Over the Rainbow

“Everyone has their assignments,” Mr. Johnson said to us. “Do them as quickly and efficiently as possible, and then get to safety. You’re dismissed.”

As soon as the words were uttered, employees started scattering like cockroaches. We had all been assigned to groups of five or six people and my particular group was working poolside, the one near the shore.

Once outside, we immediately began taking down the umbrellas and folding up the stark white chairs. It was chilly out and the rain was hitting us so hard it stung, and it didn’t help that the wind was blowing exceptionally hard- it even knocked a coworker off her feet, but I suppose she could have just slipped on the water that was sloshing out of the pull.

“Get inside!” Another employee yelled from the door leading inside, “Leave it! We have a bigger problem!”

We all fought against the wind, just to get inside. Once inside, I looked down at myself, thanking god I wore a white bra today, I currently looked like I had entered a wet t-shirt contest.

“What’s going on?” I whispered to Lynn, one of my co-workers and neighbor. She was one of my only friends here. We had a group and our group was tight knitted.

“A little boy is missing, I guess we’re supposed to split up and search for him,” Angel answered for her; I turned back to our employer, he was describing the child.

Apparently the boy was around five and his name was Ryan. Blond hair, wearing a blue hurly shirt and black board shorts. His mother claims that he ran off not long after we called the guests back into the hotel. The storm really did come out of nowhere and developed unbelievably fast. It was incredible really.

Not long after splitting up, I was searching for the boy and got distracted by my manager’s frustrated voice.

“I’m sorry sir, but you can’t leave the hotel right now,” Cindy looked like she was getting ready to push the man off of her.

“Why the hell not? It’s just a little rain!” I walked over to Cindy and was surprised to see Matt looking peeved.

“What’s going on?” I asked, both their heads snapped towards me.

“She won’t let me leave, I just need to go out to the car, I can see it from here!” Matt explained in exasperation.

“I’m sorry, Matt?” He nodded in confirmation that that was his name, “I don’t know if you’ve been informed or not, but the hotel is on lock down- you can’t go outside.”

“I told him that,” Cindy practically growled in my face. I knew I was going to regret this later.

“Matt,” he looked back to me, “There is a hurricane not too far from the shoreline, it’s not safe.”

“What about all the people I saw running about earlier?”

“Those were employees, trying to secure things down,” Matt groaned at my manager’s words.

“Listen Matt,” I placed my hand on his arm, “It’s not safe outside right now. Whatever is in the car isn’t worth the risk. If it’s electronic, it wouldn’t work because of static interference, not to mention the electricity will probably be going out soon. Unless it’s a person out in that car, you need to leave it.”

Cindy huffed and continued on her way. Matt looked at me and bit his lip ring.

“Whose your friend Mattyboy?” A man with spiky black hair slung his arm on Matt’s shoulder. He scanned me and I crossed my arms un-amused, “You have great legs.”

“Thanks,” I deadpanned.

“Leave the girl alone Brian,” the very tall one said. “Oh wow, you do have great legs.”

I smacked my forehead before dragging my hand down my face, “Once again, thank you.”

“You don’t like it, just tell them to back off,” a dude with snake bites said with a smile, slinging and arm around my shoulder and giving me a squeeze. “Have a little courage.”

“I would, but telling men to back the fuck off is frowned upon by my employers,” I said pushing his arm off my shoulders before looking back at Matt, “Remember, I see you out there, you’ll be in deep shit mister.”

“Oh, feisty.”

“Shut up Brian,” Matt shoved him off his shoulder.

“Right, I need to get back to work,” I was about to turn the nodded before I pointed sternly at him, “deep shit mister.”

I figured I’d leave him with a wink after my kind reminder.

Two hours.

Two hours and no one has found the little boy yet. His mother was frantic as she cried hysterically on a lobby couch.

God, if I were five years old, and it had still been light out, where would I go?

The pool.

I would want to go to the pool. Or the beach for that matter.

I ran over to the check-in desk to see Mr. Johnson speaking into a walky-talky, he was speaking about the boy.

“Mr. Johnson,” he turned and looked at me, telling whoever was on the end of the line to hold on, “Has anyone checked the outside pool, or the walk way to the shore line?”

He put his hand on his chin and furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

“No, I don’t think they have. You and I can do it right now,” he called some one over to watch the desk as he and I made our way out towards the pool. “I’ll take the pool,” he said forcing open the door.

I covered my face with my arms and tried to force my way through the rain that stung tremendously as it pelted down at phenomenal speeds. I could barely see as I made my way to the path.

“Ryan!” I started yelling, there were palm trees already blocking the path, but I continued on anyway- and let me tell you it wasn’t easy. Pencil skirts and pumps were not made for hiking through a hurricane.

“Ryan!” I called again. I looked around, I was almost to the shoreline, which was considerably closer to the pathway than normal.

I looked around as best I could, the rain and my tears blurred my vision; my eyes were watering because of the harsh weather. And that’s when I heard it: a cry.

“Ryan?” I called out again, looking around. Another cry was heard briefly and I spun around, almost losing balance on my heels- but I saw him and that’s all that mattered.

Making my way over to him, I squatted down and held out my arms, he gladly jumped into them.

“Ryan,” I held him to my chest, he was so cold; “My name is Lane, I’m going to take you back to your mommy okay?”

He just continued to cry.

“Okay,” I said more to myself, as I made my way back to the hotel.

I blocked Ryan as best I could with only my arms as we fought against a strong wind current, and the constant onslaught of rain didn’t help either. The exposed skin on my arms and legs were turning red from the cold and I was beginning to lose feeling in my nose and fingertips while my feet were in agony.

This is exactly why you don’t clean in heels.

I could see figures at the ocean view window, and a couple people at the French doors, but that’s about it. People started filing out the doors and running towards us, and I thanked god because I was freezing.

“Lane!” I looked up to see it was Matt. That was really all I saw before I felt sharp pain in the back of my head and lower back. I twisted so I would land on my back, and not crush the little boy in my arms. I knew I had landed how I intended but knowing wasn’t enough to keep me conscious.

Black. That’s all I saw, but I still felt as if things were blurry and unfocused; it made my gut clench. I honestly felt as though I was spinning out of control, yet so in control that I wasn’t going anywhere. That was until I felt like I hit the ground.

I brought my hand up to my forehead and groaned. I had a killer headache. When I finally managed to open my eyes I had to close them so I could look again.

“Fucking hell,” I sat up wide-eyed. I felt like I was on drugs, everything looked as if it were in Technicolor. “What the…”

My mouth was slack as I took in the scenery. Everything was so vibrant it looked like it came straight out of a children’s book. I was so enthralled with my surroundings I nearly got hit by the giant fireball that was falling from the sky.

The fireball slowed down considerably, and the slower it went, the more the flames went out. It rounded itself back to me and I was shocked at what I saw. There were only a few flames here and there on the motorcycle and its driver.

He was very good looking wearing a leather jacket, black sunglasses and looking completely at ease on his Harley. I watched in awe as he flipped the kickstand and got off his bike so easily it was scary.

The guy strutted over to me. I bet you think your so damn smooth. My thoughts were confirmed as he smirked, stopping right next to me. He pushed his glasses onto the top of his head and let his eyes scan me.

“Nice,” he looked me directly in the eye, keeping the contact as he leaned into my ear, “or are you naughty?”

“Excuse me?” I curled my lip back in disgust, stepping away from him.

“Are you nice, or naughty?” He asked again, using suggestive eyebrows at the end of his statement.

“I haven’t got a clue as to what you are asking,” I folded my arms and leaned on my left foot, popping one hip a little higher than the other.

“Are you a good witch or a bad witch,” he sighed, I seemed to have killed his mood.

I let out a small laugh, “Okay, what the hell is this? Is this some type of prank? Come on here dude, give me a hint.”

“What do you mean, ‘What is this?’ What do you think it is? Are you right in the brain? Wait- we’re off topic. Answer the damn question, are you a good witch or a bad witch?”

“Neither?” I raised an eyebrow. “Where am I?”

He started laughing, “Where do you think you are? You’re in Oz of course.”

Oz…

Oz?

Oh my God. I hate that fucking movie.