Stormy World by Grace Hamilton

Author:Grace Hamilton [Hamilton, Grace]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2023-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

20

The first section of the roof that came down was just above the pulpit. A broken beam with a few large wooden panels still attached tumbled down and slammed onto the pulpit and the stage. Beth felt the blast of air and turned her head away. She was propped up against the end of a pew, but the constant pain in her chest made it almost impossible to move. It was a tightness that stretched across her chest and down her left arm.

This whole damned church is going to smash me flat, she thought. And so be it.

Not the worst way to go, all things considered. Better than burning to death like the people in Hickory Falls, or drowning like Mike. Remembering her lost son caused such a pang of regret and longing that Beth almost welcomed the end. She gazed up at the new giant hole in the ceiling above the sanctuary. She estimated the hole to be about eight feet long and four feet wide, and the edges were buckling already, as if more were about to fall down.

Beth considered wriggling in between a couple of pews, but that didn’t seem much safer. The pews were old and half broken. The pulpit had been crushed by a wood beam. She didn’t think the old pews would hold up much better.

The wind was impressive. It never relented. It sounded like the whole sky was screaming at her with some endless breath, and now rain was pouring into the sanctuary. Clutching her chest, Beth managed to shift position enough to see the doorway to the hall. It was now filled with chunks of the ceiling and roof.

“Jodi?” Beth tried to shout her daughter’s name, but her voice was hoarse. And it made the pain in her chest worse. She could only hope that they’d found some safe place.

Another section of the sanctuary’s roof fell, and this time it brought down part of the outer wall. Cinder blocks toppled across the floor, breaking a pew in the front row. The pile of debris landed just a few feet from Beth, the blast of air shoving her onto her side. Her teeth clacked together from the force of her fall. When she looked up, she saw another large panel swaying back and forth directly above her, still attached by a roof beam but just barely.

Okay, maybe I don’t want to be crushed after all, Beth thought.

Despite the pain, she managed to roll onto her belly, but then she had to consider her possible escape routes. A doorway led into the foyer, but a big section of the ceiling had already collapsed in there. The same was true of the hallway. That left only one other option: the brand-new opening in the outer wall. That meant she would have to crawl outside, but she figured it was better than being cut in half by some enormous panel.

She began pulling herself down a narrow aisle between pews, making her way toward the toppled section of the wall.

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