Juliette Coulombe (clearyourmind) wrote in emillion, |
Juliette awoke in a state of disorientation instants before her body hit the floor of her bedroom with a painful jolt. She did not have time enough to wake and break the fall, though she did at least manage to roll out of the way before her lamp came crashing down upon her head. The room was shaking. In the living room, the booming barks of Boris almost overpowered the sound of breaking grass. Juliette stumbled to her feet and out of the room, nearly tripping over a whining puppy in the process; she scooped him up into her arms and attempted to cross the hall to Alys’ door. Ms. Han was out until tomorrow -- thank Faram for that much -- but Alys could have fallen, too. She could have been injured far worse than the few bruises Juliette judged herself as having sustained. “Alys?” she called out, trying to keep her balance as well as hold on to the squirming, terrified puppy. “Alys, are you all right?” Audrey had never been one to go to sleep early, so she had barely tucked herself into bed when she heard the small whimpers coming from the the puppy at the edge of her bed. Looking down, she watched him as his little face picked up, ears perked. Seconds before the the rumble beneath her, Mercutio had already hopped off the bed and begun howling and scratching at the door. Audrey’s eyes widened, glancing around the room as it shook violently. Her thoughts had already jumped and scattered to another attack. Without time to lose, she needed to secure a safe location for Juliette. From under her bed, she pulled out a satchel and threw it over her shoulder as she moved to open the door. Mercutio had already sprinted out as Audrey glanced back at her falling dresser. She rushed to it, catching it before it toppled over with too much weight and pressing all her weight to keep it from falling. It was when she heard her sister that she abandoned the safe keeping of her furniture. Out the door, she caught the girl by the shoulder. “Stay in the door frame. I’ll be right back for you okay?! I promise,” she spoke brushing her hand gently through her hair in an attempt to give her some comfort. Without other words, Audrey had already pushed through the door looking to assess the source of the trouble and devise their plan on how to stay safe. Juliette didn’t have time to say anything before her sister sprinted away. She tried, at first, to obey the command, though her mind was telling her that she had to get out of the house right now -- the walls were groaning, or so she thought, and she could imagine the doorframe cracking and falling on her head any moment. But she stayed, until the puppy wriggled his way loose and bolted, and then she had no choice but to follow, a panicked Boris appearing at her heels. In the garden, the puppy could be found under a trellis not far from the door. The tremors were lightening for the moment, so Juliette was able to reach him with little trouble, failing to notice that the hems of her pajama pants and her slippers were becoming wet and cold, encrusted with leftover snow. She knelt by the trellis, feeling the cold to her knees only then, and tried to coax the puppy out from between dried vines that would someday hold flowers as Boris sat at her side, growling softly. “Come on,” she urged, as always more at ease speaking to dogs than people. One of her hands went to Boris’ neck, scratched there reassuringly. “Come out from under there. Just think how sad Alys is going to be if she has to go into a rosebush for you.” |