions.

The building was old and worn down, like the rest of the town. It had brick walls and a big, wooden door. The sign in the front had letters carved out saying "Church of Croatoan".

"Mama!" I turned around to see David running towards me followed my Chris.