Tempest

Part 2 - Rain Deluge

Espresso took a pen from his pocket and bent down over the platform, then drew a thick line just at the water level. Afterwards he stood back up and started for the fifth floor again, ascending the stairs without a word. He knew, too, that they wouldn't be able to swim. And there was no balconies in the whole building, or even windows that opened properly. Checking each floor, the two found no one else in the hallways. They opened every door they could without speaking a single word, until, finally, their search led them through the employee lounge room on the fifth floor and back into Espresso's office.

They sat silently at his desk. Waiting, perhaps, in terror of what might happen. And Espresso knew what he had done- what his ridiculous procrastinating had done. The dark brown walls of the room illuminated helpfully by a yellowish glow, it felt trapping. Like, perhaps, the walls were soaking in the water and slowly leaning in until there would be no where left in the room to stand. Then the lamp flicked off with no one touching it, and, along with the now blue light of the dark room, the entire building slowly cooled down.

Espresso looked blank. His racing heart slowed. "I'm sorry." He said quietly, staring at where the light of the lamp had died. His brown eyes held no look of apologetic expression while he sat with his hands folded neatly in his lap.

His bag, filled with the papers he had placed in it, rested against the desk. For a moment, it felt like everything was stagnant. Everything but the speeding winds and harsh rain going on outside, and the water lapping innocently against the building and slowly, but not quite so slowly, rising.

When Madeleine didn't respond- although not because he didn't want to speak to Espresso- his friend stood and walked past him to exit the room, leaving the paladin to sit there with only the sounds of the rain and his feelings of dread to accompany him. We're stuck here. He thought pitifully, as if mourning his own life. No way out but swimming, and we can't do that. How much will the water rise? A good question, since, down the staircase out of sight from either Espresso or Madeleine, the water started to go higher up until it submerged the first platform. Past the drawn line of pen, greenish in colour, and completely dark without light to shine above.

Madeleine didn't know how much time passed before Espresso returned holding a folded blanket in his arms, with what looked like towels stacked on top. "It'll get cold." He explained briefly, setting the pile down on the floor beside his desk. "Towels are an extra precaution." He paused, hovering as if he wanted to say something else, before he walked back out the door.

Espresso returned much sooner this time, and in his arms was a collection as such: two flashlights, a chess board, a book (of which the title was unreadable in the light), two water bottles, and a plastic container filled with a crumpled thin white fabric of sorts. He dropped everything out of his arms onto the floor and left the room again.

Madeleine stood and flattened out the white fabric in the container, which was thin and clean. A lab coat. He stuffed it back into the container and looked out down the hall where he had seen Espresso leave, spotting him coming out of a different room with a ceramic plate resting on top of a pillow, making his way back to his office.

Once Espresso got back in the room, Madeleine finally spoke. "What's all this for?" He asked, and glanced at the plain bagels on the plate. He wasn't hungry at all, and at that moment they seemed quite unappetizing.

"We'll have to wait out the storm, since we can't leave the building. Come help me find things in the lower floors." Pause. "In case the flooding gets worse, they'll be gone first."

Madeleine nodded and followed Espresso back to the staircase, somewhat impressed at his friend's ability to keep a cool head and prepare in such a suddenly drastic situation. They descended the stairs until the water reached the soles of their shoes, and they were at the second floor. Madeleine wondered, not so vaguely, how many other people had gotten trapped. And with a stuck throat, how many people hadn't been able to escape the water before it rose above their heads. He swallowed hard and opened the first door he found, letting Espresso go on to the next one. Anything useful. Find anything useful.