I tried calling out again, but the only answer I received was silence. I wiped the rain from my face as I walked through the living room and called out once again, “Sarah!” When there was no response yet again, I repeated her name, louder this time. While I was waiting for a response, I looked around as I walked through the house. I paused when I noticed a blue blanket draped over the back of an old sofa.

I had to shake my head. Wow, I thought. She still has that thing.

The blanket was the one she had used during the pandemic to hide under when she shared a car ride with me. She had to know it didn’t provide any protection. Yet she did it anyway. Then again, maybe she just wanted privacy so that I wouldn’t see what she was looking at on her phone.

A couple of photo frames were on the wall. Most of which were actually her boyfriend’s family. I ignored those and concentrated on the ones with her in them. For a moment, I felt a flicker of guilt because of how distant we’d become.

I walked slowly down the hallway until I suddenly came to a stop. Through an open door, I saw a nursery. Frowning, I slowly glanced into the room. Before, I had felt like an intruder. Now, it felt even more wrong.

The room was dimly lit by my truck lights. My breath caught in my throat when I saw the familiar sight of brown, hand-painted teddy bears holding heart-shaped balloons along the wall next to the ceiling. I couldn’t believe she had painted them in her boyfriend’s mobile home.

Standing there in a daze, I silently took everything in. There was a crib in one corner. Tiny stuffed animals peeked out from under a baby blanket. A rocking chair sat by the window, illuminated by my truck’s headlights.

Sarah was probably pregnant, although she obviously wasn’t very far along. In fact, she might only be thinking about having a baby. At least that was what I assumed since there weren't any other baby items in the room.

Maybe she had changed her mind and regretted having the abortion. I didn’t blame her. She had just moved out. Even though I was decades older, I still had conflicting feelings about it.

Frowning, I took another look around the room before leaving the room. A flash of lightning lit up the room as I tried to gather my scattered thoughts. Although I didn’t want to admit it, the nursery had affected me.

Still, I could think about the implications later. At the moment, I needed to check out the storm shelter in the backyard. I concentrated on what needed to be done and I walked toward the back door.

The wind was howling when I stepped outside. It hit me like a wall, tearing at my clothes. Rain whipped against my face. This time, I almost had a heart attack when a flash of lightning startled me. It was followed almost immediately by a clap of thunder. My heart pounded in his chest as I moved across the yard toward the storm shelter.

On the way, I noticed branches and small tree limbs scattered across the back yard. The opening to the storm shelter was underneath a large gumball tree next to their tool shed. I only knew what type of tree it was because I almost slipped and fell when I stepped on one of the gumballs.

What a stupid place for a storm shelter, I thought.

It sounded like a horrible idea to build a storm shelter underneath a tree. I wasn’t even sure what to call the storm shelter’s entrance. A door, a hatch, a trapdoor, whatever it was called, a large limb from the tree had fallen across it.

I tried to tug it away. However, the branches were tangled with the handle, making it difficult to open. I also noticed that one of the branches had pierced the turbine on top of the storm shelter.

The pelting rain faded into a light drizzle. The wind also died down. The unexpected calm was eerie. That was when I finally heard the sound of my daughter screaming for help. I could even hear her beating against the storm shelter door from the other side now.

My pulse quickened when I realized that they were trapped. I hurriedly grabbed one of the branches and tried to pull it off the door. However, it barely budged. It was slick with rain and the cold bit into my fingers as I strained against it.

“Sarah! There’s a tree blocking the entrance,” I yelled as I tried to pull the tree limb off the door again. It was heavier than it looked and the rain didn’t help. “Come on!” I growled, frustration mounting with each failed attempt.

I straightened for a moment when strong winds started blowing again. The tree branches above me moaned in protest. I glanced up and noticed other dead branches were hanging above the shelter. Some of them looked like they could come down at any moment.

Ignoring them, I gripped the fallen branch with both hands again. Then I pulled. I put every ounce of strength I had into it. My only reward was the wind roaring louder, as if mocking me when the branch didn’t budge.

Unlike the last time, though, I wasn’t pinned inside a car this time. I screamed in anger and finally managed to make the limb shift. I glanced around, searching for something to use for leverage.

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I needed something, anything that might give me the strength to move it. I quickly discarded the idea of searching through the tool shed when I realized that I couldn’t hear her boyfriend. Something must have happened to him.

After another tug, the branch gave a little more. Just a bit further, I thought.

Finally, I managed to pull the limb away from the entrance, at least a little. Just as I was about to open the door, I heard a loud crack. Before I could react, something heavy slammed into me from above.

The world spun as pain exploded in my skull. My knees gave way as I collapsed onto the muddy ground. My vision blurred, and for a moment, everything went dark. The wind screamed around me, but it felt distant, muffled. My body felt heavy.

All I could do was lay there in the mud for a moment. Rain pelted my face as I tried to focus. The world kept slipping into and out of focus. I reached up and felt warm blood trickling down the side of my head. A wave of dizziness threatened to pull me under.

Fleeting glimpses of my past seemed to blend together. I wasn’t sure whether I was reliving the accident where my daughter had died or where I had been pushed through a glass door while trying to stop a shoplifter. Both nights it had been cold and wet. However, it was that same coldness that somehow cleared my mind.

Get up, my mind screamed. You have to get up.

After taking a deep breath, I forced myself to sit up. My vision spun and I fought the urge to vomit. Although dazed, I managed to stand. Then I planted my feet and pulled with everything I had. The branch splintered as it shifted. I felt it lift, inch by inch, freeing the hatch beneath.

I fell back into one of the other branches as it abruptly gave way. I felt a stabbing pain in my back. However, I ignored it as relief flooded through me when I realized that I had succeeded. Quickly, I pushed aside the smaller branches. I reached down, gripped the handle, and pulled it open.

Sarah stumbled out and hugged me before immediately pointing to the dark water. Her voice trembled with urgency and fear. “Dad, Jacob… he went under the water. He’s drowning, Dad!” Her eyes were wide with panic as she clutched my arm, desperate for me to do something.

I wasn’t even sure how I noticed. Usually, I was oblivious to such things. However, something about how the white shirt clung to her skin drew my attention to a baby bump. I realized immediately why Sarah was asking for me to save him. She was worried about both her baby and her boyfriend.

Although it was too dark to see anything in the water, I jumped into it without hesitating. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a mistake. I landed on something that pierced my leg. Reaching down, I tugged a jagged piece of wood out of my leg before diving into the dark water.

It was impossible to see anything. The water was thick, clouded with dirt and debris. My arms stretched out blindly. My fingers brushed against splintered wood and the concrete steps and walls.

My lungs burned as I groped around. My hand finally touched his arm. Relief flooded me. However, it was short-lived. Jacob was limp and unresponsive. His body was heavy as I pulled him toward me. My leg screamed in protest as I pushed off the bottom, propelling us both upward.

A jagged edge of something scraped against my side, but I didn’t stop. My chest ached, desperate for air. However, I refused to let go. I dragged him with me through the suffocating darkness.

I suddenly realized I had done this once before. My sister had fallen into our pool. When I went outside to join her, I noticed her on the bottom of the pool. Luckily, I had been there for her that time.

Breaking the surface felt like being reborn. I struggled to pull Jacob onto the concrete shelter steps. My hands slipped on the slick surface, and I had to use every ounce of strength to haul him out. Blood mixed with the water dripping from my body. It swirled around my feet as I collapsed beside him, panting.

For a moment, the world spun and my vision narrowed. Despite this, I forced myself to focus. I slapped Jacob’s face lightly and pressed my ear to his chest. My heart sank when I didn’t hear anything.

For some reason, I was starting to shiver and felt weak. In fact, I was starting to shiver. Because of this, I pointed to Jacob and said, “CPR.” Sarah immediately started doing chest compressions while I slumped down.

At first, I had feared it might be too late. However, even before she started mouth to mouth, he spit out some water and rolled over onto his side.

For some reason, I wasn’t feeling any pain. Unfortunately, I felt chilly one second and then nauseous the next. Curious, I looked down at my leg.

Wow, I thought. Even that time when I cut one of the veins in my leg, there wasn’t this much blood.

Instead of being scared, though, I just felt sleepy. It was weird. I could feel blood spurting out every time my heartbeat. Since I was tired, I decided to close my eyes and rest for a moment.

The next thing I knew, Sarah was shaking me awake. I was a little annoyed. I was about to close my eyes again when I heard Sarah say something. I didn’t know what she said, so I looked at her. Then I frowned, because her boyfriend was calling someone.

Why is he using my phone? I wondered. Or is that one of the phones I bought for them?

Sarah looked at my leg. “You’re hurt,” she said, her voice trembling.

Smiling weakly, I said, “It’s okay.” Although my leg was throbbing, I wasn’t going to tell her that. Each heartbeat made the murky water below redder. It spread out in swirling patterns. It was hypnotic. The sight should have terrified me, but instead, a strange calm settled over me.

For some reason, Sarah was shouting something to me. Then she shook me before she started to do something to my leg. I heard say, “Dad, come on! Please!” Her voice sounded strained, almost as if she was panicking. “Stay with me!”.

I tried to mumble back, but I don’t know if she heard me, “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Sarah’s voice called out again after that, but it was distant, fading as my vision blurred. At one point, I realized that the tornado siren had been replaced by an ambulance siren. I hated that sound. My mind was already a little muddled, and old memories surfaced as I struggled to separate the past from the present.