You saved me Maddie

A big wave.

They stood like that for a while, hugging, Maddie just taking in what was happening and Callie silently crying. I decided to go to bed but before I did I put a pair of my pyjama pants and a t- shirt on Callies bed so that she would have something to sleep in. Then I went to bed and slept for a few hours.
That morning Callie had called her parents but didn't tell them who she stayed with, she just told them to pick her up on the square below the apartment building. We all ate breakfast together and me and Callie were talking about video games when Callies phone rang. It was her parents, waiting for her so she had to go. She gave me a hug before she turned to Maddie and hugged her too.
"That you for letting me stay" she told us, a smile breaking out on her face.
"Of course" Maddie put her hand on Callies shoulder.
"Bye" Callie said before walking out through the front door and closing it behind her.
The apartment was quiet after she left and Maddie was even quieter but to my luck Buck called and asked if I wanted to join him and Eddies son at the pier which I gladly accepted. He came and picked me up 15 minutes later and we were off about the same time as Maddie went in to work. Eddies son, Christopher, had cp but he was such a blast to hang out with. We played shooting games and other types of arcade games before we went to sit and watch the ocean. Buck and Chris were talking when the water started to vanish. I heard a big siren and in the distance I could see a wave, a tsunami. Buck picked up Chris and we ran towards land but we weren't as fast as the wave so I hid behind a wall and Buck and Chris jumped in to a game booth before the wave hit us. I gasped in the water as I struggled to get air above surface before I grabbed on to a building and climbed up on the roof. Shaking from the adrenaline and the cold I stood up and looked around to see destruction everywhere. I looked everywhere but I couldn't see Buck or Chris anywhere and I had left my phone at home so I was stuck.
"Fuck" I said under my breath. I was still quite close to shore so I decided to move a bit more inland. I jumped into the water and swam until I saw a group of people on the roof of a truck. They waved at me and caught me so I wouldn't drift away in the tight currents. Finally on top of the roof I could see that there was five people there, two middle aged women and three middle aged men.
"You okay?" A brown haired woman asked me.
"Fine" I told her, not noticing blood running down my cheek.
"You're bleeding" a man with blonde long hair told me.
I put my hand against my cheek and felt a big cut. The other woman hissed.
"That looks painful"
"It's fine" I told them but they didn't believe me.
We sat there for a few hours, mostly talking about life. The brown haired woman, who's name was Linda, told me that she had a daughter my age, Mila. She told me that they had fought right before she left and that she felt so guilty because if she died the thing she said last to her would be in anger. The other woman, who's name was Sandra, told me about her two sons, William and Sam, and how they were with their dad. She also told us that they were twins and how different they were. Then they asked about my parents, and I told them that I was a foster kid and that my dad was abusive and used to hit me. Used to. It kind of dawned on me that I had gotten over him, even though he still came to me in my dreams. I don't know how but I managed to fall asleep on that roof before a rescue boat came to us. A blonde woman with three men wearing helmets with the numbers 125 on them helped us onto the boat and then they drove through so much debris and stuff to get through. In the waters I could se people, whom they marked with a tracker so that they would get found and brought back to their families. They stopped at what looked like a bridge and then escorted us to a hospital via car. We arrived at a field hospital and there paramedics, doctors and nurses were giving care to injured people. I was sat down on a bed while a nurse bandaged my cut on my cheek.
"Maddie" I whispered, my voice hoarse. "Maddie Buckley"
"Sorry love" the nurse said " I couldn't hear you"
"My foster mom" I coughed.
"I'm gonna have someone call her" she told me. "Have you swallowed any water?"
I shrugged.
"Maybe a little"
"I'm gonna give you some oxygen" she put a mask over my nose and mouth "and I'm gonna call someone to help you get a parent out here"
I waited in a tent, shivering, still in my wet clothes, before a doctor wanted to check me out because I was coughing so much. I sat in an open tent with an oxygen mask still on when I heard a familiar voice through the crowd of sounds.
"Ellie?" It called.
I stood up and ripped of the mask.
It was Maddie, standing in the middle of the tents, looking around until she saw me.
"Mom?" It slipped out before I had noticed.
She saw me.
"Ellie!" She screamed and ran to me.
"Mom" my voice broke.
Maddie grabbed me in a hug, crying her eyes out.
"I thought you were" but she wasn't able to finish that sentence.
I just hugged her harder, her heart beating so fast and hard that I felt it.
"Buck and Chris?" I asked her, still in her embrace.
"They are fine" her voice rough. "Are you okay?"
I nodded.
"I'm fine"
Maddie ran her thumb over my bandaged cheek.
"Are you sure?" Worry taking over her face.
"Mom I'm fine" I told her.
It took a few seconds for Maddie to process what I said and then her face broke into a smile, her breath turning into a soft chuckle.
"What did you say?" She asked as if she didn't believe it.
Anxiety came like a fog over my mind, my heart beating faster.
"I'm sorry" I shook my head "I should've asked"
"What? No" Maddie pulled me into another hug. "I'm honoured if you would want to call me mom"
"Really?" My heart slowed down a bit.
"Yes" her tone firm "I know it must've taken a lot of courage to say that and I love you for it"
"I love you too"