Page 75 of Grumpy

When Jackson had appeared with Maddie, Kelly released a breath she felt like she’d been holding for hours. Jackson placed her down at the mouth of the pipe, and Kelly rushed forward, helping to guide Maddie inside.

“Get as far back as you can!” Jackson had ordered, looking over his shoulder.

Unfortunately, as far back as they could go was only a few feet. A rusted metal grate blocked the entrance any further, most likely there to keep out large debris and animals.

“Where’s Grumpy?” Kelly had shouted, pulling Maddie down into the cold water and wrapping herself around the pregnant woman. Maddie also folded herself over, both of them using their bodies to shield her vulnerable belly.

“He’s coming!”

That was the last thing Kelly had heard before the most awful sounds she’d ever heard in her life approached them. If there were demons out for her soul as her mother believed, Kelly imagined that was how they sounded. It was powerful, a primal reminder of how small humanity was. She ducked her head, slammed her eyes closed, and covered her ears with her hands.

Kelly remembered feeling herself being pulled to her left, out the entrance of the pipe. For a second, she’d debated on letting go of Maddie. If she was pulled out, she didn’t want Maddie to be taken too. But then she realized that if she was being pulled, so was Maddie. Instead, she tightened her hold and wrapped her hands around the bars blocking them from going any further into the pipe.

Everything felt heavy, like a roller coaster shaking too violently to remain on the track. Later, Kelly would contemplate the perception of time. It felt like hours, days, endless and unknown, when the reality of the tornado passing their fixed point was only thirty-three seconds. Thirty-three seconds where the rest of the world never even noticed the infinite hell they were enduring.

Now, there was silence. A moment frozen in time where the world forgot to breathe.

Like waking from a dream that gripped her hard, Kelly slowly dared to move. She was soaked, shivering. Her coat, her phone, her purse were all still inside the SUV. Her hands did not want to detach themselves from the rusted metal rungs. It took many painful seconds, her flesh seeming to have adhered itself to the grate.

As she started to move, so did Maddie. Small beams of light pebbled them, making her believe the dusking sun was at least trying to come out. It wasn’t much, but enough for Kelly to make out Maddie’s shape. The pipe was too small to stand up and stretch out in, but Kelly was able to detangle their limbs.

“Are you okay?”

“I-I th-think s-so.” Maddie was shaking worse than Kelly was. Sitting in this cold water was not good for her or the babies.

The water sloshed at their feet as they started to move. It was significantly lower than when they’d entered. With her back to the entrance, Kelly got Maddie to her feet, both of them hunched over to prevent hitting their heads on the roof of the rounded pipe.

The sharp grimy smell of the water and the pipe permeated the air, but Kelly thought she caught the copper of blood too.

Together they turned towards the entrance of the pipe—and froze.

The staggered light beams weren’t the sun trying to break through stubborn clouds, but a clear sky shining around the silhouette of a man.

“Grumpy!” Kelly shouted at the same that Maddie yelled, “Dad!”

They bolted forward the few steps that separated them, their shoulders too wide to fit side by side. Kelly got to him first, her entire body shaking in fear, but stopped just before touching him. He was awkwardly positioned, his head tipped against the top of the pipe at his neck, arms braced at the sides, legs spread. He looked like he was stuck, though Kelly couldn’t figure out how. When he didn’t respond to either of their shouts, Kelly feared his neck was broken from its odd angle braced against the top of the pipe.

Carefully, with unsteady hands, Kelly reached forward to touch his face. He jumped, eyes flying open and gasping for breath. Startled, Kelly leapt back and nearly toppled Maddie over. Both women shouted their surprise as Grumpy’s frantic eye bounced everywhere.

Kelly made to lift her hands again, and stilled when she saw streaks of blood on her palms. Her eyes flew up to Grumpy as he turned his head this way and that. The more he moved his body, the more sunlight he let in. Even in the dying light of dusk, it was enough to see the streams of crimson running down his cheeks from his ears.

“Oh my God!” Kelly rushed forward again.

As she did, Grumpy seemed to peel his shoulders off the top of the pipe. He fell forward, sagging boneless into her arms.

Kelly barely caught him, brought down by his weight and the fact that she couldn’t stand upright in the culvert. Everything was so cramped that Maddie couldn’t fit next to her to help. “I’ve got to put him down!” Kelly shouted, hating the idea but not having any other choice. She shifted just enough to the side that she could lower him into the murky water. Kelly did not want to think about what was in that water as she twisted him so his face was up. “Get his head.”

Maddie worked to keep his head raised enough so he didn’t drown. “Is he alive?” She was still shivering.

“Yes,” Kelly snapped, because the alternative was unthinkable. “The stubborn-ass man survived an explosion to reschedule a date with me. He’ll survive a tornado to be there for you.”

Maddie looked both shocked and impressed by Kelly’s choice of words. “Why isn’t he moving then?”

“I think he passed out.” Pushing her worry and fear aside, Kelly leapt over Grumpy’s hips and feet to land just before the entrance of the culvert. Bending, she grabbed his socked feet. She didn’t know where his slippers were, and that certainly wasn’t a priority right now.

Together, they pulled and pushed him from the drainage ditch, using the water to help lighten their load. As soon as they were out, Kelly looked around.

And around.