Year: 2005
Place: New Orleans, Louisiana
…
Kenna looked around her in stunned silence. She couldn't believe that everything she knew was just…gone. Her home, her work, her car, and even her dog were wiped away. Tears came to her eyes just thinking of it, and on top of that there was no sight of her husband. Rescue workers were searching for him under the rubble of her house at this very moment, but they highly doubted he was alive. She hoped and prayed he was, because she could not stand to lose another thing that day. She had lost too much.
She stared for hours, watching for some sign of him. Nothing.
"You should go and get some rest somewhere, ma'am," a rescue worker told her.
"Where the hell am I supposed to go?" she asked bitterly. "My house is gone, all the shelters are full, and if you think I could even sleep a wink without knowing what happened to my husband, you are fucking crazy."
"I'm sorry, ma'am," he said quietly and walked away.
Kenna knew she should feel bad, but she didn't. She figured she was allowed one freak-out while her life fell apart around her. She appreciated that the man was trying to help her; it just wasn't what she wanted to hear. She sat and watched them pick apart the ruble, too tired and overwhelmed to even cry.
Please let him be okay. There's no way I can do this on my own, she prayed.
"I found something!" she heard one of the workers yell.
She quickly stood up, holding her head and getting dizzy as she did so. She was sitting for longer than she thought. She watched as the men pulled something out. It was a man-shaped thing.
"We found him!" one of the workers yelled. "He's alive! He's barely alive, but he's breathing."
Bash! They had found Bash, and he was alive! He was okay, at least for now. She ran over to them.
"What are you doing here?" one of the men asked.
"He's my husband," she pointed to Bash.
"They're working on him. You'll have to wait."
"No, you don't understand-"
"I do understand, ma'am. You have to wait."
Kenna sighed, too tired to fight with him anymore. "How long?"
"15 minutes at the most."
She waited, then ran over to her husband. He wasn't awake, so she just grabbed his hand and started kissing his head.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she whispered to him. "I don't know what I would have done without you."
The last two sleepless nights had caught up with her, and she was suddenly so tired she was ready to fall over. Relieved to have her husband next to her again, she climbed in the cot he was given and promptly fell asleep. The couple held hands all night.