Would You Still Be There?

About two days passed when we noticed all was quiet from the outside. I looked to my dad, who was holding up his hand for all of us to stay where we were. He walked to the cellar door, and he unlocked it, opening it and causing it to squeak. He stuck his head up and out of the door, and he started to climb up. I looked at Austin, then back at my dad, and I stood up and walked quickly over to where he was.

"What's it look like? Dad let me see!" I said. He moved over and I squeezed up next to him. It was depressing. Debris lay everywhere; there were fallen trees, fences had fallen. Somehow our house was okay, but the neighbor's house was far from okay. I could very clearly see their backyard. Yard toys were strewn about the lawn, some were even in our yard. I knew they had small children, and I hoped to God every single member of that family was okay.

Then I noticed how quiet everything really was. There were no chirps from any birds, no buzzes of bees... nothing. There wasn't even any wind to rustle the leaves on any standing trees. My dad pulled me into his side, and he hugged me tightly.

"It's probably worse in the front yard," I heard Austin say from behind me. My dad and I quickly climbed out of the cellar, both of us standing up on the sodden grass that was our backyard. Austin, Anthony, and Elizabeth all followed up the ladder, and Austin handed me my backpack. The five of us walked up to the backdoor, mine and Austin's fingers laced loosely together as my dad unlocked the back door with shaky hands. He pushed the door open finally, and one by one, we stepped into the house. The smell was like no other.

"Just breathe. You'll get used to it. It's just the smell of dirt. I can guarantee that there's an ass-load of water under the house. Let's just..." My dad didn't finish his thought as we entered the living room. The carpet was wet under our shoes, and I noticed that the living room windows were shattered. Austin gripped my hand tightly as my dad opened the front door. We all stepped through, Elizabeth closing the door behind herself. The street was destroyed. There were uprooted trees in almost every front yard. Flower petals were laying atop the water in the flooded street. It was horrifically beautiful. Some of the water was creeping up ours, and other's, lawns because of how deep it was.

"The drains are plugged and I don't have a rake. Anthony, would you get me one out of the shed, please?" Anthony did as our father asked, running back through the house to retrieve a rake. He returned quickly with it, handing it over.

There was no one in sight as our dad unclogged the storm drains. Austin held me close, and I tried to keep my shivering at bay, but it wasuseless. He only held me tighter.

"Hey... where's my car?" Austin asked. We both searched for it, but neither of us spotted it.

It took my dad an hour and a half to get all the storm drains unclogged, and when he did, the water level was going down a significant amount. It took a while for all of it to drain, and when it did, Austin and I were assigned to go check on the neighbors. We gladly did so, him and I walking down the driveway and approaching the, What seemed like, abandoned and destroyed house. The whole front of the house was damaged in some way, so it was impossible for us to get in through the front. Instead, we went through the backyard, finding their back door slightly ajar. Austin pushed the door open cautiously, his grip on my hand extremely tight. He pulled me inside with him. It was dark inside the house, so Austin fished a flashlight out of his backpack. He turned it on, and the first thing the ray of light hit was a body. I shrieked and buried my face in Austin's chest, and he rubbed my back soothingly. We backed out of the house, and we reported back to my dad, telling him when we got there that there was at least one deceased member of that family.

The rest of the day was spent checking every house on the street, making sure everybody was okay. Most of them were. There were others who weren't so lucky, and it seemed to sadden my father a large amount. He'd known everyone on this street for about a decade. It was a friendly street, and he had a right to be saddened by their deaths. It was only appropriate.

I ended up walking with Austin to his own house. It was standing, and when he knocked on the door, it was opened frantically by his mother who engulfed him in a tight hug.

"I thought we lost you, Austin. Oh my god," she said. I told him I'd see him tomorrow, and he kissed me goodbye, making it deep, telling me it definitely meant something, and I returned home to my family.

Notes

Here! :)

I updated!