Coming Home to the Mountain: Complete Edition

2. Tallie

CHAPTER 2

Tallie

I t all happened so fast.

I was making breakfast for my sister and her daughter. Nothing fancy. Just bacon, eggs, and toast.

I’m so grateful that Julia has taken me in. With everything going wrong for me, things aren’t going much better for her. She at least has an apartment and a decent job, and said she could use help dealing with the handful that is her daughter Lucy. I’ve been hoping to rebuild from nearly nothing, and be a good sister and aunt while I’m at it.

I was pondering what jobs I could take while still being a caretaker to her one-year-old little girl, imagining that this morning I’d be sitting down in front of a laptop doing research and putting in applications.

I may as well have been planning for my trip to the moon with as likely as that is to happen now.

Our phones went off. An emergency alert. Flash flood warnings, and an immediate evacuation order. My sister and I looked to one another – it was so odd. Extreme weather doesn’t happen in rural Washington state. Then we heard the ground tremble, and Julia deciphered what was happening.

A mudslide. A big one, coming down from the hill above. We grabbed what little we could – diapers, a few jars of baby food, our phones – before we freaked and just got out the door. We looked up at the hills.

We saw doom rolling over our town, our home.

We ran. I had Lucy in my arms. She was crying, aware enough to know something was terribly wrong. It was chaos as everyone in town fled. People were waving us toward where they believed safety to be, far from the valleys. Traffic was jam packed, which I never thought possible in a town as small as Hobson. We ran on foot, seeing that it was far faster, more and more people abandoning their cars as they decided the same.

Julia told me she was going to run ahead. Question the official-looking person about where they should go. I nodded, holding Lucy close to me.

I haven’t seen her since.

I kept running, heading up the hill, hoping to get far enough away from the mudslide.

We get further and further away, and I see the mud flow past me. I think I’m safe, but in my panic I’ve lost track of the crowds. I try to turn back to join them, hoping there’s safety in numbers.

Only to see my retreat has been cut off by the slow-moving torrent. I don’t dare chance it, not with Lucy in my arms.

So I scramble up and away from it. I go toward a tree. I find what I hope is a safe space and try to rock her to sleep, feeding her the only bottle I have. I dial 911. The signal is busy. But I stay on the line. I keep trying.

We’re all alone and it’s been hours. Hope is fading from me, but I hold on for Lucy. I hear helicopters overhead, then see them. There’s a whole air armada of them. The mudflow has stopped, but where my sister’s home once was, there is only dirt, and not very firm-looking dirt either.

The helicopters must be here to rescue people. Now I just pray they’ll find me and Lucy. Did I doom us by fleeing from the crowd in panic?

My hair is blown over my face as a helicopter hovers overhead. I’m surprised at how loud it is. Lucy, who has calmed down due to exhaustion more than anything else, starts to cry again and I can’t particularly blame her, because really? I want to cry too.

Descending from the helicopter on a rope ladder is a man in thick boots and jeans. He touches down on the ground, and I see he’s wearing a bright yellow vest over some green flannel.

He looks my way, and I can’t help but feel like everything is going to be okay.

Just from looking at him.

He’s handsome as hell, with a well-kept beard, piercing blue eyes, and a dashing smile as he lays his eyes on mine. “I’m here to help, miss,” he says, looking toward me and the child I carry.

“You’re part of the search and rescue?” I say, suddenly realizing that I’m a bit awestruck by the sudden appearance of this handsome man. Maybe in shock, too.

“Yes, we’re going to get you and your child out of here. We have a shelter in place at the fairgrounds. Come on.”

My child?

I’m filled with dread as I remember my sister. I look at the devastation surrounding me. I hope to God she found her own way out. But my hope is weak at the moment. If worse comes to worst, I need to hold onto Lucy. The last thing she needs after all this is to end up in the hands of that dickhead that is her supposed father.

The man wraps his arms around me and tugs on the rope ladder, which causes the helicopter to lower, the gusts created by the aircraft growing more intense. I know his embrace is meant to shield me and steady me, but I can’t help imagining it being more than that.

“I’m Graham Rough, an officer of the Home Police Department,” he says. “I’m going to get you and your child somewhere safe and sound. What’s her name?”

“Lucy,” I say.

“A beautiful name. And how about you?”

I swallow audibly. “Tallie Miller,” I reply, feeling overwhelmed by this man who has just rescued us. His eyes reach mine, making me feel safe, like somehow we are going to be okay.

Graham helps me and Lucy into the helicopter, and buckles us into some seatbelts.

Still holding Lucy tight, I worry about my sister. I worry about our future. All my hopes and dreams were in Julia’s apartment.

And I worry about Julia herself.

I pray she’s already been rescued and is at the shelter.

Everything is being left up to hope, and that’s terrifying to me.