Heat Wave(41)

All of us look up to the mountain ranges behind us and the dark clouds that are swooping darker through the valleys. The wind is steadier now, colder and wet.

I finish my bar and dried mangos and slide my shoes on, hypnotized by the violent waves down by the shore, when I hear Logan mutter, “Shit.”

“What?” Daniel asks.

I look over at Logan. He’s staring off at the area where the stream runs across the beach before it’s swallowed up by the ocean. “It’s changed,” he says. “The stream is running brown.”

Just then, someone in the distance yells, “It’s rising, it’s rising, everyone out!” While someone else yells. “Flash flood!”

“Fuck,” Nikki swears as we all quickly get to our feet.

“What’s happening? Flash flood?” I ask with wide eyes.

Logan nods. “We have to hurry. Grab your stuff, we’re running.”

Oh my god. I pick up the backpack and hurry after them as we scamper over the rocks heading back to the stream.

There’s a backlog of people there at the stream’s edge on both sides. The stream is barely recognizable. It’s no longer clear, but brown and growing and seems to be getting higher and wider right in front of my eyes. The rocks people were crossing over earlier are nearly submerged, and people are still trying to cross over them.

“What happens if we can’t cross?” I ask Logan.

“We’re stuck here overnight. Might have to be helicoptered out.”

“Hey they have a rope,” Daniel says pointing to a guy who has tied a long rope around one tree and now is crossing the rocks with it. “He’ll tie it on the other side. You can cross by hanging on.”

“I don’t know,” Logan says warily and just as he does so, the sky opens up and rain starts to fall. “We have to go now if we’re going to go.”

“I’m going,” Daniel says. “Otherwise there’s no bartender for tonight and I’m not giving up the tips.” He makes his way to the swollen banks and grabs onto the rope after the guy has safely used it to cross the water. The rocks are now totally submerged and the water looks to be at least three feet high and moving faster and faster.

“Me too,” Nikki says, going after Daniel.

Logan looks at me. “Get on my back. It will at least save your phone.”

I look down at the stream. Everyone is steadily crossing using the rope. No one is getting a piggy-back ride.

“I’ll keep it in my hat,” I tell him and I quickly take out my phone and slide it in under my baseball cap.

He stares at me, the rain dripping down his face. A few beats pass and I can’t figure out what he’s deciding. Then he nods, once. “Okay. You’re going first, I’ll be behind you.”

“Hurry up!” Daniel yells at us. He’s made it to the other side and is helping Nikki out of the water.

And I’m trying to hurry. I get to the edge and then it’s like I freeze. I can’t see the bottom of the stream, it’s just this swirling, brown, depthless water that’s rushing past me, and even though there’s another woman in front of me using the rope, the water is already at her waist.

You can do it, hold onto the rope, keep your eyes on Daniel, and go, I tell myself.

I grab the rope with shaky hands. It’s thin and slippery and nowhere near as sturdy as I thought. If anything, it’s loosened, creating a dangerous slack.

I look behind me at Logan. He picks up the rope, holding it taught, staring right into me. I can barely tear my eyes away from him to look at the rest of the people on our side of the shore. There’s about a dozen of us and they’re all waiting for me to hurry my fucking ass up and cross.

I take in a deep breath and start walking. The rocks are way more slippery, even though I’m crossing in my sneakers now and not my bare feet, and the current isn’t helping. I can literally feel it pulling at my legs, trying to drag me downstream, and every step I take is a struggle to keep going.

I’m going slow. I know I am. I can’t help it. I’m in the middle of the stream and now the water is at my chest and I’m starting to get that cold panic around my heart, the idea that I might not make it. The rope is starting move away from my fingertips, my arms are tired.

Daniel and Nikki’s faces, as well as the crowd behind them are out of focus, but I’m staring at them with all I have, afraid to look away. Nikki gestures with her hands for me to keep going.

And then someone behind me yells. “Hurry the fuck up, the rest of us have to make it!”

Fuck. That’s all it takes to jar me. I try and hurry but my leg goes to the side, to a hole, and I start falling into the stream, no ground beneath my left foot.