Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
The closer I got, the more scared I became.
I’d heard over the radio after we’d dropped the patients off at the hospital that there’d been two tornadoes touch down in our small town.
One of which had been right in front of us. The other had touched down about a mile south, right around the hospital, fire station, school and the daycare where Elise was.
Even more cars were over turned, these having not been seen by medical professionals.
People littered the street, assessing the damage.
Glass and debris were strewn this way and that.
Somewhere along the way, I’d lost the other guys.
They’d stopped to help others, and I’d kept going, knowing I needed to get to the daycare.
And I knew why my subconscious was urging me on moments later when I saw the building.
“Oh, holy shit,” I moaned. My belly dropped at the sight before me.
The daycare had been hit hard.
Not by a tornado, though, but by a large transformer collapsing.
Right in the middle of the building.
Live wires popped and snapped, and it took everything I had in me not to run toward the building.
Pulling the mic at my shoulder close to my face, I whispered past the ball of grief that’d formed in my throat.
“I need the power shut off to Lazy Lane. There’s a power transformer in the middle of a daycare.”
“10-4,” the dispatcher said, all business.
Had her voice sounded higher than normal?
I didn’t know, and I didn’t have time to ascertain whether or not she’d comprehended the severity of the situation.
The closer I got to the building, the easier it was to hear the crying.
Tons of crying.
Not just one, but multiple children were still alive inside, and I closed my eyes and prayed that everything would be okay.
That Elise was okay.
This day had turned out to be my worst nightmare come true.
***
Angie
“Hey,” Jade called. “Look at the TV. That’s one of our firefighters, isn’t it?”
I couldn’t help myself. Despite not liking the woman, and hating that she made me look, I rotated my body to look at the screen.
And my heart nearly dropped out of my chest at the sight before me.
“That’s Bowe,” I exhaled in surprise.
I didn’t stop to think that everyone that was surrounding me knew him as ‘Mr. Tannenbaum’ from class. Nor did I think how that would make me sound as I addressed him as Bowe instead of his proper name as our teacher.
My eyes started to take in the surroundings that the camera crew for the news station we were on was capturing.
“A firefighter came to check on his daughter and found this when he arrived on scene,” the reporter was saying into the TV. “It’s not apparent at this time what the status of those inside are, but we should find out shortly. The power company was just now able to get the grid shut down for this area, and now firefighters are working diligently to pull survivors free of the debris.”
The glass vial in my hand fell to the floor and shattered.
Chapter 19
Let me make this simple. I want to be invited, but I don’t want to go.
-Women logic
Angie
“That’s not good enough!” I snapped. “Tell me everything. I need to know if she’s going to be okay.”
“Angie…” Bowe placed his hand on my shoulder.
I viciously yanked my shoulder away from him and glared.
“Don’t touch me,” I hissed.
He stepped back like I’d burned him.
Alec, always the one to soothe my fits of temper, came up then and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.
“She’s fine, Angie,” Alec whispered gruffly. “She’s just sleeping.”
I sat by my daughter’s bedside, thanking God once again that this hadn’t been worse.
She could be dead like the teacher in her class.
“She’s fine,” the doctor was saying. “Right now, we’re just going to keep her for observation. She’ll likely get released tomorrow morning if everything goes as planned.”
The doctor was incredibly nice and I felt terrible for snapping at him earlier.
But my rational brain was gone the moment I walked up on where we’d dropped my baby off earlier in the day only to find her on a fucking stretcher strapped down with another girl next to her.
“If there aren’t any other questions,” the doctor stood from his perch against the counter of our small room. “I’m going to go do my rounds.”
I held out my hand.
“Thank you,” I whispered to him. “I wish we’d met under better circumstances.”
The doctor smiled kindly.
“As do I, dear. As do I.” He gave me a tremulous smile and patted my shoulder, then left the room.
“She looks great, considering,” my mother said, breaking the silence. “That could’ve been ten times worse.”
I gave my mother a look.
“It was worse. You didn’t hear about the other two little girls in her class, as well as her teacher, Ms. Sarah.” I took a deep breath. “The two girls are seriously injured. Ms. Sarah died trying to protect the three little girls from the roof caving in.”