AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m cold,” Noa said.
“I know, baby,” Olina said. “We all are.” She moved closer to Leilani and Palili. Mamo did as well until they pressed against each other.
Other people floated in the water nearby. A couple of teen boys rubbed their mother’s arms to keep her warm.
Leilani tried to think of anything else but how cold she was and how long she’d been in the water. She looked toward the shore, tears filling her eyes. The buildings that had been in her family for decades were quickly disappearing into a molten glob of fire.
“Your work,” Olina exclaimed.
“Not important,” Leilani assured her. She smiled into Palili’s face. “Family is what matters. I’m glad we were able to get to your babies before...”
Olina nodded, tears slipping from her eyes, leaving tracks through the sooty dust coating her cheeks. “We were lucky,” she said softly, her gaze meeting Leilani’s. “So many kids were home alone.”
Leilani chest ached. They’d barely had time to get to Olina’s kids and rush them into the water. What about the others?
She wanted to go back and look for more members of her community, but she couldn’t leave the ones with her. The current could easily sweep Palili’s light body away.
Flying embers landed on some of the boats moored at the jetty, setting them on fire.
Leilani couldn’t think about the loss of her businesses, her paintings, the art studio she’d loved equipping with empty canvasses, brushes, an easel and all the shades of oil paint and watercolor palettes. She’d been working on a commissioned painting for Washington Place, the governor’s mansion located in downtown Honolulu. She’d been so close to finishing. Now...gone.
As the fire consumed Leilani’s studio and gallery, she sighed. Better to have lost the painting than the lives of her friend Olina and her precious children.
For what seemed like forever, they stood in the cool water, buffeted by wind and waves, holding onto the hope that someone would come to their rescue.
Cold and exhausted, Leilani focused on holding herself together. She couldn’t let Palili know how hopeless she felt at that moment. When would help come?
Leilani fought to stay awake when all she wanted was to slip beneath the surface and sleep.
Drowning wasn’t an option—a possibility, maybe, but not a choice. Palili needed Leilani to focus on survival. Things could be replaced. People could not.
The fire burned through the night, warming the air coming from that direction. The slight lightening of the sky heralded morning.
Leilani blinked several times and tossed her hair. A horn sounded. Through the smoke, she caught glimpses of a Coast Guard cutter moving slowly, the crew plucking survivors from the water.
Leilani’s pointed. “They’re here.”
Olina hugged Noa so tightly he squirmed. When she raised her head, tears streamed down her cheeks.
Noa planted his hands on each side of her face and stared into her eyes. “Mommy, why are you crying?”
Olina laughed. “These are happy tears. I’m happy I have all of you with me.”
As the cutter moved closer, Leilani’s eyes welled, the tears spilling over and running down her face.
“Ms. Lani.” Palili stared into her face. “It’s going to be all right. They’re coming to save us.”
“Like your mama said, these are happy tears.” Leilani hugged Palili close, knowing how close they’d been to death.
One by one, they were lifted into the cutter, wrapped in blankets and handed warm cocoa poured from a thermos.
Leilani had never tasted anything so good, letting the chocolate-flavored liquid warm her insides. When she asked to borrow a cell phone, one of the rescue workers shook his head. “Cell phone towers are out. No service. We’re transmitting data via radio to our operations center.”
They gave their names to be relayed to whoever was collecting information about survivors.
As the sun rose over Maui, the smoke lifted enough to reveal the smoldering remains of what had once been a thriving community.
Leilani settled Palili, Olina, Noa and Mamo inside the cutter and headed back out onto the deck to help other survivors as they were brought aboard the cutter. Between rescues, she stared broken-heartedly at what looked like the aftermath of a bombed-out warzone, not the beautiful town she remembered.
