He Left Our Daughter To Drown But I Saved The Footage Chapter 35
The following summer, the weather service issued another hurricane warning.
The alert sounded while Maisie was in class at the studio.
Several of the children in the room fell silent.
Maisie’s face went a little pale.
I didn’t say, “Don’t be scared.”
I just took out the evacuation checklist I had prepared months ago.
“We’re going home to get our emergency bags, and then we’re leaving.”
Maisie came to my side and took my hand.
“Together?”
“Together.”
When we got back to the apartment, she didn’t run around frantically stuffing things into boxes.
She calmly followed the checklist: documents, medication, water, her rabbit. Then she ran to unplug the star-shaped night-light.
“This is an essential, too.”
“It is.”
She placed the light in her bag and zipped it shut.
There were still four hours until the mandatory evacuation order took effect, but we were already in the car.
The family emergency fund was full.
There was no one else’s luggage in the trunk.
And every seat was occupied by the people who belonged there.
Once we were on the highway, rain began to hammer the windshield.
Maisie looked at me in the rearview mirror.
“Mom, I’m still a little scared.”
“Me too.”
She blinked, surprised.
“Grown-ups get scared?”
“We do. But being scared doesn’t stop us from leaving together.”
Maisie nodded and hugged her rabbit tighter.
As our car sped past the city limits, she suddenly pointed out the window.
The ice cream shop Evan had promised to take her to was still lit up, a sign on the door announcing its early closure.