Tara leaned back against the beams and insulation, catching her breath. It was way hotter up there, but at least they were dry. For now, she thought to herself. "Bree, reach into our bug out bag and hand me my cell, quick!" She reached out her hand towards Briseis as she did as her mother asked. Setting a small flip phone into her mother's hands, Briseis shivered, still feeling the effects of the flu. She watched as her mother looked around and sat up. "I need to see if someone can help us. If that water continues to get higher..."

Tara's voice trailed off as she opened it up and dialed 9-1-1. She waited with held breath as she was met with a busy signal. "Shit!" She shouted as she hung up and hit redial. Pressing the phone to her ear as she looked at Bree and Miss Papillion.

Busy signal.

"C'mon!" Tara hung up and redialed again. "Please!"

Another busy signal.

Frustration mounted within her. "Damn you! Answer us!" Tara pleaded as she hung up the phone. Tears loomed in her eyes as she felt Miss Papillion grab her other hand, feeling the light squeeze of her skinny fingers gripping her. Tara met her sad eyes, weathered from time and stress. Tara couldn't ever remember feeling so helpless. She needed to get Briseis to safety and here they were trapped in an attic with no one to help them. She needed to get a call out. Hearing the water begin to spill in from the attic vents, she sighed, heartbroken she had to ask her godmother such a request, because she wasn't strong enough. "Nannan, I really need your help."

Miss Papillion gave her a nod, a single tear running down her eye. "You have it, baby. You'll always have it." Her hand tightened on Tara's hands. "Do you remember how it goes?"

Tara's eyes burned and watered as she nodded. "Yeah..." She sniffled. "I do." She turned to face Miss Papillion as she sat indian-style. She handed the phone to Briseis. "Dial 9-1-1 again Bree. And keep dialing until someone picks up okay?"

Briseis saw the sadness in her mother's eyes as she took the phone. "Mama, what's going on?" She opened the phone, still looking at Tara.

"It's gonna be okay baby, Miss Papillion and I just need to put our good vibes together. A prayer to recite in hopes we get our call through, that's all. Now, start calling." Tara held hands with Miss Papillion and closed her eyes. The water creeping up against the hatch threatened to distract her focus, as it soaked her sweatpants, invading her thoughts. She gripped her hands tightly, concentrating heard until all she could hear was the beating of her own heart. The heat started to build up between their hands as Miss Papillion closed her eyes. The energy between them was palpable and ripe for incantation. Tara's witch days were over, but struggled to remember the words.

"Matri Lux." Tara chanted. " Oro... ut-adme, ad-te."

Miss Papillion smiled and nodded, feeling a sense of pride that Tara did not forget all of herself. She knew she did it for the love of her daughter, but right now, it really mattered to call on the whole of one's strengths in order to survive. "Matri Lux oro ut-adme, ad-te."

As they both chanted, Briseis dialed 9-1-1 and got a busy signal. When they started chanting in unison, their voice almost one, she hung up and dialed again.

"Hello, this is emergency services. What is your emergency?" A voice broke on the other side of the phone.

Briseis choked. "Mom! Mom! They answered!" She pushed the phone into Tara's hands as she breathed a sigh of relief.

Tara put the phone to her ear. As Miss Papillion laid down against the attic wall. "Yes, this is Tara Devareaux! I'm at 2627 Charbonnet Street. Me, my daughter and Elisa Papillion is holed up in the attic and the water is rising! Please help us!"

"Ma'am, ma'am I'm sorry. All the streets are flooded. We have no way to get help to you," the female operator replied. "We'll need you to just hold tight, and do not go outside."

Tara frowned. "What do you mean? Who's coming out here to help us? Why aren't you helping us?" She looked at Briseis' eyes wide with fear as she looked at her mother, listening to her pleading for help. "You get someone to us right now!"

The sympathy oozed out of the operator's words. "I'm sorry ma'am. All emergency services and vehicles are already out and we're severely low on manpower to help you. Even if we did, they wouldn't be able to even reach you. I'm sorry, but we cannot help you."

Tara, dropped the phone and her head sunk, as the operator called for her. She sat still as the reality of the situation hit her. She never thought she would be in a situation where 9-1-1 told her they couldn't help. A feeling of loneliness and anger flowed through her as she picked up the phone and threw it across the attic with a loud cry. She watched it smash against the vent, that continued to spill water.

Briseis jumped at the action and scooted over to her mother, who choked out a curse. "Mama? What's going on? Are they coming?!" Her body shook at the tension and the chilly water coming in. She cringed as her mother with teary eyes shook her head.

"No baby. We're on our own." She wiped her eyes and grabbed Briseis' face with her hands. "But we're used to being on our own, right? We'll make it through. Now, we need to get to the roof, Bree. It's our only shot. The water's rising up here and we'll drown if we don't get out to the roof." She gave Briseis a kiss on the forehead and gave a tired smile. "Don't worry so much, Bree bird, Mama's got it all figured out."

Briseis looked over to Miss Papillion resting quietly. "Should we wake Miss Papillion, mama?"

Tara felt energy around her fade as she reached to touch Miss Papillion's hand to wake her. "C'mon woman. No sleeping on the job." When she didn't respond, Tara shook her harder. "Elisa?"

Still, Miss Papillion laid quiet resting against the wall, but did not rouse.

Tara's eyes began to water as she continued to shake her. "Miss Papillion?"..."Elisa?"..."Nannan?" She called out to the motionless old woman, her voice breaking as she realized she was gone. Her vision of her godmother laying there lifeless blurred from her tears as her heart began to break. Her struggle to remain calm for Briesies was lost at the reality that her godmother was dead. Her lips trembled until they buckled under the pressure to be strong and Tara began to cry. All her fears, all her loneliness she pushed out of her in raging tears, because Tara knew she wouldn't have another chance. Cry now, then put it all away, her thoughts told her. Putting her hand over her mouth to stifle her cry, Briseis came over and hugged her mother, realizing that Miss Papillion used all her strength to help them. But now she was gone. No words of goodbye. No words of encouragement.

Just slipped away from them and into the unknown. Leaving them alone in the attic.

She didn't know very much about Miss Papillion, but she was always super nice to her and said she was like an aunt to her mama. And she was family enough to invite her to Sunday dinners, and go visit when she got sick. And they didn't have much family left.

Tears ran down her face as she tried to steal more strength from her mother, even in her hour of need. "I'm so sorry Mama. Please don't cry." She pleaded through her broken voice as she cried, letting the tears catch on her mother's shoulders. Briseis tried not to look at the water at her knees, but the coldness wouldn't let her forget.

Tara released Briseis and looked at her beautiful  daughter. There was no word spoken by God or man that could sum up the love she had for her. She had made many mistakes in her life, but the best thing she ever did was have Briseis. She was a handfull and so willful, but she had an amazing capacity for love and caring. She hoped she would entertain her suggestion on Briseis going into medicine or emergency services when she gets older. She knew she wanted to save lives. A future awaited her out there.

Not in here, waiting to die.

Tara hugged Briseis tightly and kissed her head. "Let her sleep, baby. We gotta go." Tara lightly touched her godmother's hand, feeling an emptiness that she was gone. She lightly kissed her cheek, her face still serene as if she were only napping. "Goodnight, nannan." A tear escaped her eye. "Sweet Dreams."

Tara reached into the trash bag and pulled out the hammer she grabbed from the kitchen's junk drawer. Focusing on the little leak close to the vent, Tara began to swing and pound at the soft roofing above her. As she continued to pound she looked to Briseis. "Bree, repack our bug out bag. Pull some of that stuff from the trash bag like a jug of water and food. Ok? Go!" She continued to pound will all her might until she finally made a little hole, moving her face from the raindrops. Feeling progress, she continued until the hole got bigger and bigger. Once she was able to get a foot opening, Tara swung at the edges, trying to make it wider.

Briseis put the bug out bag on her back and watched her mother open up the roof to save them. She looked to the body of Miss Papillion and moved to put her hands on her chest, realizing she could change this.

I can bring her back.

Before she could do anything, Tara caught her hand and shook her head. "Don't, Bree. I'm going to miss her, but that is not what she would've wanted. She's gone. We need to let her soul rest, baby."

"But, mama..."

Tara shook her head. She didn't want to argue this right now. All she cared about was Bree's life. Nothing else mattered. "We have to leave, Bree. C'mon." She took her hand and pushed towards the hole. "Now, Bree, we're gonna stay away from the steep areas of the roof so we don't get tired hanging on to it. We stay close to this hole, okay? We're gonna wait it out until help arrives." She pushed Briseis' braids back and nodded. "We'll be fine Bree bird. Just don't leave my side."

Briseis nodded with tears in her eyes. She wiped them fiercely and tried to put on a brave face like her mother was doing for her. She grabbed Osiris pet taxi and moved over to the hole. Tara pulled herself up through the hole and reached down to grab Briseis and help pull her onto the roof. Briseis held on to pet taxi then tied the handle to the loop on the backpack. The rain wasn't has heavy but they both stood quiet as they saw the whole neighborhood underwater. Briseis locked her hand with her mother who stood equally shocked at the assault of water upon the lower ninth ward. Tara gripped her daughter's hand back as she never seen such devastation. They felt like the only two people on earth, hovering on a war-torn abyss of water.

"It's gonna be okay, Bree." Tara shouted to Briseis, trying to reassure her. "We still have each other."

A moment later, they both surged forward as the water pushed the house off its foundation sending it down the street. Horrified, Briseis gripped the edge of the hole from the attic, the other hand gripping her mother tightly as she screamed.

Tara panted and gripped Briseis hand. "Hold on baby! Don't let me go!" She bared down as her vision was blurred as she held on to her daughter and the runaway house of Miss Papillion. They had no choice but to hold on as the strong current of the dark, swirling water pushed homes off their foundation, viciously laying waste to this once peaceful neighborhood where she grew up. She barely had time to recognize the house was sailing full speed right into an old oak tree.

Until impact.

The force of the impact knocked Briseis down and as the house began to break and split against the force of hitting the tree, she struggled to get up and looked to her left. Her mother was gone. "Mama!?" She frantically looked around on the roof but there was no sign of her. "Mom! Where are you? Mama!" She crawled to the other area around the vent to see Osiris in his pet taxi floating. Close enough to grab him, she quickly fished him out. She looked into the attic but saw nothing but water. "Mama! Where are you?" She leaned down at the swirling, angry water and yelled at it. She wanted to dive in, but she didn't know where to look. The water was so high and the current pushing inland was so strong. She was afraid. "Mama!" With each call to her mother without a response, her heart cracked. She looked at the water around the house and saw nothing, hoping to see a splash or a body to revive. Anything. But there was nothing.  The water swallowed her mother and left nothing behind.

Briseis wailed at the top of her lungs, not knowing how to deal with such emptiness and pain in her heart. "Mama!" Everything her life until now was trivial. All her sadness before then she would've endured a hundred fold, if it meant having her mother by her side again. "Dont let me go! Mama!" Briseis, defeated curled up against the roof and the tree, crying as she held on to Osiris, the only thing she had left.

Micah's heart wrenched as he watched the teenage Briseis, alone on a rooftop, calling for her mother, crying. His hand reached out almost touching the screen where she laid bawling. He'd seen a lot, but this was too much. He'd seen enough.

"Stop." He told the screen, which paused the playback. That day was not a good day for anyone. Even he remembered how that entire week was pretty much "all hands on deck" for reapers. Everyone was called and everyone was overworked, having to claim several souls in one day. Humanity was able to shine in its aftermath, but it was truly dark days for humanity as well.

Seeing Briseis face as she realized her mother was gone, shook him to his soul. He didn't quite understand why, because unfortunately there were hundreds of stories of one just like he'd just seen of her. However, this time, seeing it with this perspective, it felt raw, like the wounds were not just hers but his as well. It was then he understood why she behaved so stubborn. The one person in her life that she loved dearly, was dead and she couldn't do anything to stop it. Couldn't do anything to bring her back. She was given the power to resurrect the dead and she couldn't even save her own mother.

How does a human recover from that? How could she ever get closure?

That pain that wrought from her heart that horrible day couldn't be gone and Micah knew that her vow was now bullshit. She wasn't going to stop. She's going to see every opportunity of a person dying as an opportunity to give back a life and fill the void of losing her mother. 

Shit, he thought to himself. This isn't over. I have to go back down there to earth. She's probably popping people back to life right now. The reapers would go berserk if she pulled another stunt like that again. And Azrael would know soon enough that Micah did not complete his mission.

Curious about who claimed her mother's soul, Micah looked to the screen again. "Who was reaper on command for Tara Elisa Devareaux?"

The screen went black.

Then suddenly the screen showed Micah's face on the screen along with his ranking and ID.

His eyes widened in shock as he looked at his face on the screen. "That can't be right," he said aloud. "It couldn't have been me." But he knew it was a possibility. He was definitely there with the other reapers to collect souls of the dead during the storm and afterwards. Micah closed his eyes and tried to remember. So many souls had passed through his hand since then, so many lives. Even at that time, he was so busy with collecting, while everyone's morale was low. Men, women and children of all ages were taken up. Then an image hit him that threatened to be a memory.

"Go back to Tara Devareaux's death, reaper's POV."

The screen flickered and showed the perspective from Micah's POV. He watched the part when Briseis was at the edge of the roof calling out to her mother. "Freeze it."

Micah swallowed at the image from his POV as the reaper, looking up at Briseis from beneath the water. Her bright, blue-green eyes watery from sadness and the storm and it was the exact same image that he remembered in his head.

Now he remembered where he'd seen eyes like that before.

He saw them eleven years ago, when he collected the soul of her mother. Micah leaned against the bar in front of the screen, trying to digest all the information and the flutters of emotions that tried to invade his objective heart. He didn't want to go so far as to say he had a hand in Briseis being the loose cannon she is, but he couldn't shake the fact that he was there. He hated the fact he was there during her suffering. He did have a hand in that. All of this was just too close for comfort. The world is never supposed to feel this small for a reaper.

Micah turned around and headed to the elevator as the screen went black. He needed to confront Briseis a different way if he's to get through to her.

###

This was a very emotional chapter to write but I hope you enjoyed the read! Bree suffered unspeakable loss and molded who she was. This chapter is dedicated to all the victims of Hurricane Katrina and their families. Many lives were changed forever and humanity had it's brightest time in the darkest time.

Cajun French: Nannan means "godmother" in Cajun French.