"Is it a hurricane?" I asked as fear knotted in my stomach.
Ryan stopped rummaging in the cupboards and looked up at me with concern.
"It looks like it's heading that way. Can you g-" The phone suddenly cut off and I stared at it in frustration. My cell service had dropped out and I smacked my phone against my palm with frustration, willing it back again.
"There's a storm shelter in the back yard," Ryan said as he closed the distance between us and took my hand.
"Okay, I just wanna try and call my mom back." I glared at my phone as I tried to dial out but the call failed to connect.
"Send her a text. We should get into the shelter," Ryan insisted as he looked out of the window again.
I followed his gaze to the window where the rain was still hammering down beyond the glass. I wasn't looking forward to going back out into it but I had to admit I'd feel safer inside the shelter.
Ryan tugged on my hand and pulled me towards the back door. He tossed me a large coat and shrugged into another himself. I pulled the hood over my head and zipped it up to my chin as he opened the door.
The wind howled outside and rain pelted us before we'd even stepped out. I waited while Ryan locked the door behind us and we jogged to the end of his back yard where a steel trapdoor was peeking out between the shrubs.
Ryan fumbled with the key in the lock before pulling the door wide and ushering me inside. I headed down a short flight of stairs as Ryan slammed the heavy door behind us and slid two bolts into place to keep it shut.
We were plunged into darkness and I fished my cellphone from my pocket and used it as a torch to illuminate the small room.
The shelter was cramped but seemed to have everything we should need to wait out the storm. There was a collapsible cot bed to the left of the space and a storage chest on the right. Beside the storage chest was a battery powered lantern and Ryan quickly switched it on so that I could return my phone to my pocket.
"We'll be fine in here," he said reassuringly. "My dad will be gutted when he realises we used the shelter though - he bought it last year but there hasn't been a hurricane since. He's been dying to make use of it and won't believe his luck that I had to use it while he was at work."
"I'd switch places with him happily," I said as I glanced up at the steel door nervously. I trusted that the shelter would protect us but it was hard to just shut off my fear.
"Here, sit down and we can eat these." He produced a handful of chocolate bars from his pocket and dropped down onto the cot.
I shrugged out of my raincoat and joined him. Ryan pulled a blanket over our legs and I huddled under it as I took a bite of chocolate.
Ryan used his cellphone to play some music which didn't quite cut out the howling storm but helped to take our minds off of it.
I still had no cell service but sent my mom a quick text to tell her I was alright and hoped it would send when the signal returned.
"I heard from Devlin's brother last night," Ryan said quietly.
"And?" I asked, afraid that something serious might have happened to him.
"He's fine. They just kept him in longer because he was attacked by someone affected by the water pollution. They had to question him and debrief him about the situation. Looks like he might even get some compensation from the water company."
"That's great news." I smiled widely and Ryan put his arm around me as we settled back onto the cot.
"How was the city?" he asked.
"Good. We had showers and got some new clothes. The mall is absolutely massive, they’ve got everything you could ever think of there-"
"Like prom dresses?"
"Err yeah, we may have tried on a few of them."
"I liked the blue one."
"What? Were you spying on us?" I asked, feeling weirdly irritated at the idea.
"Someone was." He quickly unlocked his cellphone and scrolled through his messages until he found what he was looking for. He showed me a group of photos of me and Lacey in various dresses as we came out of the changing rooms to model them for each other.
"Who sent you those? That's so creepy," I said as I snatched the phone and scrolled through them.