Sally just shrugged as they were trudging through the muddy, rainy, and crowded streets with wet coats. Everything was obscure, the gutters were filled with dirty water. Their drenched feet and boots whined as they stepped on the cemented sidewalk.Their bodies had gave up on providing heat and presented to the atmosphere’s harsh temperatures. The small droplets upon their face chilled their skin and faintly glowed due to the foggy streetlights. The wind howled and echoed into their ears while the rain pattered down upon the ground .The water flowed down along the sidewalk flooding the drain system.
The cars zoomed by so fast that the puddles splashed like a tsunami. With only the streetlights providing illumination along the street, the road was dark and stormy, with wisps of gusty wind here and there. The stinging rain beat down onto the asphalt streets and vulnerable heads while the trees danced fiercely with the wind.Water had squished it’s way into Sally’s shoes and her feet were freezing her nerves into icicles. Their hands, feet, and face began to numb in the bitter cold. Every step they took resulted in a puddle. Rain slid off the roofs of sheltering houses, softening up to the hard brick roofs yet pounding like hail onto the soft raincoats.All of a sudden, an anonymous fog coated the sky and Sally began to feel a spooky feeling lurching up her stomach.
Barely standing up while coughing and sneezing, Sally finally made it to Aunt Sarah’s house, with Mrs. Chipley just ahead. Sally wheezed with effort and expelled a gust of visible breath into the freezing atmosphere. The shoes of Mrs.Chipley and Sally scratched upon the wet stone that led to the door. Ding! Dong! Mrs. Chipley and Sally rang the doorbell of Aunt Sarah’s house as the rain pattered down amongst them. Thunder crackled faintly amongst the shadowy clouds, amidst the sea of rain, frying huge drops of condensation. It was as stormy as the eye of a hurricane! Moments later, the door swung open.
A tall lady with a pink skirt, blue shirt, and blonde hair appeared in front of the black front door. The howling wind with the combined sneezes of Sally and Mrs. Chipley caused the front door to shudder. “Come in, quickly!” shouted Aunt Sarah over the billowing wind and whipping hair. At the drop of a hat, Mrs.Chipley and Sally budged themselves inside the warm and toasty environment. Sally wheezed and coughed with watery eyes. They inched to the fireplace and nearly collapsed in the glowing warmth. Fatigued and malaised, Sally collapsed onto the couch dead tired. She wheezed with coughs of dreadful pain.
“W…we will go visit the doctor tomorrow,” stuttered Mrs. Chipley. “I th…think we all caught a cold today.”
“H–ahh,” was all Sally could manage. Then suddenly, she fell unconscious, shivering in the seemingly nonstop cold. Mrs. Chipley then realized she had no time to wait till’ tomorrow.
Sally had woken up to the white and pale ambiance. “Where are we?” questioned Sally as she was rested upon the white hospital bed, still sick as ever. She wheezed with rough coughs, clenching her chest at the pain.
“You’re awake! Gods, I was greatly worried! We are at the clinic now. Don’t worry: the doctor will be entering soon,” replied Aunt Sarah, with Mrs. Chipley standing near the hospital bed and staring through the window into the now blank sky. “Pneumonia.” She stated with an empty tone, she seemed crest broken.
“Pneumonia?” Sally asked. “But how can it be?” Sally began to question who had pneumonia while gasping and panting. Her curious, pale, and ill face showed that she really wanted to be acknowledged. Mrs. Chipley seemed to cry while Aunt Sarah wore the same unknowing look as Sally. “Who?” She repeated again ,coughing with effort.
“You,” Mrs Chipley replied through tears. “W-*cough*- What?” Sally groaned and wheezed. She let go a puff of air before falling back to her malnourished state. Sally was already in pain from her internal organs, but now she was also in pain from the tragic news.
“Why did it’d have to happen all at the same time?” Mrs. Chipley wondered aloud.
“Wh-what do y-you mean?” Sally pondered
“My daughter…, she’s, I can’t find her.” Mrs. Chipley sighed, her voice faltering. “Oh good heavens could the time be any worse?”
“What happened, how come you can’t find her?” questioned Aunt Sarah
“They come and go too fast,” Mrs. Chipley stated. The sorrowness of the subject brang back tears into her eyes. “I went to m-my house last night, top to bot-ttom, no s-sign of h-her.” Mrs. Chipley barely couldn’t even mutter or whisper a single word.
“How long, exactly, have I been unconscious?” Sally shuttered with uncertainty
“ A week, to be exact.”
Sally felt like fainting again. She was in shock. Her head started spinning, her vision became obscured. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. “But thank god you have recovered since then,” Mrs. Chipley stated. Just then Sally fell silent. “Isn’t that right, honey? Honey?” Sally had become unconscious once more.“I guess Sally always did like to sleep,” said Mrs. Chipley, not realizing she was unconscious. Brrring! Brrring! “I have to take this,” stated Mrs.Chipley.
She left the room with her ear pressed on the receiver. Mrs. Chipley’s voice faded as she walked down the narrow hospital hallway, until it was so silent, you can hear a pin drop on a smooth carpet floor. “Don’t look at me,” Aunt Sarah replied evenly, seeing Sally’s questioning look at her. “I know as much as you do, and Mrs. Chipley doesn’t look like she wants to share!” Following that, Sally and Aunt Sarah were able to hear rushing footsteps toward the room that they both were in.
Moments later, Mrs.Chipley entered the ward with a pale face, distressed look, and eyes wide open, full of tears. “What happened?” asked Aunt Sarah. “They’ve gone into the woods!” cried Mrs. Chipley, letting her emotions go in a panic. “The police found footsteps leading into the lake,” Mrs. Chipley stated with fear while staring out at the window. All of a sudden, the rain started to pound on the window with ferocious force. Mrs. Chipley started to faint as she managed to mumbled with a shaky voice, “My da.. da..daughter is in ter..terrible dan..danger.”
Meanwhile, Mrs. Chipley’s daughter wasn’t faring too well either. Her legs were sore, she was soaking and covered in mud, she had broken an arm due to a confusion with a stray cat and every step resulted in a grunt of pain. She sensed her mother’s discomfort for her and realized something else was also wrong. She was soaking wet from a splash in the lake and, with a shivering, broken and mud covered mouth, cried for help. She heard sirens in the distance, but her legs ached with effort and she eventually fell on the soft vegetation of the undergrowth… * * * The soft hum of an engine purred with a soft vibration. With a heave of effort, Mrs. Chipley’s daughter opened her eyes.
“Uuugh!” she cried with a wavering grunt. “My head!” Suddenly, a beeping sound came from a radio transmission receiver. An outstretched hand grasped the beeping communication device.
“I repeat, Sector 61, return to base 5 as soon as possible. Over and out!”
“Roger that: Sector 61 will arrive in approximately 15 minutes, if the traffic factor is 3.”
