My stomach cramped, sending me to the floor, where I curled up in a ball and waited for the torment to pass. When I opened my eyes, I was facing the cabinet beneath the sink. A light bulb went off in my head as I remembered Rick’s lesson in fixing a clogged sink.
Mary Elizabeth licked my ankle while I opened the cabinet and carefully unscrewed the two ends of the U-shaped pipe. It was made of a heavy metal that should work nicely for breaking the window, and the two straight pipes that attached to it could also be detached and used for backup.
A sudden ringing from the counter above me, and I jerked my head back, banging it into the inside of the cabinet as I rose to grab the sat phone. “Hello?” I screamed into the receiver.
“Taylor.” Rick’s voice was tinny and far away. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I cried. “I’m locked in Cole’s bathroom, and the water is almost floor level.”
“… kill that…therfucker…was worried…happened when I didn’t hear…called…too late.”
“You’re breaking up.”
“…the storm. Need to get you out. I can…” The rest was lost in fuzz.
I moved closer to the window, hoping for better reception. “I think I can get into the bedroom by breaking the window above the door with a pipe, but I don’t know if the pier is washed out.”
“The storm tide…water so high…going out so the water…subside…hours.”
“What? Are you saying the water will go higher?” I asked, watching as a wave splashed the window. I waited desperately for an answer, but none came. “Rick?”
The call had dropped. I sat on the edge of the soaking tub with a groan, willing the phone to ring again. After a moment, my wish was granted. “Rick?” I answered.
“Can you hear me better now?” His voice sounded like it was in a well, but at least I was catching all his words now. “I stepped outside.”
“Yes.”
“The tide is going out, so the water shouldn’t rise any higher.” I could hear the wind roaring around him as he shouted into the phone. “The water may seep in, but only a foot or two unless a window or door breaks. Down here the windows have to be made of safety glass, which means if they break, they shatter completely.”
“So I’m safe here?”
“Safer than trying to traverse the pier right now. But you need to get out before Cole comes back. I won’t be able to get over there until the storm passes.”
“I know.”
“Low tide is in two hours, which is around the time the eye should pass over Saint Genesius. The water will be lowest then. That’s when you need to go.”
“But where do I go? Cole’s up at the main building.”
“The post office is made of concrete block. You’ll be fine there. The doors of buildings are left unlocked during storms so that cleanup crews can get in. I’ll meet you there as soon as the storm is over.”
“Okay.”
“Keep this phone on you, and call me if you need me.”
“I will.”
I hung up and dragged the stepladder out of the closet, wishing I were taller. Even standing on the top step only brought me to eye level with the window, which meant I was going to have to rely on my upper-body strength to heave myself through it. Please let it be safety glass. I wrapped my hand in a towel and, shielding my eyes, slammed the pipe into the window. It shattered immediately, sending tiny pebbles of glass raining down and bouncing across the tiles. I breathed a sigh of relief.
As I came down from the ladder, Mary Elizabeth yapped at my ankles. Shit. How was I going to get her through the window? I had to come up with something in case I couldn’t unlock the door from the outside. I’d need the sat phone and the candle as well. I went into Cole’s closet, where I found a perforated gym bag with a long, detachable strap. It would have to do.
“I’m sorry about this, girl,” I apologized to her as I unzipped the bag and placed her inside with the sat phone, a bottle of water, and matches. “This is the best I’ve got.”
I continued talking to her as I climbed up the step stool. When I reached the top, I blew out the candle and wrapped it inside a towel, placing it gingerly next to the shaking dog, who whined and yelped as I zipped up the bag. Now in complete darkness, I gripped the strap of the bag in one hand, then pushed it through the window and slowly lowered it as far as I could, finally releasing it to fall the last inches to the floor below. Mary Elizabeth barked excitedly—what I thought sounded like a healthy bark, thankfully.
I gathered every ounce of strength I’d built up in CrossFit and hefted my upper body up and through the hole, then with much groaning, scooted myself lengthwise, lying facedown. My stomach cramped as it scraped the remainder of pebbled glass on the windowsill, but the Vicodin had begun to work, dulling the pain to an almost-manageable level. I swung my feet through the window and dropped to the ground.
Felicity
The air is still and close behind the wall of pillows and blankets I fashioned in the housekeeping closet at the back of the spa building. I’ve been here for hours in the dark, vividly imagining the night of my mother’s death while refereeing the battle within my body: head foggy from the pharmaceuticals Stella slipped me, heart racing with the caffeine pills. I feel as though I might tear in two and can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would intentionally take uppers and downers at the same time.
Over the din of the storm outside, the sudden slamming of a door and heavy footsteps in the hall raises the hair on my arms. It can only be Stella or Cole, and
