the remote and turned on the television, switching channels to the twenty-four-hour news station. She tuned in, and the first thing that popped onto the screen was a Thanksgiving Day advertisement from Macy’s, which told her nothing.
Instead of answering, her aunt started sobbing. “It’s horrible, Annie. I…I don’t even know how…I don’t know…how to tell you.”
As a physician assistant, Annie had often dealt with people in crisis mode. “Take a deep breath, count to five, then take another breath, and start at the beginning,” she advised her aunt in a calm, soothing voice. Her immediate suspicion was that something had happened to Lyle, the man her aunt had been dating for the last fifteen years. That didn’t make sense, though. She would have called Gabby if that had been the case.
“I’m…trying.” Aunt Sherry counted softly, out loud, and sucked in another breath, just as Annie had recommended. “Your mom…and dad…”
Annie tensed. “My mom and dad?”
“They…invited me to breakfast.”
Her mother had always made a big deal about breakfast on Thanksgiving, inviting family and friends over.
“I…wanted to see…the baby…Bella.” Her words were staccatolike between sobs; she was having trouble even getting the words out.
“Aunt Sherry,” Annie said softly. “Has something happened to my parents?”
Her aunt ignored the question. “When I got…close…just…two blocks away…” She continued in the same jerky speech. “The police…they…stopped me.”
“The police?” Annie repeated, her mind whirling. “What were the police doing there?”
“They…had…It was barricaded.”
“A barricade?” Annie hated that she sounded like an echo, but her aunt wasn’t making a whole lot of sense.
“It’s…been raining…and raining.”
“Well, that happens in Seattle quite a bit.” Annie impatiently added, “Especially around this time of year.” The Seattle area was known for its rainfall, which was another reason Annie chose to live in California.
“Annie,” her aunt said, sobbing hysterically, while sucking in deep breaths between her words. “You…You…don’t understand, the entire hillside…is gone. It…simply…gave way, taking…taking everything with…it.”
Gabby gasped at the news.
Annie slowly rose out of her bed, standing with one hand pressing against her forehead while the other pressed the phone to her ear. “Are you telling me Mom and Dad’s house slid off the hillside?”
“Yes,” Aunt Sherry said and gasped. “Their house…and…twenty…other homes.”
Annie froze and glanced at the television screen. Breaking news had just interrupted the newscast. A helicopter was flying over the water, identified on the screen below as Puget Sound. A single home was breaking apart in the mud-caked waters below the helicopter and sinking into the water.
“Mom and Dad?” Annie pleaded, as her heart pounded at the seriousness of what had happened. “Did they get out?”
“I…I don’t know…I don’t know how they could have. Everyone said it happened so fast, and so early…”
Annie fell back onto her bed, her legs shaking so hard they wouldn’t hold her up any longer. Her entire body began to tremble. “How early this morning?”
“The officer said…it happened around four…They think…most everyone was still in bed. No…notice. No…warning.”
The tightness in Annie’s chest made it impossible to speak. It was highly likely that her entire family had just been wiped out in a mudslide.
Her mother.
Her father.
Her brother.
Her sister-in-law.
And her baby niece.
Annie’s mind couldn’t absorb what she was hearing and seeing on the television. Her aunt’s sobs echoed in her ear and seemed to be reverberating against the walls of her head.
“Annie?” her aunt sobbed. “Are…Are you there? Say…something.”
“I’m here,” Annie managed to whisper. She inhaled and followed her own advice, counting to five and then breathing in again, hoping the technique would calm the rising sense of panic that threatened to overcome her. “I…I need…I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“Good. Have Gabby…make…Have her do…the flight arrangements.”
“I will.” How calm she sounded, Annie thought to herself, but her voice wasn’t her own. It seemed to come from across the room somewhere. Her cousin placed her arms around her, hugging her closely. “Find out what you can before I get there.”
“I’ll…do what…I’ll see what I can learn.”
“There must be survivors,” Annie insisted, doing her best to think positively, convinced her parents had somehow found a way to escape. She had to believe they were alive, because anything else would be impossible to accept.
“I’ll do…what I can. I promise, but…”
“But what?” Annie demanded, her voice gaining in strength.
“But…Annie…there’s little hope for survivors. I’m so sorry, so very sorry.”
Annie and Gabby sat on the edge of the bed, sobbing and holding each other. The television showed the result of the entire hillside that had broken away. The only home visible was the one still