Chapter 24 - It was mid-summer when the sirens went off.
Tornado warning. Chicago rarely got them, but when they hit, the city panicked.
The sky turned a bruised, unnatural green. The wind howled against the glass of my apartment.
"Basement," I told Clara, scooping her up along with her stuffed dalmatian and a blanket.
We huddled in the concrete laundry room of the building with three other tenants. The power flickered, then died.
Complete darkness.
My chest seized. The air felt suddenly thin.
No, I told myself. Not again.
I pulled Clara tight against my chest. She whimpered, sensing my fear.
Then, a flashlight beam cut through the dark.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
Mark: Are you safe? Basement?
Me: Yes. In the dark.
Mark: I'm on duty, but I'm thinking of you. Breathe, Lucy. It's just a storm. You're safe.
I stared at the screen. I took a deep breath.
He knew. He knew the dark would trigger the memory. He didn't try to fix it, he just tethered me to the present.
"We're okay, bug," I whispered to Clara.
The power came back an hour later. The storm passed.
May you like
I hadn't panicked.
I survived the dark again.
