by Chrys Fey
“I can help,” Beth offered. “Please, let me carry one of them. We can look for shelter and medical aid together.”
The woman nodded again. “Okay.” Her voice was rough with unshed tears. She sniffed loudly. “You can hold Ali.”
Beth smiled at the little girl. “Hi, Ali. I’m Beth. I like your polish.” She pointed at the little girl’s shriveled toes. “My toenails are pink, too.” She gave her a smile and held out her hands. “Is it okay if I give you a lift, so your mom doesn’t have to carry you?” She waited for the girl to open her arms, to accept her.
Ali scrutinized her with big, brown eyes. When she recognized a tsunami survivor, she reached out.
Beth lifted her from the woman’s arm and settled her onto her good hip. Ali looked as light as a feather pillow, but her twenty pounds weighed Beth down.
“There.” She tapped the little girl’s nose. “That’s not so bad, is it?”
The little girl shook her head and shoved her thumb into her mouth.
Beth smiled and looked to the mother.
“Thank you,” the woman said. “I’m Nikki, and this is Evan.” She hefted the boy higher on her hip.
“Hello there, Evan. You look like a strong, little boy. You are, aren’t you?”
He raised his arm and gave her a salute. If she had the strength and a free hand, she would’ve saluted back.
She searched the ruins and buildings for a street sign or name, but everything had been stripped away. She didn’t recognize a thing. The fact she was lost in yet another city she was unacquainted with didn’t escape her notice, but she couldn’t dwell on that. If she survived this, she’d remind herself to get a map of any city she visited in case of a natural disaster.
She looked to the woman who appeared to be a local. “Do you know where a hospital is?”
“There’s a few specialty hospitals further inland. I think Kapiolani Medical Center would be our best bet, but it’s a ways from here.”
“That’s okay. We need to go farther inland and get to higher ground, if possible. Another wave could be coming. We’ll make it.”
They had to.
With Ali in her arms and Evan in Nikki’s, they shuffled on. For the longest time, the only sounds Beth heard were the sloshing of their steps. No chirping of native birds, no laughter or Pidgin talk met her ears.
All color had also been erased, too. The exotic wild flowers and stands featuring rainbows of ripe fruit were missing. Mud painted everything, turning the once beautiful island ugly and depressing.
After a while, Beth felt the heaviness of Ali’s head on her shoulder. Ali’s arms were limp at her sides, and her lips were pursed into a pout as if her thumb were still in her mouth. Beth smoothed the damp, brown curls from her forehead. The scent of a child’s sweat teased her nostrils. It was a comforting smell.
“We were getting Shave Ice,” Nikki said, bringing an end to the quiet.
Beth looked over Ali’s head at her. Evan was asleep, too. His hands were in fists in Nikki’s shirt.
“Evan wanted root beer, and Ali wanted strawberry. I had just handed the cups to them when I heard screams and turned to see the wave coming at us. I grabbed Ali first. Her cup tipped, and the ice fell down my shirt.”
Beth’s gaze lowered. The front of Nikki’s shirt was pink.
“Then I grabbed Evan’s hand, and I ran with them. The wave hit us, and I lost them. When I finally made it to the surface, I saw them several feet in front of me. They were holding onto a pink inner tube. It must’ve come from a hotel. Wherever it came from, it saved my babies’ lives.” Her voice cracked. “I swam to them, and we held onto the inner tube. It spun us around and around, but I kept a hold of their hands. I was determined to never let go of them again.
“When the current stopped, we paddled to the roof of a building. It was level with us, and I pushed them over the ledge. I was pulling myself over when the water started to pull back. We stayed up there as the water went down. The door to the roof was unlocked. Praise, God! And we made it down to ground level, but my babies didn’t want to step a foot into the water. I was picking up Evan when I noticed he still held the cup of Shave Ice in his hand. His little fingers had poked through the Styrofoam. The ice was all gone. I had to tear it apart to get it off his fingers.” She dropped a kiss onto Evan’s sweat-dotted forehead. “They’ll probably never want Shave Ice again.”
Beth swallowed. She couldn’t image going through something as devastating as that at such a young age. Seeing a vendor selling Shave Ice would no doubt cause the terrible memory of the tsunami to flood back to them every time.
“I can’t say this won’t haunt them. It’ll haunt all of us,” she said. “But the fear will eventually dissipate. Be there for them. Wipe their tears. Hold them. Kiss them. Tell them you’ll keep them safe. And they will grow. They will move on from this horror.”
“The problem is…I’m afraid I won’t be able to.”
Beth glanced at Nikki. She was crying and stroking Evan’s back.
Beth didn’t have children. She couldn’t imagine the terror Nikki felt when her babies were ripped from her arms. It must’ve been one hundred times worse than losing Donovan. Just thinking about him made her heart palpitate and her eyes fill. She took a slow breath to get her emotions under check.
“Are they twins?” Beth said, indicating Ali and Evan.
“Yes.”
“They’re beautiful.”
Nikki smiled.
They continued to walk side by side. Oahu’s sweltering heat was back in full force. The sun beamed down on them, depleting their body of water, and zapping their energy. Beth’s T-shirt stuck to her back. Beads of perspiration snaked along her spine. Where Ali was curled against her, she was soaked with sweat. Her mouth was dry. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She licked her lips, desperately wanting something to drink. The longer they walked, the stiffer, weaker, thirstier she became.
Ali was growing heavier with each step. She shifted her onto her other hip and winced when her bones protested against the weight. Gritting her teeth, she pushed on. Even when she wanted to collapse, she kept her arms locked around Ali and her legs moving. Mechanically. Robotically. Mindlessly. It wasn’t long before she was panting with exertion. Her arms burned from holding Ali. Her leg muscles vibrated. Sitting and resting was an appealing thought, but if they caved into their exhaustion, it could take hours for someone to find them. Hours they couldn’t afford. Not without water. Not in that heat. And not banged up from head to toe.
Her eyes shifted to a cage in the water. She stared at it, wondering if an animal was trapped inside. A few steps closer and she saw it was empty. And it wasn’t a cage.
“A shopping cart.” Her hopes soared as she hurried to it. Her feet kicked up water. One handed, she managed to upright it. Water leaked from the holes. “All right, sweetie, you’re going to go inside this cart.” She set Ali on the bottom, and Nikki added Evan.
“Let’s push it together,” Beth said. She wrapped her hands around the handle.
Nikki stepped up beside her.
Beth’s arms felt like doughy pasta. Her leg muscles were on fire. She tightened her grip and used every part of her body to push the cart through the water. Salt drops drizzled down her face. Her mouth felt drier than ever.
“Where were you?” Nikki’s voice brought Beth away from her pain. “When the wave came. Where were you?”
“I was…” Memories of what happened before the tsunami rushed through her mind. It all seemed so long ago. “I was with my husband. We were…”
Running.
Guns firing.
Jackson’s men.
“We were going for a walk and enjoying island life.” She didn’t want to tell Nikki about the men who had been after them. “We came here for our honeymoon. We were married four days ago. Birds flew overhead, and wind blasted me. I turned to see the wave. We didn’t even try to run. We held onto each other, but when the wave hit, I lost him.” She paus
ed as emotions filled her and almost came loose. “I don’t know where he is. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive. I don’t know…”
“I’m sorry…that is truly horrible. I hope you find him.”
Beth nodded. Her voice was thick with unshed tears when she said, “Me, too.”
They fell silent. Their grief for each other gave them the strength they needed to push the cart harder, faster. The water level gradually shrank the farther they went. Although the wave could’ve stretched for blocks yet, Beth knew they would soon reach an area untouched by its wet, vengeful hands.
“Wait. Did you hear that?” Beth forced the cart to a stop and laid a hand on Nikki’s arm. She strained to hear a male’s voice calling out for someone; Donovan calling out for her.
“I don’t hear anything,” Nikki whispered.
“Hold on.” Beth’s heart thundered. Wind whistled past her ears. Tilting her head left and right, she listened with all her might. Surely, she hadn’t imagined it, hadn’t hoped for Donovan so fiercely her mind conjured his voice. How could her brain be so cruel to torture her in that way? She started to shake her head. “I thought I heard—”
“Hello? Is anyone out there?” The voice, clearly masculine, echoed around them.
The women looked at each other with wide eyes.
“Stay here,” Beth said. “I’ll be right back.” She took off at a run, her energy restored with the hope of being reunited with Donovan.
“Donovan! Where are you?”
“Over here!”
She splashed past an intersection. “Keep shouting. I don’t know where you are.” She followed the shouts to the next intersection and turned. A man was rushing toward her. The closer she got to him, her feet slowed. It wasn’t Donovan. She dropped her hands to her knees and lowered her head as she cried. Her heart plunged to her bowels. Her strength dissolved. She was about to sink to her knees when a hand caught her arm and pulled her to a stand.
“Are you okay?”
She looked into the man’s face. He had blonde hair that dripped over his forehead and blue eyes as clear as the sky. “I’m fine. I thought you were my husband.”
The man shifted from side to side, unsure of what to say to being mistaken for a woman’s husband. “You’re the first person I’ve found,” he finally said.
“I’m not alone. I found a woman and two children a while ago. We could use your help.” She led him back to Nikki.
“Is he your—”
“No.” Beth cut off Nikki. “No, he’s still out there. Somewhere.” She had to believe Donovan was alive. If she believed the opposite, she would curl up on the ground, in the dirty water, and wait for death to take her. There was no reason for her to live if Donovan were gone, so she had to believe he was safe. Not hurt. Not dying. Not already dead.
“I’ll find him,” she whispered.
Nikki gave her a reassuring smile.
Beth looked away when she noticed doubt creep into Nikki’s eyes. She couldn’t afford to let doubt seep into her. She inched away as if it were contagious.
“I can push the cart,” the man volunteered.
Beth and Nikki walked on either side of the cart as the man pushed it. They were moving through the next intersection when Ali’s tiny fingers curled around Beth’s pinkie. Beth looked at her. Ali took her thumb out of her mouth with a loud smack and pointed toward the water. Beth’s head whipped up.
At first, she couldn’t see anything. No one was there. But Ali tugged her pinkie and jabbed her finger in the air more urgently. Squinting her eyes, Beth searched the ground. Did the child see a snake? Her gaze roamed over the brown water. Sticks and leaves littered the top. Then she saw it. A bottle of water. She hurried to it, snatched it up, and held it like a trophy. Smiling, she walked back to Ali.
“Good job,” she said. With a crack, she unsealed the cap. She gave it to Ali and Evan. They each took several gulps. Evan passed the bottle of water to Nikki. She took a deep swallow and gave it to Beth.
Cool water soothed her parched throat. Pulling the bottle from her lips, she coughed. Her throat wasn’t prepared for the wet. She handed the bottle to the man and realized then that she didn’t know his name. They passed the bottle around once more. When she held it out to the man again, he shook his head.
“You guys need it more than me,” he said.
An inch of water was left in the bottle. She took a sip, gave it to Nikki for a last taste, and then they let the children drink the rest.
With a bit of water in her system, Beth felt marginally better. She studied the man beside her as he pushed the cart. “What’s your name?”
“Kevin.”
“I’m Beth. This is Nikki and her kids, Evan and Ali.”
He nodded at each of them. “Saying it’s nice to meet you doesn’t sound right considering the circumstances.”
“But it is nice to meet you,” Beth insisted. “I thought I was alone. When I saw you, Nikki, I was thankful I wasn’t alone, and that two kids could survive this. Then when I saw you, Kevin, I was glad because we needed help. We wouldn’t have been able to go much farther by ourselves.”
Kevin looked into her eyes. “You were glad although I wasn’t who you were hoping for?”
“Yes.” And it was the truth.
“What’s your husband’s name?”
“Donovan Goldwyn.”
She met his eyes when he looked back at her.
“You’ll find him,” he said.
She lifted her face to the sky and briefly closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. “I know.” She’d find him because she’d never stop searching.
They walked two blocks, and then found an older man and woman huddled together on a tree trunk. Kevin stopped and approached the couple. “Hello? Are either of you injured?”
“My shoulder is dislocated, and my wife has a nasty gash in her thigh. She can’t walk.”
Beth joined Kevin. “We’re looking for shelter and medical aid. Please come with us. We can put your wife in the cart.”
The man faced his wife. “Verna, honey, it’d be better if we went with them.”
“I know that, dummy,” Verna said. “But I’ll need this strapping young man with the bulging biceps to lift me off this dead tree.”
Beth glanced at Kevin and stifled a laugh. Together, they were able to get Verna into the cart. Evan and Ali took their mom’s hands, and Melvin walked beside the cart, holding his wife’s hand.
“Everybody ready?” Kevin asked. “Beth’s Convoy is en route. Next stop, Kapiolani Medical Center.”
Beth smiled. The seven of them walked together. The fact she had found so many survivors already gave her a sense of relief. She hoped someone was helping Donovan at this same moment.
Watching Melvin and Verna, her heart swelled and wept. Swelled because their love was pure and undying. Wept because she longed for Donovan to be by her side. Melvin held Verna’s hand in his wrinkled grasp. Their banter made Beth smile. They were utterly cute, and Beth wished to experience marriage with Donovan well through their golden years. She wanted to be in his embrace even when he was frail. She wanted to fight with him and make him laugh even in the retirement home. She wanted to kiss their great grandbabies and lay in bed, at the end of their days, knowing they lived a long and happy life. But would she?
“How did the two of you stay together when the wave hit?” It was a question that had nagged at Beth since she saw them together on the tree.
“I never let go of her hand,” Melvin said.
An arrow dove through Beth’s heart, shredding it and leaving a gaping hole. “H-how?”
Melvin frowned. “I don’t know. I just…didn’t.”
Seeing their hands clasped now, knowing their love was mighty enough to keep them joined, even when a great force of nature plowed into them, made her lose her breath. Especially knowing how the water had thrown her and Donovan apart as if they were twigs in a raging sea. She turned her attention to her feet and tried to silence her thoug
hts.
When her sneakers lifted out of the last centimeters of water and touched dry land, it felt strange. Not having water sloshing with each step she took made walking easier, but her feet squished uncomfortably inside her wet socks and sneakers. She wanted to dry her feet, drink a gallon of water, curl up in bed, and sleep for a week. But she had to keep walking, searching, and praying.
Sometime later, with dusk hanging heavily above their heads, they came upon a group of locals crowded around a red pickup truck. The sight of them was a huge weight off Beth’s shoulders.
In the blink of an eye, unfamiliar faces surrounded her.
“I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine,” she repeated as tears fell down her cheeks. She kept Nikki and Kevin in her line of sight. For some reason, she felt protective of them. “They need help, though. Verna has a leg wound, Melvin’s shoulder is dislocated, and the kids need to be looked at. Can you take them to the hospital?”
“We sure can,” a man said. “Hop in. We’ll get ya’ll there as soon as possible.”
“Mahalo.” Beth extracted herself from the locals and went to her group. “They’re going to take you to the hospital.”
The locals laid Verna in the back of the truck. Nikki huddled in a corner with one arm hooked around each of her children. Melvin sat next to Verna with his hand in hers.
Keven climbed up and held his hand out to Beth.
She shook her head and took a step back. “I can’t.”
Kevin’s hand lowered. “What are you talking about?”
“I can’t go with you. I need to look for Donovan.”
“He could be at the hospital.”
“But he might not be. He could be out here somewhere.”
“Beth, it’s going to be dangerous out here when the sun goes down.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll look for him tonight. The military should be here soon to help. I’ll get a ride to the hospital by nightfall tomorrow. But I’m not going to quit. I can’t give up on him, because he wouldn’t give up on me.”
Kevin stared at her for a long moment before shouting to the other men. “Does anyone have a flashlight Beth can have? And water?”