Short Story 11: After The Flood

There was so much water so close to home

It was the biggest building in the school. Walking around the perimeter took about 8 minutes. It was a very modern building shaped as a perfect rectangle from a bird’s eye view. Strong panes of glass gleamed in the summer sun while rain slid off seamlessly from the smooth surfaces.

Students learned mathematics, computer science, and medicine on each of its respective floors. The ground floor was mostly offices and laboratories. There were smart sensors in each room to detect motion, check carbon dioxide levels, and ambient temperature. It was the kind of building you would be proud to study in if you studied in a building with none of these things before. It was a wonder to see it in motion. The newer students (me) took it for granted.

It flooded the year it was built. The lecture theatre that sunk down to the basement level was almost completely submerged. When management checked for damages after the flood, the water almost reached the projector hanging from the high ceiling. Emergency workers with their neon clothes trudged along in knee high Wellies looking for signs of life. They saw something floating, almost lurking, in the darkness. Shining their bright torches, they saw it was just a bin with rubbish floating around it like a wrecked ship with its lost cargo.

The smell of damp took the guts of a year to leave the building. When the damp dissipated the water tank on the 4^th floor started leaking. It was just another headache in a long list of them. Management joked it was built on an ancient burial ground and the place must have been cursed. Nothing else explained the terrible luck.

There were rumours that the basement was where they kept the cadavers. A medical school did operate there and the bottom floor would be the coolest. They floated up during the flood, bloated and rotting, a macabre sight to behold. I shuddered when I thought about it.

The more boring and probably true rumour was that the servers for the computer science people were down there and they got wrecked as a result. I didn’t know much about servers but water plus anything electrical seemed like a bad combination.

The only reason I knew so much about the building was because my dad worked in management at the school. I overheard him talking on the phone all the time. When the time came for me to pick a school, he quickly suggested the one he worked in. It was only later I figured out why. It was a good school and much more affordable with a scholarship.

“I can keep an eye on you too”, my dad said. “My office is on the ground floor. Maybe we can get lunch occasionally!” He winked at me after saying this and I only rolled my eyes. Dad was great but there was no way I was getting lunch with him every single day!

I was 8 when the flood happened. I didn’t understand the commotion at the time. The panicked face of my dad. The worried looks of my mom. It was new and scary for me. I remember hiding in my makeshift fort made out of pillows and soft toys for at least 3 days. Besides all the water, they both had me to worry about too.

My family emigrated from the Middle East but since I was born here I only felt faint connection to the place. I got asked where I was from a lot living here. Older people gave me a dubious look when I said Ireland and nodded along expecting an explanation while younger people were curious but never dared inquire further. I was tired of explaining for a while but conceded that it was a part of life here. It made me unique in a way, special. I didn’t mind it after a while.

Mom worked in the school I attended too. There was a scholarship for one office staff’s child and there happen to be just two starting that year. Whoever had the highest grades would get it and I beat poor Tommy by five points. Serves him right for calling me a swot and picking on me for all those years.

My parents insisted I studied something practical so I did mechanical engineering not knowing exactly what I wanted to do. First semester, I was a very average student. Not too good or bad. I may have done better but I was found in the library more often than not reading unrelated books to my course. The big glass building was too sterile for my liking.

In the library, I read Irish folk tales, myths, and legends. The same ones we read in school while we were young. During the day, I read for pleasure. During the night, I read for business. And when I said read I meant rush to finish an overdue assignment that I heavily procrastinated on.

On my 9^th birthday, little Tommy got me a beautiful green coloured book, a collection of folk tales from around the world. To my dismay, the book would not open though. Tommy had glued all the pages together. It was at that moment that I swore a vengeance against that boy. Revenge is a dish best served cold and 9 year old me was mad. Heck, I am still mad for 9 year old me, but getting that sweet scholarship money really showed him!

My best friend, Sarah, told me that Tommy liked me the summer before college. She heard from her sister’s friend who heard from his cousin. That’s the trouble with living in a small town that barely qualifies as a city. Everyone knows everyone and secrets are impossible to keep. It explained why Tommy got on my nerves so much. He seemed to always appear when I least expected it.

As I walked through one of the side halls of the biggest building in the school, I bumped into him. Books and scraps of paper flying, I landed with a thud on the hard linoleum floor.

“Ah jeez, I am so sorry, I am usually not this clumsy, I-”

Tommy’s mouth was agape and at once he recognised me.

“Julie”, he stammered. “Is that you?”

Of course I recognised him immediately too. One doesn’t forget their mortal enemies face that easily.

“Tommy Waters, help me up before I tackle you to the ground”, I smirked at him knowingly.

At this stage, while I did beat Tommy for the scholarship, I haven’t physically seen him since I was about 12. We ended up in different schools and now we are reunited again in this one. He looked a lot different, his tall frame now filled in with an athletic body of a young man, his hair neatly combed to the side, and a face free from all acne as I once remembered him.

I won’t lie. He looked kind of cute and I rolled my eyes at myself for thinking that.

Tommy helped me up with his strong arms and picked up my papers and books laying on the ground. He smiled sheepishly at me and averted his eyes once I stared back at him. His cheeks quickly grew red as he stammered another apology. After making awkward small talk for a bit, the conversation lulled to a natural conclusion. He blurted out something unexpected to fill in the silence.

“Let me make it up to you, there’s a new place that does the best brunch near where I live, my treat! We can catch up too! It’s been a while”

I couldn’t believe it. Him asking me out after he runs into me! Unbelievable! Despicable! Shady!

Imagine my surprise when my mouth betrayed my thoughts. I automatically accepted. The voice of a stranger coming out of my lips. God, did I like Tommy? No, it was just nice to see a familiar face in this new environment. Yeah yeah it was that. Nothing to it. We quickly exchanged contact details as he mentioned something about being late to some meeting and that was that. I’d be seeing Tommy Waters again this Friday at 12pm for brunch.

Back in my dorm, I thought about all the water that filled the building I was just in. There was so much water so close to home. I wondered if I could swim in it. I was a strong swimmer thanks to my mom. She insisted I take swimming lessons for years since she herself couldn’t swim. I swam in pools and the sea all the time but in a building, never. Not many people could say they swam in a building. Not many buildings get filled with water was the first thing.

I thought about my course, all the tasks I had left unfinished, and about the stupid boy that bumped into me. I thought about the last fairy tale I read. The one with the good folk and how they spirited away some people, how they tempted you with ambrosia and how eating just one bite would make you stay there forever.

Let’s wait till after brunch before going there shall we...