Excerpt: Light Perception

Hannah pulled the phone out of her pocket and looked to see who was calling so early in the morning. It was her friend Carla so she flipped it open. "Hello?"
"AAAAAHHHHHHH! Hannah! The water is coming so fast! We are climbing to the roof."
" Where are you? I thought you all evacuated yesterday."
"Come on Mom, grab the cat, too. Hannah, the water is rising quickly and my cell won't call anyone. I tried you since I knew you stayed too. My little brother got the stomach flu so we ended up staying the night. Mom, I think we need to all go up there." There was a lot of background noise of kids crying and adults shouting.
"Carla, what can I do? The water is up to our doors, too."
"I don't know. I just needed to tell someone. Oh, God! It is coming in faster now. I'll try to call you from the attic. We are retreating up there and I have to carry one of the little ones. Bye." Carla hung up.
Hannah stared at the cell phone in her hand as if it had become possessed. She dropped it on the table and ran to the side door window. Water was already seeping into the hallway and her boots splashed on the way down. Looking out the window the water seemed to be rising right before her eyes. Rushing back to the living room the radio music stopped.
"Beep! Beep! Beep! This is the Emergency Broadcast System. A flash flood warning is in effect for Orleans Parish, the 9th Ward, St. Bernard Parish, Chalmette, and Arabi. Residents are urged to move to higher ground. A flash flood means that flooding is imminent or occurring. If you are in the warning area move to higher ground immediately. The floodwalls of the Industrial Canal and the 17th Street Canal have been breached. Move to higher ground immediately. Beep! Beep! Beep!"
Hannah stuffed her cell phone back in her pocket as she moved down the hall to Grammy's room.
"What are you doing, Hunny?" Grammy called from the living room.
"I am getting your portable oxygen tank so we can move to the attic." Hannah shouted as she dug into the closet and pulled out the little portable tank. "My friend Carla and her family back right up to the Industrial Canal and they are retreating to their attic. We are next. That water will head this way too. It has no where else to go." Hannah ran back into the living room splashing all the way. The water was already covering the tops of her boots.
"I am not going up in that attic. I will never make it up that ladder and I certainly cannot make it down." Grammy had her stern face on and she turned her head in defiance.
"Look Grammy! The water is already getting in here quickly. My boot tops are already covered. I can even see the water getting higher. Even if we go up there for nothing I have my cell phone and I can dial 911 to come and get you down." Hannah kneeled down beside Grammy. "Please do this. For me. I'm scared and it will really make me feel better. I'll even bring Thomas up to keep you company."
The phone started to ring again. Hannah grabbed it and flipped it open. "Carla?"
"It's bad, Hannah. We broke through the vent in the side of the attic and can see it rising. It is over our car now." Carla's little brother and sister were crying in the background. "I can't get through to 911; I can't get anyone! Can you try for me? Are you safe there?"
"Water is coming into the house now it's..." Hannah looked down at her feet. "...about a foot up my leg. I'm trying to get Grammy into the attic just in case. I'll call for you when I get up there, ok?"
"Ok, thanks, and I hope everything turns out alright. I'm really getting scared."
The phone went dead before Hannah could say goodbye. She flipped it shut, shoved it back in the pocket, and turned to Grammy. "We are going up there. It isn't a joke; it's for real. Carla is already in her attic and she said the water if over their cars now." Hannah put her hands on either side of the walker and stared down at Grammy.
"Now don't get sassy, Child. I'll go; just think it's a waste of time and we will be bothering the good folks at 911 to get little old me out of an attic." Grammy hoisted herself to her feet and started toward the hallway. "Grab Thomas and get him up there first."
Thomas was pacing the kitchen counter ever since the water started to flow inside. Hannah grabbed a bath towel from the top of the dryer in the kitchen and wrapped it around the very scared kitty. Thomas' claws dug so deeply into the towel Hannah could feel their sharp points.
"Thomas, stop being a scardy cat!" She tucked him under one arm and pulled the string that dropped the ladder to the attic. Slowly she climbed the ladder to the top and set Thomas down. He quickly relieved himself of the confining towel and looked at Hannah with an ungrateful face. "You know you will like it better up here without the water and you know it, Thomas!"
Hannah climbed down and was met at the bottom by Grammy.
"This water is climbing! It's already to my calves." Grammy shook her fist at the water by her legs. "I shall curse this storm and all the rain it brings."
Hannah got behind Grammy and moved the walker out of the way. "I'll follow behind you. Lean on me if you need to and take your time. The water is climbing but not so fast that we have to rush on this."
"I'm heavier than I look, you know." Grammy placed her foot on the lowest rung, one that was already covered in water. "I'll take care of myself, sweetie, you just be there to place my foot if I can't find the rung."
Slowly, step by aganizing step, Grammy made it to the top of the ladder. She crawled on her knees once she reached the top and then turned and sat down. "Grab a pillow or two, and a blanket. We might be here a bit even if the place only floods a little."
Hannah climbed back down and splashed down the hall to her bedroom. Water had already climbed as high as her first dresser drawer and was continuing to climb. She grabbed a bin from the dresser and carried it to the attic ladder. Leaning it against her shoulder, like she did to get the Christmas totes up there, she climb rung after rung up to the top. Pushing it over to Grammy she returned downstairs to the kitchen.
The water was getting higher; it was up to her knees and it made walking more difficult. Hannah went to the living room and grabbed the lantern, then into the kitchen and grabbed the empty laundry basket. She opened cupboards and started throwing crackers, peanut butter and some silverware into it. She grabbed some sodas from the frigerator and went back to the attic stairs. The water covered three rungs and Hannah's foot slipped on the second.
She reached the top of the ladder and set the basket down. She lay back and panted, her feet dangling down the openning in the floor. "I grabbed some food, Grammy. That way I don't have to walk in water to get us something. I should say swim; the water is past my waist down there."
"I think the levees must have given way; water does not increase like this without a reason. It has rained harder than this before and we never saw flooding in this home." Grammy was digging through the tote of linens. She pulled out a pillow and a flannel throw that had a famous boy band group imprinted on it. She settled herself against the Christmas totes and Thomas climbed on her lap. "I think we might have to stay up here the rest of the day and call 911 in the morning. The are going to be busy in the 9th Ward and in Lower Arabi resuing people from worst than this."
Hannah got up and peered down at the swirling water in what was once a clean hallway. "It is still rising Grammy. We might be in just as much danger as those people you are talking about. The water is only three rungs away from being in the attic with us." She moved to unbury the lantern from the laundry basket. Turning it on she discovered that the attic was full of spider webs. A shiver ran up her back and she set the lantern down so that the light did not spill onto all of the glittering webs. "I think we should stay away from the lower parts of this attic, Grammy. There are spiders everywhere."