This is how it was meant to be
'The number you are trying to call is currently not reachable. Please try again later.'
"Welp!" I thought, as I took the escalator steps two at a time, phone pressed between my left ear and shoulder, right hand clutching my wallet and EZ Link card and left hand balancing my briefcase and a couple of files from work. "Lilly, please pick up your phone!"
As if on cue, my phone rang out shrilly. I backed up against the wall to let the rush hour crowd from the MRT pass me by and transferred the contents of my right hand to my left and answered my phone.
"Your'e late," I heard my sister snap on the other end.
"I know, I'm sorry!' I pleaded between breaths, "I've almost reached, just...need...to...cross the street," I said resuming my pace with the rest of the crowd, "Ow, these heels are killing me. Is Sandy there yet?"
"Of course he is," Lilly snorted, 'We drove here together from work."
"Is that Claire?" I heard Lilly's best friend and colleague Sandy's voice in the background, "Tell her to do us all a favour and hurry up, the movie's about to start."
"Okay, I'm on my way. I would get there a lot faster if the two of you would let me walk and stop giving me so much grief over the phone," I retorted quickening my pace.
"See ya, sis," I heard Lilly's clear voice ring out in laughter as she hung up.
I emerged from the MRT station and made my way to the crossing. I waited there impatiently for the signal to turn green.
Typical, the two of them, giving me grief about the 'Movie's about to start.' So what? It was just the 'Wrath of the Titans'. As if it could be any better than the last one. I wasn't even keen on going for it, but Lilly had insisted. And Lilly always got what she wanted.
......
"Well, we've got the tickets, might as well get some popcorn too," said Lilly turning to face Sandy, her short, sandy-haired, effeminate, guy best friend.
"Damnit!" he said, smacking his forehead, "I left my cell phone in the car, in basement parking."
"Okay, so you go get it from the car, and I'll buy the popcorn and we'll meet in two minutes in front of the hall. Hopefully Claire will have come by then," said Lilly.
"No," said Sandy petulantly, "You come with me. Don't be lazy Allen!" and saying that he pulled Lilly by her shirt sleeve and dragged her to the elevator.
......
I had just crossed the street. I was making my way to the entrance of the mall, glancing at my watch, counting the minutes before the 'Wrath of the Titans' would start and Lilly would throw a fit and then, I felt it.
I felt the earth shaking and then I saw it split open. My briefcase and laptop and all my files slid from my hand as I clutched at the concrete desperately, my head reeling. A million screams was screaming inside my head and the only logical thought I could muster was that my phone was still in my right hand and I had to keep it there to call Lilly.
It couldn't have lasted more than a minute, but when I raised my head, my eyes met with destruction only a thousand fold strong army could have wreaked. Shattered glass, people screaming, broken cement, bits and pieces of the building that had fallen off and trapped, were those people, under those blocks? People screaming, trapped bodies, crying children separated from their parents. Did I mention that there was a deep crack in the road where it had just split into two? I hoisted myself on my legs. My ears were ringing. My head was throbbing as if someone had swung a cricket bat into my forehead. I was relatively unhurt. I was too far away from the building to have been hit by any of the broken pieces of glass and cement.
I started running towards the building, stumbling every few steps. I stopped to take off my heels and started running again. I was stopped at the entrance by a guard, a man in a funny orange jacket, "I'm sorry Ma'am, you cannot enter the building."
"No, you don't understand," I heard myself say hoarsely, "I have to go inside, my sister. My sister is inside."
"Ma'am, I insist..." he was cut off by the sound of something big and heavy falling, followed by several screams. I took this opportunity to squeeze through the door, now blocked by a melee of people, fleeing from the building in a panic. My short height was working to my disadvantage as I fought the direction of the crowd, but I was too numb to feel anything. Once I had made my way inside, I was stopped by what appeared to be a human wall. I didn't have time for that. My fingers had already found my phone keypad and I was speed-dialing Lilly. There was no response. Predictably, the phone lines were jammed. Damaged beyond repair, more likely. A sick sensation of fear and helplessness was seeping in. My arm fell limply to one side, but then I noticed, a new message on my phone. It must have been delivered as I was crossing the street.
It was from Lilly.
'Sandy left his phone in the car. Going 2 basement w/ him. C u in front of hall 4, k?'
'Basement', I said to myself. I needed to go to the basement. Find Lilly and then the two of us could get out of here. The elevators wouldn't be working. Neither would the escalators. My best bet would be to find the stairwell and take the steps down to the basement. I cut across the lobby, hurrying past the shops, trying to avoid stepping on the glass and the rubble, trying to find the green 'EXIT' marked stairwell. Three men appeared before me, carrying equipment. "I'm sorry miss, but where do you think you're going?" one of them said.
"I need to find my sister, she's in the basement."
"I'm sorry but we don't have access to the basement, miss. Besides we have orders to evacuate the building because of the warning."
"What warning? You know what, never mind. Please just let me go. I'll find my sister and then we'll leave the building, I promise."
"No, ma'am, we can't allow that. Now if you'll just come with us."
Something had gone terribly wrong because at that moment, a grating alarm sounded. Several more people screamed and the guards made their way to the front of the mall. Clearly they expected me to follow. But clearly, I wasn't going to do that. I opened the door to the stairwell and started making my way down the stairs, holding on to the railing, because everything felt crooked. The whole world seemed lopsided and as I made my way down, one step at a time, I heard for the first time, in the silence of the stairwell, my heart beating, at a pace I wasn't even aware the human heart could beat. It was fear, bone-crushing, lung-puncturing fear and I had to steady myself for a second and tell myself, 'Claire Allen, you cannot afford to be afraid. You need to find your sister.'
I kept going, up and until I found the door that led to what I hoped was the basement. I opened it and was greeted with darkness and more silence. I began to feel my way around the entrance and mustered up all the strength I had to cry, "Lilly? LILLY? Can you hear me? Sandy! Are you guys there? Can you hear me?"
"Miss?" I heard a voice followed by heavy footsteps running towards me in the darkness. "Miss, how did you get here? You have to leave now. This place has been sealed off."
"No, you don't understand, I have to find my sister. She's in basement parking."
"This isn't basement parking. It's on the floor below. But you can't go there, it's been shut."
"Has it been evacuated? Or are there people still stuck there," I said sounding strangely calm, even in my head.
"It's been shut. But there are still people there."
"Were you there? Did you see my sister?" I lifted my phone to my face using the screen as a light to illuminate it. "Please tell me, did you see my sister? She's an Ang mo, and she looks nothing like me. She's tall and has dark curly hair and she was with another boy, with fair hair like mine. And please tell me, you've seen them," I said, my voice breaking. My lips were trembling, and my hands were shaking. I inhaled sharply, twice, begging myself to not cry.
The man sighed and shrugged reluctantly, "Yes I did see, two of them. Down at the basement near the lift."
"Then they must still be there!"
There was a thundering noise. I instinctively covered my ears. The sound repeated itself, growing louder by the second. The walls started vibrating. I prepared myself to crouch low, in case, "Is that an aftershock?" I asked nervously.
"No," said the man, 'It's far worse than an aftershock. Miss you have to get out of here right now. You can't go down to basement parking, they've sealed off the area," he said catching hold of my arm and pulling me towards the exit area. I began to protest. He cuts me off, "You cannot save your sister, Miss."
I refuse to budge. The pounding noise just keeps getting louder. The man sighs, "On your own head be it, Miss." He turns and takes the stairwell to go upstairs and then he's gone. I'm left alone, as before and I start to make my way down the stairs, this time, as quickly as I can to reach the basement.
This time I know I've come to the right place. A few harried looking men and women are debating furiously. They stop when I approach them, looking at me incredulously.
"Where is the way to the parking lot?" I gasped.
"You can't go in there, it's been locked down."
"Open it. I need to go to the elevator area,' I said.
"You can't. We've shut the doors."
"Open it," I repeat, "I need to get in there. There are people inside. Are you just going to let them all die?"
"We can't help it. It's too late to evacuate them. We have to keep the door open and we can't! The pressure from the water won't allow us to. Someone has to hold it open, and we don't have any volunteers."
"Unless we keep this one open we can't open the other doors. Currently the entire parking lot is under lock down but there is a way to get them out from the other exit, at the back."
"It still doesn't solve the problem that we need to keep this door open," someone else interjected.
"I'll keep the door open," I hear myself say, "You just make sure everyone in there is evacuated."
I can see by the look in their eyes that they think I'm mad, and that there is not a chance in hell that I would be able to keep that door open. But I've gone past that point of caring.
......
"Lilly? Lilly! Get up!" said Sandy. Lilly whimpered and clutched his arm. The sounds of pouring water was becoming increasingly loud and threatening. They had been trapped in the basement for what felt like hours. They weren't alone. There was a handful of people trapped with them. A few had been able to take the stairs and escape. But that was before they had shut the door.
"Lilly, get up. There's a way out."
Everyone began to move towards one end. Sandy was right, there was a way out. It would require some climbing. Lilly quickly got down on her hands and knees. Sandy followed suit. The rest of the party did the same and they began to climb out in a single file.
And then came the water.
Lilly wasn't expecting it. The waves hit her in the face and she lost balance. It hit Sandy too, but he managed to grab on to her and the two of them were somehow able to prevent being washed off their knees altogether. The screams from below told them that some of the others were not so lucky.
"Lilly!" said Sandy sharply, "Keep going."
Lilly nodded and braced herself. The water made it almost impossible to move ahead but she kept climbing against the current. It took them over half an hour, maybe even longer, to reach the basement and nearly an hour and a half to reach the lobby. Everything was flooded, and the currents were unbelievably strong. Twice Sandy was almost swept away, but Lilly had a vice-like grip on his forearm.
Once they had reached the lobby, they looked around and blinked in the light. An army of special actions force men had taken over the entire area. Lilly let go of Sandy and began to wade through the waters.
"Hey Allen, where are you going? We need to get away from here right now. This thing could happen again." Sandy called out.
"Yeah, I know. I need to find Claire."
"Sweety, Claire isn't here. I don't think she was inside the mall. Let's go outside and look for her. We won't be any better off inside the building, anyway."
"No," said Lilly, "I told her to meet us outside the hall. She must've gone up to the movie hall Sandy. I'm just going to go up to the fifth level and check, okay?"
"Lilly, there is no fifth level! Have you seen the building, there's nothing left of it," cried Sandy. The guards waded up to them and began shepherding them out to the door. "Come on, we'll go out into the road and look for her."
"No," said Lilly again, insistently, tears forming in her eyes, "I can't just leave. What if she went looking for us in the parking lot?"
By this time Sandy had already gotten hold of her and he began to make his way to the door, dragging Lilly along with him. Lilly trailed along behind her best friend, unwilling, dragging her feet, stumbling every two or three steps. They were almost at the door when they met him. A man in a uniform, medium height and heavy build. He stopped dead in his tracks, looking from Sandy's face to Lilly's.
"You managed to get out of the basement! Where's your sister, girl?"
Lilly took a second to process the man's words. And then the next thing she knew, she had prised her arm away from Sandy and slid behind the guard and she was on her way, swimming in the water, back from where she had just come out.
Sandy screamed out, "Lilly! LILLY! Allen!" But he was too late, Lilly had already swept herself down the exit and he had been pushed out the front door by the army of people.
......
The strength had left my arms a long time ago. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. I just prayed that Lilly, and Sandy, and the others had made it out in good time. The water had begun pouring in at an alarming rate. I knew I had a precious few minutes before it would drown me altogether. I heaved a sigh and and positioned myself strategically on the inside. There wasn't any point trying to get back up from the stairwell, well, because it was already flooded. And the water just kept pouring in.
I let go of the door and watched as it slammed shut. I was now trapped in the basement, with no light, and water that would fill and drown me, in less than a minute. For the second time, I was acutely aware of the darkness and the silence. It was not comforting. It was not pleasing, but I could come to terms with it. The other thing that was gnawing into my very existence was the absence of my sister. For that there was no cure. 'This is how it was meant to be, Allen', I said to myself. Would Lilly have done the same for me? God, I hope not. And yet, a little part of me hoped that she would have. Just to know, just to tell myself that if it were me, trapped in a flooded basement, my sister would come to save me.
The water had left no place for me to go now, not even with my marginal swimming skills. It was up to my ears now. I gulped, and shut my eyes. Even in the darkness, it was of little comfort. But I was hoping to drown out the noise of the pounding and the rush of the water rapidly filling in the space. I couldn't drown out the cries of people. The people who had died today. The people I couldn't save. The cries of people I had never known; I had always assumed that I would have had a lifetime to get to know them. The cries of my sister, Lilly, calling out my name. It was the last thing I ever heard.
......
A day later, Sandy would be in his flat. He would be home. He would be dry. He would be sitting on his couch, his head in hands. And he would be reading the newspaper that spoke of the terrible disaster that had befallen not only their little island nation, but many other countries in and around the world. And then he would be flipping over to the local news section only to find the special feature article of the moving tale of Claire and Lilly Allen, two sisters, who had died, trying to save each other in the mall near the harbour. Their drowned bodies had been recovered from the flooded basement parking lot, where Lilly had returned to save her sister.
"Welp!" I thought, as I took the escalator steps two at a time, phone pressed between my left ear and shoulder, right hand clutching my wallet and EZ Link card and left hand balancing my briefcase and a couple of files from work. "Lilly, please pick up your phone!"
As if on cue, my phone rang out shrilly. I backed up against the wall to let the rush hour crowd from the MRT pass me by and transferred the contents of my right hand to my left and answered my phone.
"Your'e late," I heard my sister snap on the other end.
"I know, I'm sorry!' I pleaded between breaths, "I've almost reached, just...need...to...cross the street," I said resuming my pace with the rest of the crowd, "Ow, these heels are killing me. Is Sandy there yet?"
"Of course he is," Lilly snorted, 'We drove here together from work."
"Is that Claire?" I heard Lilly's best friend and colleague Sandy's voice in the background, "Tell her to do us all a favour and hurry up, the movie's about to start."
"Okay, I'm on my way. I would get there a lot faster if the two of you would let me walk and stop giving me so much grief over the phone," I retorted quickening my pace.
"See ya, sis," I heard Lilly's clear voice ring out in laughter as she hung up.
I emerged from the MRT station and made my way to the crossing. I waited there impatiently for the signal to turn green.
Typical, the two of them, giving me grief about the 'Movie's about to start.' So what? It was just the 'Wrath of the Titans'. As if it could be any better than the last one. I wasn't even keen on going for it, but Lilly had insisted. And Lilly always got what she wanted.
......
"Well, we've got the tickets, might as well get some popcorn too," said Lilly turning to face Sandy, her short, sandy-haired, effeminate, guy best friend.
"Damnit!" he said, smacking his forehead, "I left my cell phone in the car, in basement parking."
"Okay, so you go get it from the car, and I'll buy the popcorn and we'll meet in two minutes in front of the hall. Hopefully Claire will have come by then," said Lilly.
"No," said Sandy petulantly, "You come with me. Don't be lazy Allen!" and saying that he pulled Lilly by her shirt sleeve and dragged her to the elevator.
......
I had just crossed the street. I was making my way to the entrance of the mall, glancing at my watch, counting the minutes before the 'Wrath of the Titans' would start and Lilly would throw a fit and then, I felt it.
I felt the earth shaking and then I saw it split open. My briefcase and laptop and all my files slid from my hand as I clutched at the concrete desperately, my head reeling. A million screams was screaming inside my head and the only logical thought I could muster was that my phone was still in my right hand and I had to keep it there to call Lilly.
It couldn't have lasted more than a minute, but when I raised my head, my eyes met with destruction only a thousand fold strong army could have wreaked. Shattered glass, people screaming, broken cement, bits and pieces of the building that had fallen off and trapped, were those people, under those blocks? People screaming, trapped bodies, crying children separated from their parents. Did I mention that there was a deep crack in the road where it had just split into two? I hoisted myself on my legs. My ears were ringing. My head was throbbing as if someone had swung a cricket bat into my forehead. I was relatively unhurt. I was too far away from the building to have been hit by any of the broken pieces of glass and cement.
I started running towards the building, stumbling every few steps. I stopped to take off my heels and started running again. I was stopped at the entrance by a guard, a man in a funny orange jacket, "I'm sorry Ma'am, you cannot enter the building."
"No, you don't understand," I heard myself say hoarsely, "I have to go inside, my sister. My sister is inside."
"Ma'am, I insist..." he was cut off by the sound of something big and heavy falling, followed by several screams. I took this opportunity to squeeze through the door, now blocked by a melee of people, fleeing from the building in a panic. My short height was working to my disadvantage as I fought the direction of the crowd, but I was too numb to feel anything. Once I had made my way inside, I was stopped by what appeared to be a human wall. I didn't have time for that. My fingers had already found my phone keypad and I was speed-dialing Lilly. There was no response. Predictably, the phone lines were jammed. Damaged beyond repair, more likely. A sick sensation of fear and helplessness was seeping in. My arm fell limply to one side, but then I noticed, a new message on my phone. It must have been delivered as I was crossing the street.
It was from Lilly.
'Sandy left his phone in the car. Going 2 basement w/ him. C u in front of hall 4, k?'
'Basement', I said to myself. I needed to go to the basement. Find Lilly and then the two of us could get out of here. The elevators wouldn't be working. Neither would the escalators. My best bet would be to find the stairwell and take the steps down to the basement. I cut across the lobby, hurrying past the shops, trying to avoid stepping on the glass and the rubble, trying to find the green 'EXIT' marked stairwell. Three men appeared before me, carrying equipment. "I'm sorry miss, but where do you think you're going?" one of them said.
"I need to find my sister, she's in the basement."
"I'm sorry but we don't have access to the basement, miss. Besides we have orders to evacuate the building because of the warning."
"What warning? You know what, never mind. Please just let me go. I'll find my sister and then we'll leave the building, I promise."
"No, ma'am, we can't allow that. Now if you'll just come with us."
Something had gone terribly wrong because at that moment, a grating alarm sounded. Several more people screamed and the guards made their way to the front of the mall. Clearly they expected me to follow. But clearly, I wasn't going to do that. I opened the door to the stairwell and started making my way down the stairs, holding on to the railing, because everything felt crooked. The whole world seemed lopsided and as I made my way down, one step at a time, I heard for the first time, in the silence of the stairwell, my heart beating, at a pace I wasn't even aware the human heart could beat. It was fear, bone-crushing, lung-puncturing fear and I had to steady myself for a second and tell myself, 'Claire Allen, you cannot afford to be afraid. You need to find your sister.'
I kept going, up and until I found the door that led to what I hoped was the basement. I opened it and was greeted with darkness and more silence. I began to feel my way around the entrance and mustered up all the strength I had to cry, "Lilly? LILLY? Can you hear me? Sandy! Are you guys there? Can you hear me?"
"Miss?" I heard a voice followed by heavy footsteps running towards me in the darkness. "Miss, how did you get here? You have to leave now. This place has been sealed off."
"No, you don't understand, I have to find my sister. She's in basement parking."
"This isn't basement parking. It's on the floor below. But you can't go there, it's been shut."
"Has it been evacuated? Or are there people still stuck there," I said sounding strangely calm, even in my head.
"It's been shut. But there are still people there."
"Were you there? Did you see my sister?" I lifted my phone to my face using the screen as a light to illuminate it. "Please tell me, did you see my sister? She's an Ang mo, and she looks nothing like me. She's tall and has dark curly hair and she was with another boy, with fair hair like mine. And please tell me, you've seen them," I said, my voice breaking. My lips were trembling, and my hands were shaking. I inhaled sharply, twice, begging myself to not cry.
The man sighed and shrugged reluctantly, "Yes I did see, two of them. Down at the basement near the lift."
"Then they must still be there!"
There was a thundering noise. I instinctively covered my ears. The sound repeated itself, growing louder by the second. The walls started vibrating. I prepared myself to crouch low, in case, "Is that an aftershock?" I asked nervously.
"No," said the man, 'It's far worse than an aftershock. Miss you have to get out of here right now. You can't go down to basement parking, they've sealed off the area," he said catching hold of my arm and pulling me towards the exit area. I began to protest. He cuts me off, "You cannot save your sister, Miss."
I refuse to budge. The pounding noise just keeps getting louder. The man sighs, "On your own head be it, Miss." He turns and takes the stairwell to go upstairs and then he's gone. I'm left alone, as before and I start to make my way down the stairs, this time, as quickly as I can to reach the basement.
This time I know I've come to the right place. A few harried looking men and women are debating furiously. They stop when I approach them, looking at me incredulously.
"Where is the way to the parking lot?" I gasped.
"You can't go in there, it's been locked down."
"Open it. I need to go to the elevator area,' I said.
"You can't. We've shut the doors."
"Open it," I repeat, "I need to get in there. There are people inside. Are you just going to let them all die?"
"We can't help it. It's too late to evacuate them. We have to keep the door open and we can't! The pressure from the water won't allow us to. Someone has to hold it open, and we don't have any volunteers."
"Unless we keep this one open we can't open the other doors. Currently the entire parking lot is under lock down but there is a way to get them out from the other exit, at the back."
"It still doesn't solve the problem that we need to keep this door open," someone else interjected.
"I'll keep the door open," I hear myself say, "You just make sure everyone in there is evacuated."
I can see by the look in their eyes that they think I'm mad, and that there is not a chance in hell that I would be able to keep that door open. But I've gone past that point of caring.
......
"Lilly? Lilly! Get up!" said Sandy. Lilly whimpered and clutched his arm. The sounds of pouring water was becoming increasingly loud and threatening. They had been trapped in the basement for what felt like hours. They weren't alone. There was a handful of people trapped with them. A few had been able to take the stairs and escape. But that was before they had shut the door.
"Lilly, get up. There's a way out."
Everyone began to move towards one end. Sandy was right, there was a way out. It would require some climbing. Lilly quickly got down on her hands and knees. Sandy followed suit. The rest of the party did the same and they began to climb out in a single file.
And then came the water.
Lilly wasn't expecting it. The waves hit her in the face and she lost balance. It hit Sandy too, but he managed to grab on to her and the two of them were somehow able to prevent being washed off their knees altogether. The screams from below told them that some of the others were not so lucky.
"Lilly!" said Sandy sharply, "Keep going."
Lilly nodded and braced herself. The water made it almost impossible to move ahead but she kept climbing against the current. It took them over half an hour, maybe even longer, to reach the basement and nearly an hour and a half to reach the lobby. Everything was flooded, and the currents were unbelievably strong. Twice Sandy was almost swept away, but Lilly had a vice-like grip on his forearm.
Once they had reached the lobby, they looked around and blinked in the light. An army of special actions force men had taken over the entire area. Lilly let go of Sandy and began to wade through the waters.
"Hey Allen, where are you going? We need to get away from here right now. This thing could happen again." Sandy called out.
"Yeah, I know. I need to find Claire."
"Sweety, Claire isn't here. I don't think she was inside the mall. Let's go outside and look for her. We won't be any better off inside the building, anyway."
"No," said Lilly, "I told her to meet us outside the hall. She must've gone up to the movie hall Sandy. I'm just going to go up to the fifth level and check, okay?"
"Lilly, there is no fifth level! Have you seen the building, there's nothing left of it," cried Sandy. The guards waded up to them and began shepherding them out to the door. "Come on, we'll go out into the road and look for her."
"No," said Lilly again, insistently, tears forming in her eyes, "I can't just leave. What if she went looking for us in the parking lot?"
By this time Sandy had already gotten hold of her and he began to make his way to the door, dragging Lilly along with him. Lilly trailed along behind her best friend, unwilling, dragging her feet, stumbling every two or three steps. They were almost at the door when they met him. A man in a uniform, medium height and heavy build. He stopped dead in his tracks, looking from Sandy's face to Lilly's.
"You managed to get out of the basement! Where's your sister, girl?"
Lilly took a second to process the man's words. And then the next thing she knew, she had prised her arm away from Sandy and slid behind the guard and she was on her way, swimming in the water, back from where she had just come out.
Sandy screamed out, "Lilly! LILLY! Allen!" But he was too late, Lilly had already swept herself down the exit and he had been pushed out the front door by the army of people.
......
The strength had left my arms a long time ago. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. I just prayed that Lilly, and Sandy, and the others had made it out in good time. The water had begun pouring in at an alarming rate. I knew I had a precious few minutes before it would drown me altogether. I heaved a sigh and and positioned myself strategically on the inside. There wasn't any point trying to get back up from the stairwell, well, because it was already flooded. And the water just kept pouring in.
I let go of the door and watched as it slammed shut. I was now trapped in the basement, with no light, and water that would fill and drown me, in less than a minute. For the second time, I was acutely aware of the darkness and the silence. It was not comforting. It was not pleasing, but I could come to terms with it. The other thing that was gnawing into my very existence was the absence of my sister. For that there was no cure. 'This is how it was meant to be, Allen', I said to myself. Would Lilly have done the same for me? God, I hope not. And yet, a little part of me hoped that she would have. Just to know, just to tell myself that if it were me, trapped in a flooded basement, my sister would come to save me.
The water had left no place for me to go now, not even with my marginal swimming skills. It was up to my ears now. I gulped, and shut my eyes. Even in the darkness, it was of little comfort. But I was hoping to drown out the noise of the pounding and the rush of the water rapidly filling in the space. I couldn't drown out the cries of people. The people who had died today. The people I couldn't save. The cries of people I had never known; I had always assumed that I would have had a lifetime to get to know them. The cries of my sister, Lilly, calling out my name. It was the last thing I ever heard.
......
A day later, Sandy would be in his flat. He would be home. He would be dry. He would be sitting on his couch, his head in hands. And he would be reading the newspaper that spoke of the terrible disaster that had befallen not only their little island nation, but many other countries in and around the world. And then he would be flipping over to the local news section only to find the special feature article of the moving tale of Claire and Lilly Allen, two sisters, who had died, trying to save each other in the mall near the harbour. Their drowned bodies had been recovered from the flooded basement parking lot, where Lilly had returned to save her sister.
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