Chapter 3

It was Jewel calling. Her voice was shaky with tears as she said, "Alice! Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm okay." I gritted my teeth to keep my voice from trembling. "Did you make it?"

"Yeah! We're at the emergency shelter hotel in the city. There's hot water and blankets. The staff even made us some tea," she replied.

Jewel started sobbing again. "Alice, I'm so scared. What are you going to do all alone at home?"

A deafening crash came from above me. The other half of the roof had been torn away. Wind and rain rushed inside, soaking me from head to toe.

I screamed and nearly dropped my phone.

"Alice, what happened? What was that?" Jewel yelled.

"It's… It's nothing. The wind just blew off bits of the roof," I replied.

The signal started cutting in and out, and Jewel's voice kept breaking up. "Alice… Can you… hear—"

The signal came back, but there was only one bar.

I could hear Jewel crying out on the other end of the line. "Mom! The house around Alice is collapsing. You have to do something!"

Then I heard Mom say, "If she can still make a phone call, she's fine. You're always making a big deal out of nothing."

The water rose past my knees.

"Mom, this isn't nothing! Didn't you hear that? Alice is—"

Mom cut Jewel off. "What could happen to Alice at home? Your dad rebuilt that kitchen counter two years ago. It's sturdy!

"If she can't handle a little wind and rain, how is she ever going to make it on her own?"

Dad's voice came quietly from the other end. "Maybe we should have someone go back and check."

"What do you even know?" Mom shut him down.

Then she said to Jewel, "That's enough. Tell Alice to hang up. She's wasting money on the call."

I crouched in the water without saying a word. It had already reached my thighs.

The one bar of signal kept flickering on the top of the screen.

Jewel was still crying as she told me between sobs, "Alice, try to get somewhere higher."

Just then, an unfamiliar man's voice came through. He sounded urgent and alarmed.

"Miss, who are you talking to?"

Jewel sobbed, "It's my sister. She's still at home. She didn't evacuate."

"What?" The man's voice rose sharply. "There's still someone back there? Where are your parents? There's already a flash flood warning for that area. People could die!"

Chaos broke out on the other end, and I heard several people talking at once.

Someone shouted, "Get the rescue team!"

Another asked, "How many more are still back there?"

That man's voice cut through the chaos. "Are her parents here? I need this kid's parents over here! How could you leave a child behind?"

Mom's voice came through at that moment. "Alice will be fine. She's tough."

The call ended after that.

At the same time, the signal was completely gone. The light from my phone went out too.

Mom's last words kept echoing in my head.

Soon, the water reached my waist, then my chest.

There was less and less room beneath the kitchen counter. I clung to the brick pillar beneath it, digging my nails into the cracks.

It was so cold. The water was freezing, and the wind was icy. I was chilled to the bone.

I remembered one time when Jewel refused to wear a jacket because she wanted to play outside. In the end, she caught a cold.

That night, Mom made me stand outside in my pajamas in the middle of winter. She only let me back in when my fever reached 104 degrees and Jewel broke down crying.

This cold was a hundred times worse than that winter night.

The water rose past my neck. I couldn't hold on to the brick pillar anymore, for my fingers had no strength left.

I gave up and stopped struggling.

Mom said I was tough. But I wasn't as tough as she thought.

I couldn't hear anything anymore, and my consciousness had started slipping away.

Just before I blacked out, someone shouted from nearby, "She's here!"