Written in 54 minutes.

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Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Belle Forest Drive

The car rolled and rolled and rolled, the screams from the women inside swallowed by the swollen waters of the creek rushing towards Port Charles and Lake Ontario and the relentless thunderstorm.

Chase reached the side of the road just as the car landed near the bank of the creek — or what was now the bank of the creek — it had already risen almost a foot past its typical height. It was difficult to see what was going on through the rain, so Chase tried to hesitantly start down the embankment, but immediately, his foot caught in the mud and he nearly lost his balance, tumbling after the car.

“Damn it, damn it—” He scrambled back to safety, then cupped his mouth to yell down to the car below him. “You have to get out! You have to—fuck—” They wouldn’t be able to hear him —

He rushed back to his car, reached for his radio. ““Central, 3-12—signal 10-50, rollover, vehicle in the creek. Be advised, flash flooding, water rising—requesting FD and EMS, priority. Hurry!”

And then he found his cell phone, using the lights of the dashboard to find Dante’s contact information. Please let Dante be nearly here and not on the other side of the damn creek—

Below him, Sam’s sedan was upside down, the top side crushed down, windshield and windows shattered from the rollover.

Kristina could barely breathe, her fingers fumbled to unbelt her seat belt which she immediately regretted the decision when her body dropped hard out of the seat and hit the roof, a sliver of something stabbing her side. “Shit, shit, shit—”

She looked over to see Sam, still belted in but her side of the car was more crumpled, the dashboard crushed in. Her sister was moaning, blood coming from a cut on her scalp.

Kristina fumbled for Sam’s seat belt as Sam became more and more conscious. “Hold on, hold on—” she sobbed. “I’ll get us out of here. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry—”

But when she released the belt — Sam didn’t drop. The steering wheel was pinning her to the seat. “Help—” Sam swallowed hard, then tried again. “Help me—you—you have to…you have to—”

“Okay, okay—” Kristina’s eyes widened as she felt something wet beneath her knees as she knelt next to her sister. Water. The water was inside the car. “We have to get out, we have to get out—the water—it’s coming in the car—”

“Pull—” Sam held out a hand, trying to get a grip on something. “You have to pull me—”

Kristina took her  by the shoulders and try to yank Sam backwards, out of her seat, but Sam just screamed, and Kristina lost her grip.

“I can’t—I can’t get you—I have to get help—I’ll get help—” Kristina crawled towards the window. “I’ll get help—”

“Don’t leave me! Kristina! Kristina—”

But Kristina had already crawled through the window, and Sam’s cries were swallowed by the storm.

Davis & Miller: Parking Lot

Though every muscle in Jason’s body was screaming to go faster, he carefully backed out of the parking spot and pulled the SUV onto the road. The storm was getting worse, and the last thing any of them needed was to get in accident themselves.

“Spinelli, where are they?” Jason demanded to the tech that had hastily followed them to the car and was tapping keys furiously on his laptop. “Where did that call come from?”

“He’s going as fast as he can,” Elizabeth reminded, dialing her own phone. “I’ll get 911 on the phone, Diane—”

“I’m going to start with Alexis—” the lawyer next to Spinelli said.

“Belle Forest Drive,” Spinelli interrupted. His voice was a bit strangled as he continued. “Just near Cobb Creek.”

A possible accident just where they’d closed the road for a flash flood?

Jason pressed his foot down on the gas pedal — just a little bit faster.

Belle Forest Drive

Dante gripped the phone one more time. “You can’t—” His throat tightened and he had to force himself to continue. “You can’t get down there?”

“I’m getting cord from the trunk—” Chase’s voice was barely audible. “Tie it to my car and to my waist—but it’s all a mud slick—”

Dante looked out over the bridge — Cobb Creek traveled a low bridge and he’d stopped where water was already flooding over the surface, making travel by car dangerous — the car could easily be swept away.   Belle Forest Drive continued over the other side of the river and then curled out of sight into a copse of trees. “How far away are you?” he demanded. “From the bridge?”

“Maybe half a mile—”

“Dante, what’s going on?” Alexis demanded, coming up from his father’s car, still somewhat dry beneath the umbrella his father had in his hand, though Sonny was fighting against the wind to keep it above them. “When can we get past the bridge?”

“Chase, I’m going to try to get to you, okay? Don’t be stupid. Don’t try that on your own. I’m going—I’m going to get there—” Dante said, looking back over the flooded water. “I’ll be on foot, so it will take some time.”

“Dante—”

“I’ll be there.” Dante hung up the phone and turned back to his father and Alexis. “Sam and Kristina were in an accident on the other side of the creek.”

“Oh my God—” Alexis grabbed Sonny’s arm. “How bad?”

“We don’t—Chase doesn’t know. The car went over the embankment and it’s down by the creek—”

“No!” Alexis cried. She lunged forward, as if she was going to run through the floodwaters with nothing powering her but maternal terror —

“Chase is getting down there, I’m going to get there to help him. It’s all—” Dante looked at his father, saw the worry and terror he knew must be in his own expression.

“You can’t go alone—” Sonny shoved the umbrella at Alexis. “You stay  with the car—” They turned back to the road as another pair of headlights appeared.

“Please let that be emergency vehicles,” Dante prayed.

But it was a familiar SUV, and Jason jogged up to them, followed almost immediately by Elizabeth, Diane, and Spinelli.

“We have to get to the other side of the creek,” Jason said, lifting his voice to be heard over the rain. “There’s been an accident—”

“Sam was on the phone when it happened—” Elizabeth said almost at the same time.

Diane came up to Alexis, put an arm around her. “But you already know that, don’t you?”

“They went over the road, they’re by the creek, and I can’t wait to catch you up, I have to go—Chase is on his own trying to reach them—” Dante shoved a radio at his father.

“How the hell are you going to get over that creek?” Sonny demanded, gesturing wildly towards the bridge that couldn’t even be seen — the water was rushing so fast and had risen several inches while they’d been standing there.

Dante couldn’t think, couldn’t articulate a response. “I don’t know. I can’t just stand here and do nothing!”

“The SUV might be able to get across,” Jason said. “It’s higher off the ground,” he told Dante. “Let’s go—”

Elizabeth started to follow them, but Jason turned and stopped her. “No, stay here—”

“Shut up,” she retorted. “And don’t waste time trying to argue with me.”

Cobb Creek

Kristina was still crawling up the side of the hill, sliding back every few minutes. She just had to get to the top. She’d get Sam help, she’d get some to help, someone stronger who could get Sam out of the car.

She’d get help—

Then she slipped, lost her balance, and tumbled down, the world rolling rapidly until pain exploded in her head and everything went black.

A hundred yards away, the water had risen high enough that Sam’s legs were soaked, and her voice was hoarse from screaming for help, and every piece of her body was screaming in pain as she kept trying to wrench herself free.

She had to get out, had to get to her kids, had to—

Her fingers brushed a familiar object, and Sam lifted her phone from where it had fallen next to the console. It was wet, but it still lit up. She choked back a sob, and had started to dial 911—but then she felt the cold water by her waist.

There wasn’t enough time. Not for emergency to reach her.

There wasn’t enough time.

Her fingers trembled, and she dialed the only number that mattered now.

Webber House: Dining Room

Danny stretched his legs out underneath the coffee table and scowled at the computer screen with the algebra problem mocking him. “I don’t know why being normal has to include homework,” he muttered, tapping some keys, trying to think of the first step.

But it was hard to think straight about anything. It was easier for Jake and Aiden, whom he could hear in the kitchen bickering over dinner. Their mom might be in trouble, but at least their mom didn’t make everything impossible on a daily basis.

His cell phone buzzed on the table by the computer, and Danny picked it up. His mother’s name flashed on the screen, and he swallowed hard. He wasn’t supposed to talk to her. He knew that. And if he kept helping her break the rules, it would make it harder for her to get better. For them to ever have a chance to be normal again.

He hit ignore on the call, and then went back to his algebra.

Belle Forest Drive

Sonny and Alexis had both argued vociferously for maybe thirty seconds to be allowed to go with them, but it was obvious they couldn’t all go, and Sonny was given the radio to stay in touch.

The only way across the bridge that had any hope of working with the water already three feet over the road was to go fast. If the engine got flooded, hopefully the spurt of gas would get them to higher ground.

Cars could be replaced. His son’s mother couldn’t.  And Elizabeth’s only chance at freedom was trapped in the car, too.

“Ready,” Dante said. “Leave the belts off. If we need to get out of the car—” He swallowed hard, looked at Jason. “Go.”

Jason pressed the gas pedal, slowly at first to get the car moving — and then as they approached the bridge, hit it all the way to the floor — and the SUV sped up as they approached the flood waters.

Webber House: Living Room

The phone was silent for a moment and then it lit up again — his mother was calling again. Danny grimaced, then finally picked it up — “Mom, you know—”

“D-danny? Thank God. You need to listen to me.”

Danny jolted at the hoarseness of his mother, at the sounds from her side of the call — the rain sounded like it was right on top of her. “Mom?”

“Did I just hear you say Mom?” Jake said, coming from the kitchen, Aiden trailing behind him.  Danny shook him off and then put her voice on speakerphone so he could put the volume all the way up.

“Mom, where are you? You sound awful.”

“I—I’m in trouble. And I-I c-can’t get out. It’s cold—and there’s water—but just listen—”

Danny gripped the phone tightly. “What do you mean?” He looked at Jake, who was already pulling out his phone. “Where are you?”

“An accident, I don’t have a lot of time—the water—just listen to me. Please.”

He’d never heard his mom sound like this — so scared and hurt and awful — and what did she mean there was water? “I’m listening, Mom, but tell me where you are—”

“I love you. I have loved you from the moment I knew you existed. I love you. You need to know that. I know I didn’t do a lot of things right, and I—I hurt you, and I’m sorry. But I love you.”

“I l-love you, t-too. Mom, you’re scaring me. Tell me where you are—”

“You’re—you’re going to be okay, I know it. I can feel it—” There was a pause, and his mother gasped. “You have your brothers, and you’ll take care of Scout. You’re—you’re the best thing I ever did in my life. I love you so much. I wish—”

And then the call disconnected.

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