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I began to follow too, but as Ellis got to the next house down, an older man came out with his arm around a woman, and Ellis stopped running. “Mr Lim! Winnie, are you okay?”
I stopped as well and let them talk in private.
I was glad they were okay, but my god... this whole street... I wanted to do something. I wanted to help. But I didn’t know where to start. I was so tired and saddened, and I was so sorry that this had happened.
It wasn’t my fault, I knew that. But still, there was a shadow of responsibility that hung over me.
There was no way to predict which street exactly would get wiped off the map, but any of these waterfront homes were a risk. Sure, we knew the warmer air over land would affect the trajectory of the cyclone, coming from the cooler air over water. We knew the science behind it.
But Mother Nature was an unpredictable beast.
There were always likelihoods and probables.
Behind Ellis’ house was a nature reserve, by the looks of it, that fronted the bay. The cyclone hit land right here. Not a few streets over, not Tully’s house. Not a few streets over from that. Not his parents’ house where they’d all sheltered.
Thank god.
Having them all seek shelter in one place had been frightening, and in hindsight, probably foolish. If it had been their home that was hit, if they didn’t have a cyclone-proof cellar, Tully could have lost his entire family in one fell swoop. Every single one of them.
Does he know how close he came?
How would one salvage the wreckage from that?
How did we salvage anything from this?
Looking at Ellis’ house, I wasn’t sure what was left to salvage at all.
I walked into the mess of what was left. It was sodden and strewn everywhere. There was half a wall to the right still standing, nothing on the left, and there was no roof at all. Plasterboard was everywhere, half a couch upended, clothes, papers, a broken table. The kitchen island bench was still there, but the fridge was now laying a few metres outside.
I wasn’t sure what I could tread on, so I didn’t go far. It was unsafe, and the last thing the hospital needed right now was me being injured for being stupid.
“Jeremiah?” Tully called out from where he was standing with Ellis. “What are you doing?”
They were at the front of the house. I gave him a sad smile. “I know. I just...” My foot slipped a little, and I looked down to see I was standing on what was a piece of kitchen cabinet or a dresser of some kind. But I spotted something else, half hidden.
It was a clock.
It was silver and art deco, or some other style I wasn’t familiar with. It looked old and maybe it meant something to him. I had to lift a piece of plywood off it, but I picked it up, surprised by its weight, and brushed it off. I walked out with it, stepping over everything, and Tully held his hand out to help me over the last part.
I handed the clock to Ellis.
He took it with a teary smile, wiping the crystal face.
“Granddad’s desk clock,” Tully said.
Ellis nodded and wiped a tear from his cheek. “It was upstairs,” he said.
Christ. This house used to be double storey?
Tully pulled his brother in for another hug as their parents arrived, clearly shocked by what they saw.
“Oh, good heavens,” his mother whispered, her hand to her mouth.
Their dad put a hand on each son. “Thank god you weren’t here, Ellis.”
A fire truck turned into the street, lights flashing, and they cut the siren. They stopped at the first house.
“Let’s see what we can find,” his dad said. “Before they kick us out.”
