Gertrude's Death: A Short Story

Words: 818
Pages: 4

All night Gertrude watched out the window witnessing the townspeople viewing the destruction, searching for any sign of belongings, missing family members, anything at all. She watched a family of four wade through the water with only the light of a lantern, arms hooked, hollering for one of their children that had been swept away by the devilish water. Their voices echoed through the dilapidated buildings, repetitively calling out her name. In that moment all that Gertrude could wonder was if that’s what her family was doing, walking through the wreckage shouting out for her return. The mighty power of sleep finally took over and she fell asleep. At the first light of day she snapped awake, along with all of the other refugees in the household. …show more content…
She was so grateful to Mr. Mertz for taking her in and offering to help her. She owed her life to many people after the flood. Including the man that jumped off the roof to throw her to safety, Mr. Henry Koch, and the Mertz’s. She knew that she was one of the luckier ones, and she did feel guilty that she acquired a better fate than many of the other people in town. Gertrude expressed her thanks to Mr. Mertz and he continued to lead them down the street. They made a right turn and then a left turn, and they were then on the street that Gertrude had lived on. Every house that stood on that street was now just a pile of broken up lumber. There had been no sign of people in this area until the came to her neighbors house. Her neighbors, Gregory Thomas and his wife Holly Thomas, were ravaging through the debris, looking for anything salvageable. Gertrude went running up to them and asked if they had seen her father and brother. “Well Gertrude the last time I seen them they were near the cemetery on the hill with a large group of people, yonder,” said Gregory. He pointed to the South side of town where a large ridge rose up from the ground. There is the town cemetery on top of it, which would have been a good place to go in such an event. Hearing this information she knew that she needed to head to the cemetery first to get more information on their