Page 34 of Love Fast

All of a sudden, my stomach turns over. What was I doing, coming down here? I should have stayed up at the Club. At least I was with other people there. What happens if the tornado lifts the roof off the cabin? I might get buried under a pile of logs.

If I’d been at home, my mom would be telling me what to do. She probably would have told me to stay at the Club. I’m not used to ordering food at a restaurant and I’m not used to deciding where to ride out a tornado. I look out into the black sky. It’s too late now to head back to the Club. The bus turned right around when it left me. Nerves tumble in my stomach. I don’t know what I was thinking coming down to look for a stray cat.

Athena’s probably safely tucked away somewhere—maybe even the home she escaped from. If she could see me, she’d be licking her paws with disdain, contemplating what a fucking idiot I am.

The shuttle bus is long gone. Maybe I could get a cab? I’d feel terrible bringing someone out here in these conditions, especially since they’d be returning down the mountain alone. I’ve left everything too late.

I just need to do the best I can. Nothing left for it now but to go inside and try to get warm.

I peel off my coat and hang it on the back of the door. “Athena!” I call again, just in case I locked her inside this morning when I left. She’s used to her name and usually saunters toward me when she hears it. Maybe she needs a little incentive. I grab her cat food and put some in her dish. “Athena!”

Nothing.

I head to the bedroom to check in there. Opening the door, I hear the rain hammering against the window. It’s fierce. I wish Athena were as eager to get inside.

I dip down to check under the white, metal-framed bed, but it’s clear.

The rain is relentless.

Drip, drip, drip.

Wait. That’s not rain.

I try and silence my breathing so I can hear better.

Drip, drip, drip.

That sound is definitely coming from inside the cabin.

Just then, the sound of creaking wood splinters through the bedroom. Shit, is that the ceiling? I don’t know where I’m safe. And that’s when I see the pool of water on my bed. I glance up to a ceiling bulging downward, dripping a steady stream of water.

“Oh no!” I cry out.

I go into the kitchen and grab the biggest pot I can find to put under the leak. It won’t keep the ceiling from caving in, or save the mattress that’s probably already soaked, but I need to feel like I’m doingsomething. Anything.

I really need to move the bed and save it from any further damage. The room isn’t big though, and no amount of shifting left or right will escape the steadily worsening leak. I should call Beth and Mike.

And I need to find Athena.

“Athena,” I call out, my voice strained as I push the foot of the bed frame with all my body weight. Once the frame hits the far wall, my suspicions are confirmed—it’s not far enough to escape the leak.

Now the drips are hitting the edge of the bed and the creaking sounds louder. There’s so much water. I bet it got through to the mattress. Maybe I should just pull the mattress off the bed and put the pot on the bedframe.

I pull at the mattress, but it’s about a foot thick and feels like it’s full of bricks. How is it this heavy? When I manage to move it down to one end, it gets stuck at the other. Maybe I can pull it from the other side? I clamber over the bed, my pants getting soaked from the pool in the middle of the blankets.

I get to the other side of the bed, but realize I can’t get down between the wall and the frame.

Shit, I’m bad at this. I need to pull the bed back to where it was, or at least a couple of feet from the wall so I can get on the other side and push. I climb over the bed again, getting even wetter.

Is it me, or is the leak getting worse? Is the ceiling likely to cave in?

I start to pull the bed, first the head and then the foot.

A pounding at the door makes me screech in surprise.

Maybe someone found Athena and has brought her back? For a second I wonder if it’s Frank, swooping in to rescue me. I suppose that’s what his role was meant to be in my life—a man rescuing me from a future I didn’t want. But he was just offering a different future. Not a better one.

As I make it out of the bedroom, the cabin door opens and Byron appears in the doorway. His hair is slick with rain and he’s breathing hard.

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