Running over to the stairs, Yǔfēi unlocked it, and rushed down as quickly as possible. As she descended, the sound of rushing water started echoing. By the time she was on the ground floor, the water was a roaring echo and she heard voices on the other side of the metal door. Opening it, Yǔfēi was greeted by about forty or fifty people banging on the entrance doors. She scrambled for the key, and found it. Unlocking it, she watched as they poured into the lobby along with the floodwaters. It hit her in the face and sloshed against the walls until it settled to roughly waist deep levels. Everyone was soaking wet and bedraggled. Her clothes clung jealously to her body.
"Thank you. Do you live in this building?" An elderly woman asked.
"Yes." Yǔfēi pointed at the stairs. "I can show you the way to the top of the roof. My apartment can fit everyone while we wait for evacuation. Follow me!"
After some grumbling and realising that the water is slowly rising, everyone decided to follow her. The stairwell echoed with the sounds of people young and old. There were some babies and children crying, and occasionally one of the elders fell, to be supported by any of the adults nearby. Once Yǔfēi unlocked the door, they all flooded in. Some of the adults were gaping at the myriad ink wash paintings and terracotta pottery. There was a group of children trying to pet Ménmén, who decided on slapping the children's faces with his tail.
"Ménmén, don't slap people's faces!"
"You talk to your fish?" A young woman asked Yǔfēi. "Isn't that a little weird? From my experience, only crazy people talk to animals." She stared at both Yǔfēi and Ménmén with more than a hint of disdain.
"Yes I do talk to my carp, and he makes for a great listener. Now excuse me while I call for a helicopter to evacuate us all, including you, to a safer location."
She dialled the task force's phone number. "Hello, this is Huá Yǔfēi."
"Ah Huá Yǔfēi! You're the one who called about the Calamity."
"Yes. I need a helicopter or a small airplane. Anything that can fit on the roof of my apartment building and can seat forty to fifty people." She counted everyone. "Make that forty seven people. Currently, they are in my apartment after fleeing the rising floodwaters. I'm in Gaoqiao, in the building spray painted blue." That needed to be cleaned after this.
"Alright, I'll send over a small airplane. It should be there within the hour."
"Thank you."
The sound of a wail broke through, with everyone staring at the source of the commotion. Yǔfēi pushed through the crowd. There was a man and woman comforting each other.
"Is everything alright?" She asked.
"I can't find my son! Where is he?" The woman yelled for her child. "Báizhú! Báizhú!"
Soon, more people were shouting for their children, begging anyone nearby if they had seen their children. Overall, there were two boys and two girls missing. Yǔfēi tried to look as well, but the only children she spotted were already with their parents. Suddenly, there was shouting at the window.
"Báizhú!" The woman in a drenched shawl shouted. "He's over there!"
Everyone gathered around the open window. Near a small balcony a few blocks away, the four children were stuck on a small sheet of metal, which was slowly dislodging from the balcony. Around them, the floodwaters were at full power, pushing against anything in their way—be it cars, people, or trees. Most of the parents had entered a fit of despair, and some were thinking of how to get their kids back. Yǔfēi was taking her jacket off. She kept the amulet though. It seemed...right to have it. She walked to the edge of the pond, where Ménmén swam up to the glass. He stared worryingly at her.
"Hey, I'll come back." She smiled.
Ménmén was satisfied at that answer and flicked his tail.
She cleared her throat. It's generally impolite to be yelling at a group of strangers, but this was necessary. This needed to be fast.
"Everyone get away from the window!"
All those clustered at the window made way.
"What are you doing? Why is your jacket off?" The young woman from earlier asked.
"It's only going to increase drag, and I'm going to save those kids."
She took off running, her feet pounding against the hardwood floor. Running past the astonished onlookers, she reached the window and leapt into the waters below.
The landing was rough, with Yǔfēi narrowly avoiding a trash bin and a bench. After resurfacing and reorienting herself, she spit out water and tried to find the children again. They were due north of her, but the current was pushing her to the west. She recalled her breaststrokes, one arm forward, then the next, then the next, then the next...soon she was pushing against the current, using any available buildings to propel herself forward. Dodging someone's smart car, she weaved in between the various cars in the water, diving when the surface became too crowded with debris. The sky overhead was a cloudy grey. Was it just her, or were the waters still rising? She wasn't an expert in geological Calamities, but she knew the water level shouldn't be increasing. At this rate, it would be at the same level as her apartment.
Eventually, she reached the children. Most of them were shivering and wet. Pushing herself onto the balcony, her feet landed on solid ground. She thought about possible solutions. Leading the children in swimming is out of the question. The amount of debris and hazards in the water made it unsafe, and there's the possibility that one of them would be swept away or that they succumbed to hypothermia. If she directed the little raft instead...
"Hello!" She waved. "My name is Huá Yǔfēi, and I know where to find your parents. All I need you to do is to stay on this no matter what, alright? I can pull any of you back on if needed."
They all nodded, although one of them started shaking.
"Where's my mother?"
"I'm scared."
One of them started crying.
Oh, these poor children. She scanned the water, watching a tree dipping below the surface, a streetlight bobbing along, and to her dismay, several human bodies floating. She covered the kids' eyes, despite one of them squirming underneath. They shouldn't be exposed to this, she thought.
"What are your names?" She asked. If she knew their names, then they would be more comfortable around her. At least that was what she was told by her psychologist cousin.
"Liáng Báizhú."
"Huáng Shānqí."
"Jīn Zhìmíng."
"Mèng Xiàměi."
Yǔfēi nodded. "Xiǎo Liáng, I want you to grab onto this corner." She pointed out a small part of the sheet that wasn't sharp. "Xiǎo Huáng, grab this corner." She pointed to another corner of the sheet. "Xiǎo Jīn, hold onto this. Xiǎo Mèng, this is your corner. I don't want any of you to hold onto each other, alright?"
"Yes."
"Good." She scanned the water. "Hold on tight. On five, we'll be in the water, alright?"
"Alright." Liáng Báizhú replied. "Māmā is safe?"
"Yes she is. I'm sure she'll be very happy to see you." Now's the time. "Get ready! One, two, three, four, five!"
She pushed the lightweight sheet of metal into the floodwaters. All five of them hit the water in a splash, with Mèng Xiàměi spitting out water off the side of the makeshift raft. The return journey was quicker and Yǔfēi's movements swifter. The current was rapid, and more than once she had manoeuvred the raft away from large debris such as a piece of someone's roof or a particularly large streetlight. Thankfully, the children remained calm throughout the whole ordeal. She kept a close eye on them. If they huddled together for warmth...no! If they tried to get too close, if one of them fell overboard, that meant the whole group would be overboard. There seemed to be no hazards in the water, so she relaxed a little.
When they reached the apartment, Yǔfēi noticed that the water had reached the second highest floor. There was no sign of the airplane. She grumbled under her breath. If her apartment flooded, the only escape is the top of the roof, and if the water is increasing this much, the entire building would be underwater. She hoped they arrived here quickly.
"Everyone above me!" Yǔfēi yelled at the anxious crowd. "I need help getting the kids into the apartment!"
A sudden clamour rippled through the crowd as the parents pushed their way forward. Jīn Zhìmíng yelled and waved at his bàba. Once Yǔfēi enlisted the crowd to help with pulling the children up, she relaxed more. Her legs were tired, maybe brewing some tea would be nice. Most of the kids were reunited with their parents, all of them chatting amongst themselves. The only one left was Liáng Báizhú. His māmā was eagerly waiting, arms outstretched.
"Almost there!" Yǔfēi lifted the boy to his mother. Her legs seemed to be made of lead, given the way they buckled after she was done.
"Are you alright?" Lǎo Liáng asked.
"I think so-ah!" The little raft immediately capsized, sending Yǔfēi tumbling into the water. She coughed out water, grabbed onto a small ledge underwater, and set a mental note for mouth rinsing afterwards. Her ears must be plugged, as she understood none of what the crowd was saying. Wiping the water off her face, she squinted. Someone was reaching for her and yelling, though all she heard was muffled voices.
"What?" She shouted, though the sound was quiet to her ears.
Yǔfēi turned to her left...and was immediately greeted with a piece of concrete slightly larger than a dresser coming downstream. It slammed into her head, knocking her out.
She was no longer aware of her surroundings, but she felt bruises on her upper body. Her clothes were torn and her hair pooled around her head. Despite her efforts, she was sinking, far beneath the surface. Yǔfēi tried to swim, yet her arms seemed to be made of lead. Her eyes were slowly closing, yet she tried to keep them open.
Calamities are tough to deal with.
Was she hallucinating? She felt a burning feeling in her chest. Water, she's drinking water.
You saved them though. Helping people...that's not something I have experienced in a long time. I wasn't sure what to expect at first, but you are what I was hoping for.
Yǔfēi wasn't sure what was happening. Was this what dying people experienced? Her body was sinking, and the surface seemed so distant...
Yǔfēi, think about your life. Check your amulet.
The amulet? She checked her left hand, still gripped tightly around the pearly amulet. The amulet seemed to have a fiery quality to it now. What she wanted out of life? She wanted to answer with spending time with those she loved, drinking tea, and working; but that wasn't the right answer.
Prickles of sunlight danced through the watery depths, illuminating the various people trapped underneath the surface. Surprisingly for most people, Yǔfēi wasn't afraid of Calamities nor had she ever felt a burning hatred or extreme numbness towards them. They were a puzzle, a mysterious phenomena to which the solution is ever fleeting. Their origin was a mystery, and no real answer was ever found for their appearance. It always fascinated her, these skysent events that left devastation in their wake. She was tied to them in a way no one understood. A part of her had always thought they were unnatural, as their formation rarely indicated by the predicted forecasts. Her only issue is the loss of life. If she learned how they came to be...could the world be saved?
She gripped her amulet. Something bubbled up inside of her.
"I want to know the Calamities, how they came into existence, why they appeared thirty-three years ago, and how to stop them. I want to be more, more than a meteorologist, a friend, a daughter. I want the world to be saved, to rise above, and for everyone else to do so as well."
With that finished, she closed her eyes. The last thing she saw was the amulet emitting azure light...