Confused Love

Chapter 11

Mom, Dad, Connor, and I stand behind the rope as we wave bye to Grandma. A few minutes before she left, she gave Connor and me each a giant wad of money. I'm not sure she knows that our parents do the same every year. But we still hug her and say our thanks. We're not super sad to see her go but we do care for her. I mean she just lost her husband. We make sure that our uncle in New York will take care of her when she arrives. She does have many butlers but it's always good to have a family member with you.

We drive up to our home and Mom immediately walks in to pack for another case somewhere out of Cali. I sigh as I watch my mom and dad pack their things and start calling a bunch of people. Connor and I sit at the couch with Bear in between us. Connor flips out the envelope of money and starts counting the bills. He raises his eyebrows.

"Five hundred dollars. Grandma gave us five hundred dollars."

I also raise my eyebrows and whistle low but I'm not very surprised. Grandma always gives us wayy too much money. Bear drops his head on my lap, looking at my bagel with puppy dog eyes. Connor turns on the TV. It's automatically set to news.

"Scientists noticed a sudden movement under our Earth's crust in the West Coast. We may or may not be hit by a minor earthquake tonight. Please stay indoors and follow safety precautions."

Connor sighs, "It's going to be a rough night, Bear. You'll be ok."

My phone vibrates. It's a call. I pull my phone out of my pocket and answer it quickly.

"Hello?"

"Erin, it's Susan. Can you come over to the shelter? We need help prepping the cages and rooms to keep the animals safe."

I stand up and mouth to Connor that I'll be back soon.

"Yeah, yeah, totally. I'll be there in five."

"Thanks so much Erin. We'll be sure to be done before the earthquake hits."

I hang up.

Connor stand up and turns off the TV.

"Erin, what are you thinking? You can't go out."

I slip on my shoes and grab a light jacket.

"I need to, the cages at the shelter needs to be taken care of."

Connor pets Bear who's starting to get nervous.

"Ok. Go, but make sure to answer my texts ok. Be safe and don't you dare come home late."

I smile, touched that Connor cares, "Ok Connor. Thanks. And I will, I promise."

I open the door and step in my car and drive to the shelter as quickly as I can.

–––––––––––

I close the door to the shelter and rush to the back where the cats are. Luca, Susan, Rhoda, and a bunch other employees are there setting down the cages that were stacked on top of each other on the ground. Rhoda looks up.

"Erin! You're here. Good. Come, we need all hands on deck."

I step over some cages and help take down the higher cages and set them down. We move on to the dogs and join some dogs together to help them ease each other's stress.

After securing all the rooms, the employees start taking a couple puppies and kittens with them to go back home. Rhoda and Susan stay behind a little longer to take more dogs and cats with them then return home. Before Susan leaves she tosses Luca car keys.

"There still some puppies down by the beach. You need to get them before the earthquake hits."

Luca nods and we both rush to the car. When we arrive to the beach there's no one there. It's a strange sight, seeing the beach empty. Luca walks down the road.

"C'mon, I think there here somewhere."

I shake the bag of treats and a small little husky puppy waddles out of a bush.

Luca gasps and does the same. One other puppy comes out then another. Soon we each have our hands full with two squirming puppies. We quickly take them into the car and drive to Dog House. We arrive at Dog House and pick up a couple supplies for the puppies. Luca glances at the clock.

"You think you can take a couple puppies with you back home? We can't keep them here on their own."

I'm panting from running to the building, "Yeah, I can do that."

Luca starts handing me little bottles of milk and small towels for the puppies. I look at him.

"Luca, all the windows are shielded in the rooms, right?"

Luca looks panicked for a second but it falls quickly, "Oh my god you scared me. Yeah, they are."

I shift the puppies in my arm and hug Luca tightly, trying not to squeeze the puppies.

"Stay safe."

We walk towards the Dog House door when we feel the ground tremble beneath us.

Luca's eyes widen. I rush to the door, lock it grab hold of Luca's hand. I run to the corner of the room. I drag a large table to the corner and pull Luca to the corner with me. The meows and howls start erupting from the rooms. My heart shatters at the heartbreaking sounds. Luca and I are shoved in a corner underneath a large desk, shoulder by shoulder, gripping each other's hands and the puppies in our arms.

Luca breathes heavily and looks at me in surprise, "Thanks Erin. I think you saved our asses."

I pant and look back at him, "I-it's ok. Just instincts I guess..."

My phone is dining like crazy. We whip out our phones and start texting our parents that we're in shelter.

Connor is so upset and worried but I try to calm him by saying that I'm alright and inside. He keeps texting me nonstop as I type: "I'm ok."

- are you under a table?

- make sure you're away from windows

- keep the breakable stuff away from you

- are you safe?

I reply to all his texts and stow away my phone. The ground shakes even more violently and the lights start to flicker. The puppies start squealing in confusion and the barks and meows just get louder and more frantic. I wrap the two puppies in my arms with a large towel and Luca quickly does the same. I grab hold of Luca as the ground lurches. We hear mugs sliding off tables and shattering. Windows start to crack and a branch breaks through one. In the distance we hear a tree creaking and cracking loudly. Luca hugs me and I hug him back. We both tremble slightly in each other's arms. The puppies squirm about and yap in fear. Luca squeezes me tighter.

"This doesn't feel like a mild earthquake.."

I jump slightly as I hear something over our heads shatter.

"I know. I think it's stronger than they expected."

Luca and I sit huddled together with the four puppies hearing the windows and lights break around us and the dog's howls and cat's yowls. We hope and hope the dogs and cats are alright and they don't get hurt. After what felt like an hour, the rumbling stops. We sit for a couple minutes after the ground settles. Luca almost laughs.

"Oh my god! It's over! We're ok!"

I laugh nervously but we don't get up yet. I turn to hug him.

"We're ok Luca! We're-"

Then suddenly my words are cut off by loud crashing of a the building from above our head.