PART 7

CHAPTER 7

The noise became louder a second later and Andrew and Grace stared at each other with their hearts pounding louder in their chests, “Can you hear it, Grace?”

“The firefighters! They’re digging here!”

Quickly, they woke Monica and Susan up and the four started to cry for help.

“Down here! Anybody can hear us?”

“We’re stuck in here! Please help us!” the angels shouted.

Outside, Tess, together with Susan’s husband and Grace’s parents, watched as the firefighters worked, and the little girl’s mother wiped the tears that rolled down her face continuously, “I can’t understand why she had to be the only child inside that building! All the others were already in the bus... Why did she have to go back? God, is this some kind of punishment?!”

Tess stared at the woman and placed her hand on her shoulder, “Of course it isn’t, Mrs Turner! God would never use a little girl’s suffering as a punishment! And He is not punishing you or anybody here. He’s holding your hand right now and grieving with you.”

“It’s so hard to believe it, Tess. So hard when you have someone you love in so much danger.”

“I know that, Mrs Turner. But I trust in his infinite wisdom and I know He’ll be merciful to us all.”

The woman gave up drying the tears that kept on falling from her eyes, “When the earthquake started I was at the gate, waiting for the bus and finding it strange that it was late... I was worried already... But... if Grace had come back earlier we would probably be down in the basement when the tremors started; there were some things we were selecting to give to the poor...” she shook her head still not believing that all that was happening, “Our house was almost entirely destroyed... We would’ve been stuck in the basement...” she started to cry again, and Tess offered her a hug.

Although she was deeply worried about her 2 charges, the supervisor was also impressed with what the woman had just told her and raised her head up to the sky, “Father, I know you have a plan... I trust in it with all my heart...”

*

Monica and Andrew shouted for about 30 minutes but nobody answered to them, and the noise stopped. Grace sat on the floor with anguished and tired eyes, “I want my mom! I’m so afraid...”

“Shh... come here, sweetie...” Monica pulled her close in a warm embrace and soothed the girl’s hair, “Soon, I mean, very soon you’ll be with your family again, dear.”

“What if they never find us?”

“They will find us! We heard them working just now! They’re getting closer to where we are, now it’s just a matter of time!” the Irish angel spoke.

“I do pray this happens soon, Monica...” Susan added, caressing her big belly.

“It will Susan, I’m sure it will!”

Andrew stood by the laboratory door observing as his dearest friend tried to calm Grace and the teacher down, never losing her hope, not even for a second, and bearing bravely all the pain caused by her wounds.

The blond angel sighed with a mix of disappointment and worry, wondering when that situation would be over. Deep inside, he felt a sensation of panic creeping on him and, no matter how hard he tried to put it aside and focus on his assignment, it was constantly returning to his mind.

Monica pulled Grace away and turned to Susan, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, Monica, the contractions stopped.”

“Thank God.”

“I just feel a bit tired.”

“It’s over midnight now,” Andrew said, joining them, “We should try to get some sleep. Specially you, Mrs Bale.”

Monica nodded her head in agreement, “Yes, Andrew is right. You shouldn’t do any effort at all. Please, lie down and try to rest a little.”

“Ok...” the teacher replied.

“How long do you think it’ll take the firefighters to find us?” Grace wanted to know.

Andrew stroked her cheek, “I don’t know, sweetie. But, in this meantime, we should pray to God to protect us and to help them to find us.”

“Is that ok if I do it in silence, so that I won’t disturb Mrs Bale?” the girl asked, in a low voice, causing Monica and Andrew to exchange a glance and smile softly.

“Yes, sweetie, I’m sure He’s listening just the same!” the blond angel turned to his dearest friend and stroked her cheek gently and carefully, “And you? How are you feeling?”

“Hopeful, now that we are sure there are people looking for us!”

With a tiny smile, he nodded his head, “Let me see this ankle.”

Before she could protest, he had already moved to check on her wounded foot: her ankle and her shin were more swollen than before, her shoe hardly fit her small foot.

“It’s a sprained ankle, I know...” the last thing Monica wanted was to see his worried frown.

“I’m afraid it’s more than that; I guess it’s broken...” he said, avoiding to touch her swollen skin. Hearing that, the look on her face was one of fear.

“Broken?” she asked, as scared as a 7 year old little girl, causing him to regret saying that.

“I’m sorry, Monica, I didn’t mean to scare you...” he quickly sat down beside her and pulled the Irish angel closer to him in a warm embrace, “It’s just that I’m so worried and scared too...”

Monica closed her eyes briefly and let the soothing movement of his fingers gently stroking her hair put her heart at ease, like it had done many times in the past, “We all are, Andrew. Even Tess must be desperate knowing that we are here.” She raised her head to look at his face, “But we’ve been through difficult situations before, and the Father never let us down, He was always constantly reminding us of His love.”

He sighed deeply and kissed the top of her head, “I know that... But it doesn’t stop me from worrying about you all; and praying that this nightmare finishes soon.”

Monica wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tighter than before, “It will be over soon, Andrew. Be sure it will!”

Then, she placed a loving kiss on his cheek and managed to make him smile for a few seconds, “Even if I were the most faithless of the creatures, I’d be convinced by now!” hearing her giggling, he grabbed her face with both hands and rested his forehead against hers, “You’re right. We’ll go through this together, Angel Girl.”

“Don’t we always?”

*

Time went by painfully slowly in that dark night. There were no stars in the sky, as it was all covered with rainy clouds and after the firemen had rescued all the five people in charge of cleaning the school, no more sign of life had been found. To worsen the situation, much of the equipment used in locating victims of earthquakes had been destroyed in one of the buildings they were kept, and even trained dogs, which were so useful in times like these, unfortunately had been killed inside their shelter.

Andrew checked his pocket watch and saw that it was 4:30 AM. Nearly 12 hours had passed after the earthquake had hit the city in full force. Sighing heavily, the blond angel checked on his dearest friend: Monica was sound asleep on the floor, using his leg as a pillow, while Grace and Susan shared the chair cushion the girl had found. He couldn’t imagine 3 more fragile victims to be trapped under a 3 floor building and felt extremely responsible for them.

“Father...” he prayed, his voice nothing more than a whisper, “... please, protect them... Don’t let them be more hurt than they already are.”

He nodded his head a few seconds later, “I know you are with us... But please, use me as an instrument to keep them safe.”

He bent down and took some strands of hair off Monica’s face and gently stroked her cheek. Although his dearest friend was close together with him, every time he looked at her he would feel a constant and disturbing sensation of panic creeping over him again and again, “I love you, my angel...”

*

When the day started, the clouds in the sky became darker than before and it started raining. Tess, Susan’s husband and Grace’s parents stood by the security limits set by the rescue team all night long and now, together with the other people who had come to watch the firemen work, prayed in silence for the lives of their beloved ones.

But, by 7 o’clock, an event made their hearts clench with fear and panic: a loud noise was heard and, a second later, another part of the school building collapsed.

“Oh God! Please, no!” Tess covered her mouth with her hand, feeling as if all her hopes were being shattered together with the school walls.

“My daughter is in there! You have to find her!” Grace’s father tried to cross the barrier but was soon stopped by one of the firemen, while his wife nearly fainted and hit the floor had not Tess supported her. And Tom, Susan’s husband, sat on the ground with his head in his hand, speechless.

“Everybody back off! The building is collapsing!” one of the firefighters shouted, and his co-workers started to run away from the spot they were digging.

What they didn’t know was that, once more, the subsoil wasn’t affected by that landslide. In the lab, Grace, Susan and the angels were already woken up and drinking the water from the only gallon there was in the room when they heard the noise.

“What is it?” Susan asked, immediately alert.

“Is it another tremor?” Grace was equally scared.

Andrew was the first to calm them down, “It doesn’t sound like a tremor. And we would feel it if it was!”

“It probably must have been the firemen working.”

“Yes. It’s morning now and there must be more men working around the building.” Monica agreed.

“It’s so distant... It seems to be where the teacher’s room is...” Susan spoke, as she knew each part of the school very well.

“But it’s just a matter of time before they find us now. They’re looking for us there because they know you and Monica are teachers and, well, it would be the first place to start.” The blond angel concluded, and they all nodded, as it made perfect sense.

Fortunately, the part of the building which collapsed didn’t affect the lab or the area around it and they couldn’t imagine all the despair their beloved ones were facing at that moment.

All of a sudden, Susan dropped the plastic cup of water and placed her hands on her belly, “Oh my God!” the teacher cried, closing her eyes a second later.

Monica quickly placed her hand on her shoulder, “Susan? What is it?!”

“Another contraction...”

“Please, hold on in there, try to breathe!” Andrew was as scared as Monica and Grace.

And, to worsen the situation, this time the teacher shook her head, “I can’t hold it... Not this time... It’s more powerful than before!”

Grace’s eyes grew wide and the girl said what they were all thinking, “Oh my... She’s gonna have the baby!”