The storm that found me

It’s dark.

It’s very dark.

Am I dead?

No, I can't be dead.

I go to pinch myself just to make sure.

I can’t move.

My body is stuck.

I feel a heavy weight on me. It’s heavy everywhere. I can’t see, I’m not even sure I can hear and there's no noise.

I'm floating in space.

I try thinking back in my memory, but I can’t remember how I got here. Maybe I’m dreaming.

“This can’t be real life,”I think to myself.

A flash comes to me. I can picture the T.V.

Before everything happened.

It was on the news. My town was filled with swirls of purple, red, green, blue every color you can think of. What did that mean? There was an alarm. So loud. Like a ringing in my ears. Maybe a siren. I couldn’t control my body. I was shaking.

Scared.

At that moment I was scared.

There was someone next to me but I couldn't see their face, it was all blurry.

Trying to chase this memory, I close my eyes and squint.

I think I’m closing my eyes.

I can tell it’s a male, with curly brown hair. Almost the color of bark on a tree. His face was yelling at me. Telling me to do something. But I continued to sit there trembling. The sirens were getting louder and louder. The weather outside was getting bad, I felt it. The ground was shaking.

Me and the ground were the same.

Screaming, I heard screaming. In the midst of all the loud noise, the screams were muffed, but there. Who was it? I looked to see where the mean man went. I think he was gone. Did he leave me there?

Then he appeared again. Running towards me. He scooped me up into his arms and carried me down the stairs.

Did the mean man do this to me? Yelled at me, pulled me downstairs, and buried me.

He sat me down in a closet and spoke.

“I’ll be right back”

“If anything happens I love you”

“Can you hear me?”

“Grace?!”

“Grace?!”

Who’s grace? Why was he calling me that?

It sounds familiar, like I’ve heard it before.

He took my hand and squeezed it. Maybe he wasn’t mean.

Before I knew it he closed the door. I was all by myself. It was dark. Just like it is now.

A new sound flooded my ears.

Rumbling, like a bowling ball rolling down the alley, then crashing into the pins.

Next it was glass shattering, almost like plates falling to the ground.

Everything was shaking, the floor, the walls, the shelves next to me, the ceiling above me.

It wasn’t safe there. I should have left. But I didn’t move.

My memory goes blank, and I’m back in the void again.

I wonder what happened between then and now for me to end up here.

I try moving again, but I can't.

I feel crushed, like my arms are pinned down on either side of me.

My head is pounding.

I see light.

The faintest sliver of light is shining in my eyes.

Where is it coming from?

I can’t be dead if I see light right?

This light is the only thing around me that feels secure. All the pain hurts me, maybe even that scary man hurt me, but this light gives me hope. Among my situation, and in that little light, is the only thing I have to fight for.

“Grace!”a voice shouts from what sounds on top of me. I can hear.

Sounds familiar.

“Grace, can you hear me?!” This time it was more timid, quiet, maybe more sincere.

“Grace please!” Says the voice. Is it crying? What happened to Grace to make the voice cry? Maybe Grace was lost, and the voice was trying to find her. I felt lost too.

Grace is familiar. I know Grace, at least I think I do.

Instead of trying to figure out who Grace is, maybe this voice can help me. Maybe it’s coming from the light.

I try to move. Nothing.

I try to speak. Nothing.

There’s no way out. I’m stuck in the darkness.

I try to scream again, I’m trying my hardest but no sound is coming out. I try again, and again and again. Nothing.

I hear more and more voices. More people calling for Grace.

Am I Grace? I can’t be Grace, I would know my name.

“Grace please tell me you're in there safe” the voice says again. But it’s not stern anymore. It’s quieter. More heart wrenching. It’s crying. Definitely crying this time. The voice in the light really must care about Grace.

Does the voice care about me too?

I wanted to shout, “Yes here I am, I’m not Grace but I’ll help you look!”

I just wanted help. I wanted to get out of this void. Maybe Grace was stuck in the void with me.

I feel more pressure on me, and at the same time I hear more voices. I try to scream again. Nothing comes out.

I give up.

I keep my eye on the light. The only thing left I have that tells me I’m still alive.

If I see the light, I’m still here.

“Grace, if you can hear us, we're going to get you out of there” a new voice says. It’s also coming from the light. It’s deeper and more stern than the other.

I try to scream for help again. I’m not Grace but I need help, and I don’t want to be in the void. Maybe they can help me get out.

I hear something. So faint. So faint I don't even know if I’m really hearing it. And I hear a little jingle too. It’s coming from the light.

“Hey boss! Cosmo has something!” A voice said.

Cosmo found something, Cosmo found something, Cosmo found something.

Hopefully Cosmo found me.

More sounds and more voices circle around me. The pressure was so intense, It’s getting hard to breathe. But I keep trying.

The void started shaking. The loudest noise is on top of me. Is it coming to end my misery? What about the light?

Maybe this sound will put me at peace. I need peace.

I keep my eyes on the light. As much as I want peace, I want to live. I want to live with peace.

The light is my only hope.

The light is getting bigger. Little by little I see more and more light. It’s so bright and shining in my eyes. But I’m so grateful the light is trying to save me.

“He got her!” someone shouts.

“Really! Chief, are you sure it’s her?” The voice says. It was the first voice that I heard earlier. But I thought he was looking for Grace.

Am I Grace?

One moment I’m looking at a tunnel of light, and the next it expands into a void.

But this time not a dark one. It’s a void filled with light. It’s so bright, and I feel the warmth on my face. It feels so good. I see multiple black and blurry figures appear above me.

Who are they? Is Cosmo there, I want to thank him for finding me.

“Oh Grace, oh my goodness I thought I lost you” the voice says. The familiar one.

Maybe I am Grace. But wouldn’t I know my own name?

Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace.

I’ve heard it before. At least I think I have.

I try to ask. But only a faint sigh comes out.

“No no no, you don’t need to try and speak, just try to stay still okay?” someone says. I look around with my eyes, at the group of people who are above me. They’re all staring down at me, some of their faces filled with relief, and some with concern.

I recognize the mean man from before. The one with brown hair. He looks more familiar now, now that I can see his face. His bright blue eyes are staring back and me and his tanned skin is basking in the sun. There are tears on his eyes, dried up. Why was he crying?

He cares about me?

Why did he yell at me? What was that for? I remember. Or at least I think I do. He shoved me in a closet. How could he care about me.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The muffled sound of people talking, keyboards clicking, and many other noises fill my ears.

Where am I?

I try to open my eyes, and this time it works, and leaves me staring at the ceiling.

Quickly, people stand at my side. People, who I think are doctors, are swarmed around me like bees on a hive, taking measurements, reading vitals and ordering others to do more technical things my mind can’t comprehend.

“Grace? Grace, can you hear me?” One of them says,

I want to answer, but I know I can’t.

I'll try anyway.

And this time miraculously it works.

A slight noise came out of my mouth, when I tried to say the only word I knew.

Grace.

“Great great, everything is looking up” I hear.

“Do you know where you are, or what happened?" Someone asks

“Uh n-no”

A man rushes in.

The mean man. Again. Why was he always there.

“Is she awake?!”

“Yes yes, don’t worry Noah, she’s going to be alright”

“Oh thank goodness!”

Noah. Noah. Noah.

That sounds familiar. Do I know Noah?

The man that walked in, that’s Noah. And also the mean man who yelled at me.

I know him.

At least I did before.

He swiftly came over my bed, and pushed the hair in my face so it rested on my head instead.

“Grace, oh Grace, I didn’t know if we’d even find you let alone that you’d recover!” He said.

Ok, I’m recovering. Recovering from being in the void? Was that it? He was the one who put me there. Who is this man? I build up the strength I have in my lungs to ask.

“Noah? Do I know you?” I said.

Immediately his face dropped. His smile from just a second ago was long gone, and replaced with utter disbelief.

He looked up to the doctors and they assured him that this was expected considering the condition I was found in.

He looked back to me and tried to look deeper into my eyes, but I’m not letting him. Tears start to run down his face. His hands are in the railing to my bed, and he hangs his head, and his body started to quiver. Why was he shaking? Did I hurt him?

“I’m sorry,” I start to say before I was cut off.

“No, no” he says deeply inhaling he continues, “it’s not your fault don’t worry about it,” he assures me.

More hours have gone by, although I don’t know how many, I can tell it’s been a while. The light that was in my window before was long gone and I was left in darkness. Left in the darkness with my and my thoughts.

There’s a T.V across from me hung up on the wall. I look around and find the remote and turn it on. It automatically goes to the local news station, so I listen in.

“Silver pine residents are devastated at this damage, look at the aftermath this storm has left, we have Dan Calloway at the scene”one lady says before the camera switches to a man at the horrible scene.

“Yeah, as you can see behind me there is a long way to go in the clean up in this town. Residents are lucky to be alive, there have been 20 casualties so far, numbers to rise, the police department are still looking for missing persons. Earlier today Grace Vanderhigh was discovered in critical condition and was rushed to the hospital…”

Grace. Grace. Grace

I’m Grace.

I remember.

I stop listening to the man and I start looking at was was going on in the background. It looks like a street that should have big houses on it, with kids playing in the yard, and grandparents sitting on the porch. But it’s all just ruble. People walking on it with trash bags looking for special things, and others crying to police officers. One person catches my eye, a young man who was sitting on the curb with his head in his hands. His curly down hair was messy and forgotten about.

I know him.

He was at my side a couple of hours ago, so why is he on the T.V?

Why would he go there?

Something came up in my mind, as if someone inserted a memory in my head.

Me and him were eating dinner at a table. There was no big light outside that I could see, for the only sources of light were the candle, and the dimmed chandelier. He was smiling, rocking back and forth laughing, so loud. And I was laughing too. There was a bouquet of fresh flowers that filled the room with the sweet and delicate scent of fresh flowers that I absolutely adored.

“Ah, I love you Grace Vanderhigh” he said amidst his laughs.

I replied, “I love you Noah Withrup”.

I loved him?

I snapped back to reality. Thinking about what I just remembered, leaves me puzzled. I love him, but I don’t remember him. I must be his girlfriend, but why can’t I remember him. It makes me feel bad, on how I made him cry. He’s the only person that has a relationship with me right now. No one else knows me like he does I’m assuming. Putting my full trust into what he says and does is risky, because I really don’t know him, but it’s my only option. Either that or be alone, and being alone scares me.

Just then, there’s a knock at the door.

“Come in” I say.

Noah peeks his head through the crack in the doorway.

“Hey, hon- Grace” he said stuttering. He looked nervous and also really tired.

“Noah can I ask you something?” I ask

“Yea of course you can, of course” he says slowly walking over. He notions the the end of my bed, and I nod, giving him permission to sit.

“Can you tell me what happend? I know your important to me, and I know that Cosmo found me. What storm came through the town? Just tell me everything?” I take a breath because that was a lot of words that just flew out of my mouth considering yesterday I couldn’t even make a sound.

He puts his hand on my leg and starts explaining everything.

“Well, there was a storm, a really big one. A tornado hit our town. We were watching the news for updates waiting to go into shelter. Once the sirens blared you stopped, you didn't move, speak or anything. So I tried to find the safest place possible for you to be. And I thought of the basement closet.” He looks down and takes another big breath.

“Nico, our dog, didn't follow me down and I could feel the tornado shaking the house and knew I didn’t have enough time to save him and come back to you. So I closed the door in hopes you would be okay. I squeezed me and Nico in the bathroom because that was the only place in our house without windows at that point.” He finished.

He wasn’t a mean man. He was trying to get into my head. He didn’t lock me in the basement. He saved my life.

But he then continued, “I’m so sorry Grace, for everything. I shouldn’t have left you, and I was thinking to myself while I was hunched over basically waiting to die, that I could never live without you. I was scared for me but mostly I was scared for you.” He was crying now, and without even realizing it my hand was on his hand. I didn’t mean for it to happen , but I just knew he needed comfort.

This felt normal.

“It’s not your fault” I said to help him out.

“You did the right thing, and I’ll thank you everyday for the rest of my life that you put me in that basement trying to protect me. It was scary but look how it turned out.”

I lifted his hand and pointed to him, "you're okay,” then moved our conjoined hands to me, “and I’m okay. We are both still here and that’s a miracle.” I was crying now. His free hand was at his eye wiping away tears, and sobbing silently, trying to look at me, but also trying to hide his overwhelming emotion. I open my arms to offer him a hug, and he takes it. He scoots up on the bed coming closer to me, and wraps me in his arms. He almost hugged the breath out of me, but I knew he needed it.

“Hey Noah?” I say.

“Yea, Grace?”

“I know I’m confused, but I’ll come back to you I promise”