“Shhh, we’re gonna be okay.” His voice startled her, “We’re gonna get out, I promise.” Chris had moved so his mouth was right against her ear to whisper without waking the girls. She could feel his warm breath on her neck; it tickled slightly.
“You don’t know that. You don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re trapped down here, that storm won’t go away, and I can’t call my family because I forgot my cell in the damn rental car.” she whispered back as a rumble of thunder could be heard above, as if to prove her point. Kathy knew she was overreacting about the storm, but she didn’t care anymore. She had finally reached her breaking point. That and she didn't have to pretend to be strong while the girls slept.
“Yes I do. This storm can’t last forever. We’ll get out of here. I left my phone upstairs, who knows what happened to it, so I can’t call my family either.” He whispered back with a bite in his tone that made her almost regret her overreaction. Almost.
“I wish I believed you. I wish I had your confidence, but I don’t. I’ve always had a severe fear of storms … I’m pretty sure it’s a phobia, but I’ve never been officially diagnosed. Anyway, what’s happening is like a thousand times worse than my worst fears.” Kathy whispered back, less emotionally this time. Maybe part of her did, after all, she wasn’t crying anymore. That had to mean something, right?
“That’s ok. I believe it enough for the both of us. We’ll be okay.” He squeezed her shoulder trying to reassure her. He didn’t sound bitter anymore.
“Have you ever experienced a tornado before? I mean before today.” Her natural curiosity was getting the better of her; helping to calm her down.
“Two, maybe three or four … I grew up in Texas, we both did.” He nodded toward Brian, “Actually, we grew up together.”
“Are you two … ?” She couldn’t finish the question. It was none of her business. It didn’t matter in any way. It wouldn’t change the fact that they had both risked their lives to save Kathy and her girls. They were doing everything they could, even now, to help her family. She didn’t care what the answer was; though secretly she knew part of her desperately wanted to know—it was in her nature to be extremely curious about everything around her.
He chuckled softly, “No, just friends. We’ve been best friends since we were five. We moved out here to go to college and just stayed after graduation. It was just cheaper to share the rent than to live alone.” Kathy heard Chris chuckle softly again and wanted to kick herself for even starting to ask the question.
“Sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say. She knew her cheeks had to be bright red from embarrassment; it made her glad he couldn’t see them.
“Don’t be, it’s okay.” Kathy felt him shrug beside her.
Melanie squirmed against Kathy as another round of thunder rolled above them. It was chilly in the basement, but their combined body heat kept them warm enough under the blankets. Chris had gone silent again; Kathy thought he had finally fallen asleep. Brian began to snore softly. Kathy realized how tired she was, but knew she wouldn’t get much sleep. Kathy rarely slept at home when it stormed either.
“Where are you from?”
“What?” She almost jumped when she heard Chris’s voice again.
“Where are you from?” He repeated a little louder.
“Oh, We … We’re from Ohio. The southern part. Small county, small town, we don’t get many tornadoes there. I’ve never seen one before. I can’t even remember when the last one hit in the area.”
“I know it’s none of my business, but I’m curious so I’m gonna ask. You don’t have to answer though if you don’t want to. Where's their dad?”
“He’s back in Ohio. We’re divorced … it’s a long story, but the quick version is he wasn’t a nice guy, and while it took me a while, I did finally accept that things weren’t going to get better so I left him.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault I have bad taste in men.” She tried to laugh but she wasn’t sure if he could hear the trimmer.
“Maybe not, but I’m still sorry you had to go through that. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s not easy to talk about … it’s not even easy to think about … and I barely know you.”
“I get it. You don’t have to talk about it. We can talk about other stuff.”
So they did. They talked for hours. She told him about her childhood, the girls, her family, and Ohio’s weather. He talked about his childhood, what it was like to grow up with Brian, his family, and Texas weather. She told him her likes and dislikes and he told her his. They avoided any more talk about her ex-husband, which made her feel better, and as they talked she focused less on the weather and more on his voice. It was very soothing and her eyes started to feel heavy.
When they finally said goodnight, the storm had calmed down enough for Kathy to doze. She was afraid to fall asleep completely. She was afraid the storm would get worse, and her nightmares about it were waiting for her.
She was at home on the phone with her father during a storm in Ohio while he was in his rig in Indiana driving through a different storm. “I picked out the cake but I can’t decide on which ice cream we should have.”
“I’m a firm believer that birthdays should always have chocolate ice cream.”
“Dad, come on. I don’t think Melanie even likes chocolate.”
“How can she not lik—ah!” She heard a loud crash and her dad yelled just as the line went dead.
“Dad!? Dad!? Are you there?”
She had later learned that his semi-truck had been hit by a small tornado and totalled. Luckily, her dad survived but the correlation between the storm she was experiencing in Ohio and hearing her dad’s truck being hit by a tornado had done a number on her…or so she guessed that’s where it started. She’s not a psychiatrist, psychologist, or even a counselor, but she considered herself fairly intelligent so her guess was a decent one.