The dark air swirled around Ish. Talia felt the air collide with her body, and she shivered. Although windstorms in their town were not unheard of, this one was incredibly terrifying. The sky was blotted over with the black ink of storm clouds and blindingly cold rain stung her cheeks, and she thought briefly of going downstairs, but she couldn’t leave Ish. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. “You okay?” Talia yelled to Ish, who had gone very still at the edge of the rooftop. Ish did not reply. Talia began to fight her way through the wind to stand next to her. “Ish?” Ish turned to look at her. Her phone was in her hand. “My house-” She turned around angrily and walked over to the other side of the roof. “MY HOUSE-” The wind blew hard. Ish. Talia’s Ish. The pretty girl with short hair and blue eyes, the one with the smile and the hat and the earrings and the- Ish was falling off the roof. “NOO!” Talia screamed angrily. She jumped off the roof because why gravity? Why should she care about gravity? I’m afraid to lose you and you’re not even mine. In mid-air, Talia grabbed Ish’s hand. No, what does that change? Now she’s going to die holding hands with you. Oh, wait- a window! Talia grabbed at it hopelessly, and to her surprise, her fingers closed around it. Now what? We’re just dangling here. She lifted her leg around the window. Her feet touched solid ground. Talia exhaled, relieved. You need to get Ish. ISH. She pulled Ish up until she was on the windowsill then pulled her through the window into the abandoned classroom. Bruises. The second most terrifying part, she remembered later. When Ish slumped around her and looked at Talia, exposing purple-blue marks on her face. Then irony, when Talia remembered that they had been sent to look for survivors because “the storm died down” and they nearly didn’t survive. Lastly, there was relief. Relief, because everyone was okay except for two people she didn’t know, but they were expected to make a full recovery. And Ish was okay. Sometimes, the only way to be okay is for someone else to be.
