by Angela Blake
Ashlyn shrugged, and her eyes followed the carpet’s jagged pattern. “I’m fine. I’m not dying or terminally ill. I eat food every day. In comparison to a large majority of the world, I’m amazing.” Putting her problems in that perspective made her feel like a slug for throwing a miniature pity party. What did it matter if Brandon said one thing that wasn’t so nice? She still had a lot to be thankful for.
“I know,” Brandon said, leaning back on the palms of his hands. “Isn’t it crazy how we stress about the stupid stuff every day? Like just now, my argument with Mark.” Brandon closed his eyes and shook his head. “That guy is crazy, but we both got pretty upset about something stupid.” Brandon shrugged. “I didn’t want to drag you into it.”
Ashlyn pursed her lips. “You could have said that without being so harsh.”
“Was I harsh?” Brandon seemed surprised.
Ashlyn wondered if she was simply being too sensitive. Maybe he hadn’t really been that harsh. She didn’t really remember anymore, and it didn’t seem to matter. Finally, Ashlyn just shrugged. “Yeah, a little. I was only trying to help, and I just thought that, I don’t know. It kind of hurt that you didn’t need me.”
Brandon studied Ashlyn seriously for a few minutes. “Okay, let me tell you something about guys. We will love a woman if she lets us, and we will, at least I will, be faithful. But, guys, no matter how much they might like a woman, they don’t want her interfering in the disagreements they have with another man. Would you want me butting in when you’re arguing with Pamela over leaving her dirty clothes on your bed?”
Ashlyn laughed, but she understood Brandon’s point. “I guess I would be pretty irritated.”
Brandon opened his arms to Ashlyn, and she crawled over into his lap. “Sorry,” Brandon said. “But I guess we both learned something, huh?”
“Yeah,” Ashlyn replied, wrapped her arms around Brandon’s neck. “I learned that you still look really cute when you’re upset, and you learned that you better treat me like a lady.”
Brandon leaned forward and gave Ashlyn a quick peck on the cheek. “I already treat you like a lady.”
“Yeah, you do,” Ashlyn agreed. She laid her cheek against Brandon’s chest and wondered if he was thinking about the future. Every night after they had walked down to visit the turtles, Ashlyn had wondered if the two of them together was something that could last. When filming time was over, would he make some sort of effort to see her again? Where would she go? Would she be willing to stay with this man that she had known twelve days?
Chapter Two
As Ashlyn sat in Brandon’s lap, she felt him trembling. Was she really so large that he couldn’t hold her? Ashlyn pulled away from Brandon immediately to stand on the floor, but then she felt that the floor was trembling just the slightest bit.
“Do you feel that?” Ashlyn asked Brandon, looking at him with wide eyes.
Brandon nodded. “I think this hurricane is hitting us in full force.”
Ashlyn took two steps toward the window before Brandon caught her hand. “Where are you going, Ashlyn? You’re supposed to stay away from the windows in a hurricane.”
Ashlyn had never experienced a hurricane before, but Brandon obviously knew everything. “Isn’t that because the wind is so strong? What else are we supposed to do?” Ashlyn remembered watching The Wizard of Oz when she was a kid. Dorothy had been trying to reach a storm cellar. “Shouldn’t we go to the storm cellar?”
Brandon started laughing, and Ashlyn frowned at him. “What? I thought that was what you’re supposed to do.”
“Yeah, if you live somewhere that has firm ground. This house is built high-up. Didn’t you notice? There is room under the house in case the waters rise. If you go under the house, you might drown.”
“Oh,” Ashlyn looked around. “So what do we do?”
“We need to find a small room without any windows that is low down and in the middle of the house. Do you have a flashlight?”
“No,” Ashlyn said. Brandon went into action, taking Ashlyn’s hand and pulling her out of the room.
“That’s okay,” Brandon replied. “I know where some lighting is.” He pulled her along to the living room where a few people were seated calmly while others were running around like scared chickens. Brandon found a few flashlights, and they began walking through the house and finding the only windowless rooms available. People seemed to sense the leadership in Brandon and automatically followed him.
Some people calmly followed “psshawing” the thought of anything actually happening to them. There were two rooms. One was a bathroom, and the other was an empty coat closet. Brandon and Ashlyn got put in the bathroom. As everyone crowded in, Ashlyn began to get this sick feeling in her stomach. It was like she had to go to the bathroom, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to do that in privacy for a long time. Besides, if they couldn’t flush, the bathroom would start to smell.
The floor seemed to tremble again. The wind made a loud whistling sound, and Ashlyn heard something break off in the distance. She sat on the floor next to the sink and waited as Brandon herded the last occupant into the bathroom. There were nine people in the bathroom, and everyone was squished up against each other. Brandon passed out three flashlights and closed the door.
Just as he did that, the electricity started flickering. On, off, on, off. After thirty seconds of flickering, it went off and stayed off. One by one, the flashlights clicked on. “Let’s just turn on one at a time,” Brandon advised. “We don’t know how long the flashlight batteries are going to last, and I don’t want us to use them all at once.” Everyone agreed that what he was saying was a good idea. Only Mark’s flashlight glowed from the corner of the bathtub. Everyone was silent, and Ashlyn leaned her head back against the cabinet.
She could almost sleep if it weren’t for the strong wind that rattled the house occasionally and banged her head rapidly on the cabinet. Ashlyn shifted and rested her chin on her knees. She knew from that moment that it was going to be a long time before they were going to be safe.
“Where is the hurricane passing?” someone asked.
Another voice from the semi-darkness answered. “It’s supposed to pass through pretty close to here.”
“Man, what are we going to do if the camera equipment is destroyed?”
A panic started to rise up in the bathroom as everyone imagined what it would be like to have their work gone. They had uploaded what they had filmed onto an external drive, but the equipment would cost thousands of dollars and take a lot of time to replace. That was when the complaining began.
“How long are we going to be stuck in this bathroom?”
“How will we know when it’s safe to go out?”
“Are you sure it wouldn’t be better to drive away from the storm instead of just waiting for it to hit us?”
Brandon held up his hands and seemed to take charge. Someone shone the flashlight on him like a spotlight, and he smiled. Ashlyn admired his smile from her little corner, where she had managed not to join into the complaining even though it had been very tempting.
“If someone had warned us about the hurricane, and we had been more prepared, then we might have been able to get away in a car. I guess no one here thought it was going to pass so close. But have you seen the rain outside?” A few people nodded. Pamela spoke up.
“It looked like most of the beach was covered.”
“Exactly,” Brandon said. “You guys knew it was going to be raining all day, so you didn’t film this morning. I think it’s been raining non-stop since last night.”
“Thanks, Bozo,” Mark spoke up from the back. “You’re really telling us something new.”
Brandon took a deep breath and continued, smoothly covering over the interruption. “Anyway, I don’t think the rain will let up, and there has already been some flooding, like you saw on the news. So, our best bet is to hold down the fort here and see what happens. As for when it will be safe to go o
ut, I would assume that would be when the house stops shaking.”
Everyone was silent as the wind gave the house a particularly violent shake.
Brandon sat back down, and Ashlyn wiggled over so that she was a little closer to him than she was to Katy. Not that Ashlyn had anything against Katy, but there was something romantic about snuggling up to her man in the middle of a violent storm.
Brandon put his arm around her and gave her a little kiss on her nose. Ashlyn smiled. They might be stuck in the dark bathroom for a long time, but she didn’t particularly care at the moment. She had always been one for adventures. And while this could bring about some serious danger, Ashlyn saw it more as an exciting adventure that they were embarking on.
Some of the cast and crew started playing a game. Apparently, somebody was thoughtful enough to grab a deck of cards as they were being herded into the bathroom. Ashlyn wanted to join in, but the cards were too far away, and the edge of the bathtub looked occupied already.
“Have you ever been in a storm like this before?” Ashlyn whispered to Brandon.
Brandon nodded. “Yes, plenty of times.” Ashlyn was surprised. Brandon didn’t seem like some farmer who frequently weathered hurricanes.
Brandon gave a little laugh. “My family was big for vacations when I was little. We went a little bit of everywhere, as long as everywhere was in the United States. We didn’t have a regular vacation, like always going to the beach, and my parents wouldn’t tell us where we were going until we were on the road. When my brother and I got older, though, we started to learn something about snooping.”
Ashlyn smiled.
“So, I guess you could say that my family was never one to let weather deter it. We had to go the first week of September if my dad was going to get off work, so we always went somewhere that week, rain or shine. I have been through two hurricanes before.”
“Did you ever get hurt?”
Brandon shook his head. “Nope, we just went into the hotel’s lobby or the campground’s group bathroom and weathered it out.”
Ashlyn laughed. “You had to hang out in the group bathroom?”
Brandon nodded. “Yeah, and I didn’t think it was so funny at the time. I was seven years old that time, and because the men’s and women’s bathrooms were separate, I couldn’t go in with my mom. She would have held me and been comforting. My dad just sat on the toilet, reading his magazine. I was quietly crying in the corner, because my brother was young enough to go with my mom, and I wasn’t.”
This time, Ashlyn’s gales of laughter really sounded. Everyone gave her either a disturbed or an annoyed look. Ashlyn turned back to Brandon with amused eyes. “I should have known that you had a fun childhood. You seem like the kind of guy who has weathered a few storms.”
Chapter Three
The group was in the bathroom for two hours before they started getting bored. The room was shaking more than ever, but Ashlyn was beginning to wonder if the storm was really as dangerous as Brandon had been saying. After all, this was his third storm, and nothing had ever happened to him.
“I don’t think I can stay in here any longer without some food,” Katy announced. “I am willing to risk myself if it means we have something to eat.”
No one protested. They just began shouting their orders.
“Chips!”
“There are grapes in the bottom drawer of the fridge!”
“Bring some spoons. I think there is ice cream.”
Katy nodded, leaving her blanket in a pile on the floor and pretending that she was listening to what everyone said. She looked around, and her eyes caught on Ashlyn. “Why don’t you come with me? You know, safety in numbers?”
Ashlyn had been thinking about volunteering for the mission anyway, so she was glad when Katy suggested the idea. Ashlyn extricated herself from Brandon’s arm and stood. “Good idea. With as much stuff as everyone is ordering, you’ll need an extra person anyway.” Standing felt good, and Ashlyn bent her knees one or two times to stretch them.
Brandon stood up next. “No, Ashlyn, you can’t go.”
Ashlyn gave Brandon an irritated look. She was her own woman, and she wasn’t used to taking orders from anyone. “I’ll be fine.”
She really didn’t want to have a spat in front of everyone. She could feel them watching her. She knew that any kind of drama between herself and Brandon would prove to be some sick sitcom for everyone else to enjoy.
Brandon gave her a stern look and took her arm gently. “I don’t want you to put yourself in danger.”
The house seemed to sway, and everyone froze or grabbed onto something. Ashlyn wondered if the stilts on which the house was standing would continue holding them. But, in her mind, if the stilts gave way, everyone in the bathroom would get just as hurt as she would in the kitchen.
“Thank you, Brandon, but we’ll be back in, like, five minutes. Seriously, it won’t take long.
Brandon finally let go of Ashlyn’s arm, and she fought with the bathroom door. The wind in the house was pressing up against the door, and it took the strength of both Ashlyn and Katy to force it open.
“Good gracious!” Katy said. “Who knew that a door could be that strong?”
The two girls take careful steps through the house. There was an occasional shudder of the floorboards, and the wind sounded terrible.
“Who knew wind could blow that hard?” Ashlyn asked as she tried to take a look out the windows. They were covered, and she knew enough to not get too close. If Brandon knew, he would kill her. “I bet it’s like 40 mph or something crazy like that.”
“It’s strong enough to do some damage,” Katy said. Her face was worried. “I’ve seen the news. I know what hurricanes can do. I’m really worried that we won’t make it out of this one.”
“You didn’t seem so worried back there,” Ashlyn pointed out.
Katy shrugged. “I eat when I’m upset. I knew if I didn’t get a bag of chips in my hand that I was going to go crazy.”
The house shuddered, and Ashlyn reached her hand out to steady herself on the kitchen counter. She misjudged the distance as the house shook again, and her hand kept falling and falling. It seemed surreal as her hand smacked into the ground. Ashlyn closed her eyes as she waited for the impact.
Something sharp pierced her forehead before her body hit the ground hard. She lay there, feeling a sharp pain over her eyes and wincing as she tried to keep from feeling dizzy. She felt Katy bending over her.
“Oh, Ashlyn!” was all Katy said. “I need to get you some help.” Ashlyn’s stomach seized up. How bad was it? She opened her eyes but immediately shut them afterward. A curtain of blood was falling into her eyes, and Ashlyn started to feel dizzy.
“Don’t leave me, Katy,” Ashlyn pleaded faintly. Katy came back quickly, too quickly, with Brandon. How were they moving so quickly?
“Brandon was already coming,” Katy said, sitting beside Ashlyn again. “Can you hear me?”
Ashlyn tried nodding, but the dizziness almost knocked her out, and Ashlyn suddenly knew that she needed to stay awake. “Yes,” she barked out like a hoarse seal.
“Ashlyn,” Brandon said. She could hear the concern in his voice, and she wanted to open her eyes again. But she was too afraid of the curtain of blood that she would see falling down.
“Okay,” Ashlyn replied, not quite understanding what was going on around her.
“What happened, Ashlyn?” Brandon asked. When she didn’t respond fast enough, he turned to Katy. “What happened, Katy?”
“She just fell,” Katy explained. “The house was shaking. I think she. . .” Katy let out a shriek. “I think she hit her head there.”
“I can see the skin,” Brandon replied. That made Ashlyn start to panic. She reached her hand up to feel for her forehead. Did she even still have a forehead? Her fingers only touched warm liquid, which she knew was blood.
“Brandon, help me,” Ashlyn said, pulling her hands back. S
he automatically tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t see anything. She swiped at her eyes to clear them, but it only succeeded in making her hand just as wet as her forehead.
“Katy, is there a towel or something we can use?” Brandon asked.
Ashlyn felt a cold swipe of air pass over her head and the sound of the towel landing in Brandon’s hands. The towel was instantly pressed up against her forehead. Ashlyn felt the tiny little rough ends of each towel fiber, and she squeezed her hands into fists as Brandon dabbed.
“Can you get me another one?” Brandon asked. “I need to stop the bleeding enough that she can move.”
Katy threw another towel over. Brandon commanded Katy to hold the towel in place on Ashlyn’s forehead as Brandon methodically cleaned each of Ashlyn’s hands and her face. Ashlyn’s skin felt sticky, and she knew that some of the blood was already drying.
“Ashlyn, how do you feel?” Brandon asked.
“I’m okay,” Ashlyn said, feeling as if she were telling the biggest lie of her life.
Brandon nodded to Katy. “I think we’re fine. Why don’t you go ahead and get back to the bathroom? I’m going to see if there is space in the coat closet for her to lay down.” The coat closet was one of those under-the-stairs types, and it stretched out far and low.
Katy grabbed up a few essential food items and scurried back to the bathroom.
“Ashlyn, I want you to try sitting up,” Brandon said. Ashlyn squeezed her teeth together and sat up. Brandon was still pressing the towel against her head. The blood flow was slower, and Ashlyn thought that it might have been stopped altogether. She took the towel with her own hand and sat for a few minutes.
She blinked her eyes open and took a deep breath.
“I’m okay,” she announced, finally believing it.
Brandon smiled. “I didn’t know you were so old that you needed a cane to walk around steadily. I thought we didn’t have to deal with falls until you were at least in your 70s.”
