Okay, so we’re doing this again.
I spotted what I thought might be the turtle woman’s car. It was pancaked into the ground. I didn’t want to look because I was pretty sure I knew what I’d find—the woman dead in her car. There seemed no way she could’ve survived. But miracles did happen. I was still alive, and so was RJ. Although, he was only alive because he’d gotten out of his car just in the nick of time—to save me.
The thought gave me pause. For all the bickering we’d done, his first thought in the middle of an earthquake had been to save me. That said something about his character, something that hadn’t been spoken in the past. I wanted to know this man, not Chad the dickhead neighbor, but RJ, the man courageous enough to risk his life for me.
And now I had to be courageous for him, for me… and for the turtle woman in her car. If there was even the slightest possibility she could be saved, I’d have to try. But one horrifying glance inside gave me the answer. Tears welled in my eyes. Had she backed out of her parking spot a minute sooner, she would have been free and clear of the garage before it collapsed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, placing my hand on the twisted metal that had become her grave. “I’m so sorry.”
I wanted to collapse to the ground and rage over the unfairness of it all, but I didn’t have the luxury of mourning for this woman I’d never known, not when a man I did know was still breathing. In that moment of reflection, the tiniest ray of light caught my eye. A hole in the destruction. No, not really a hole, more like a precarious gap in a life-size Jenga game. Remove one piece and the entire thing comes tumbling down. But if I didn’t take my turn, I would surely lose.
Ascending the precarious mound of debris on my hands and knees, I used my fingers to dig out an opening wide enough to allow myself to squeeze through. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes. I repeated the childhood mantra over and over in my head as each part of me emerged into the outside world. It was only when I was finally free of the earth and standing on new colt-like legs that I saw the true scope of what I’d survived. My apartment was gone… as was a good chunk of the building where I’d once lived. I said once because it was clear I’d never live here again. A section of the west side of the complex had collapsed sideways, pancaking on top of the parking garage where RJ and I had been trapped—where he was still entombed. The rest of that wing tilted precariously to one side.
Looking out over the ruins of my former life, I now understood what people meant when they said, ‘Life changes in an instant.’ Mine just had—the repercussions of this day, I was sure, would stay with me for a lifetime. And for one selfish moment, I mourned the inanimate pieces of my life that were gone. My vintage table thrifted at a flea market. My childhood stuffed animal. The bohemian chic balcony where I tortured RJ with my rules—the ones he’d never once abided by. All the things I’d thought so important once upon a time were now buried under rubble, and yet I was the lucky one. What of those who had lost loved ones? Their pets? Their lives?
My chest tightened just thinking of RJ’s plight in the parking garage. If he knew what I knew now, would he have even a shred of hope? Somehow in all this destruction, we’d been spared. But how? The only explanation that made any sense was that the twisted metal had created a pocket, a lifesaving shell that had kept our fragile bodies alive. But with smoke and fire from exploding gas lines creating a hazard aboveground, how much longer could RJ survive inside that bubble before the harrowing conditions outside came seeping through?
There was no time to waste. RJ needed saving right now. I scanned the chaos. Firetrucks and police cars were already here, lining the street. Their ladders were extended, moving from balcony to balcony—or at least those that were left—as the rescue efforts got underway. I raced for the nearest unit and descended upon a young man in yellow fireman pants.
“Please.” I grabbed on to his jacket. “My neighbor needs help. He’s trapped in the parking garage.”
The fireman—so youthful-looking I had to wonder if he’d been recruited to the force out of middle school—scanned me, my dust-choked hair, and glass-pocked skin enough to convince him that I was speaking the truth.
“In there?” He pointed to my apartment complex.
“Yes. The whole thing came down on top of us.”
“How is he trapped?”
“His ankle. It’s under a concrete block. And that block is being held down by another block.”
The fireman winced. He actually winced. It was clear he knew more than I did about rescuing people in RJ’s situation, but I didn’t want to give him time to ponder the complexities.
“There’s a small opening around the back side. I crawled out of it. Come on.” I tugged on him. “I can show you.”
The Doogie Howser of firemen stood his ground.
“Okay, hold on a second. I need to call my captain,” he said, putting a hand up to stop my desperate rambling as he pulled a phone from his pocket. I waited as he made contact with someone on the other end of the line.
“Cap,” he said. “I’ve got a survivor from the garage. She says there’s someone trapped inside.”
There was a pause. I waited, my foot tapping impatiently. Every second of chitchat was another second RJ didn’t have.
The fireman’s expression shifted. Something was wrong. He turned away from me and lowered his voice like he didn’t want me to hear.
“Is it?” he said. “Do we know how long?”
The conversation ended, and I could tell just by his body language that whatever he had to say I wasn’t going to like.
So I didn’t let him say it.
“Let’s go,” I urged, starting to remind myself of Lassie trying to get the stupid humans to come help me pull Timmy out of the well. “I’ll show you where he is.”
“Miss… I’m sorry, but we have to wait.”
My eyes bugged right on out their sockets. “What do you mean, we have to wait? I thought you people were all about rushing in and saving the day.”
“Normally we are, but these are extenuating circumstances we have here.”
“Uh… yeah. My friend is trapped in the parking garage. All the more reason to get him out now.”
“There’s nothing I want more than to go in there and save your friend—and all the others who are trapped inside too—but the building is too unstable. One of our guys was injured in the aftershock, so now we have to wait for the structural engineers to assess the building and give us the all-clear before we can continue the rescue efforts.”
No. No! Tears flooded my eyes as his words sank in. I couldn’t accept his explanation. Wouldn’t.
“There has to be something we can do, Parker,” I said, swiping his name off the patch on his uniform. “My neighbor is in bad shape. And it’s not just his foot. I think he has internal injuries too. He won’t make it through a building inspection, much less through the night.”
Parker shook his head. “I’m sorry. I wish there was more I could do. It’s just not safe.”
“But…” I pointed up at the building, directing his attention to the firefighter who was currently rescuing a resident and her dog off a balcony. “But you’re rescuing them.”