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No matter how dark the night, how dire the circumstances, three 91福利社 students learned they鈥檙e never truly alone.
By: Andrew J. Beckner
He was part of a five-man crew out of Mississippi鈥檚 Kessler Air Force Base. The mission? Get a closer look at a patchwork of storms that had formed into what the National Hurricane Center was calling 鈥淧otential Tropical Cyclone Nine.鈥� Theirs was a short, routine flight, the kind 鈥淗urricane Hunters鈥� fly all the time. They flew roundtrip, southeast over the Gulf of Mexico toward the Cayman Islands and back again.
What they saw, and the data they collected, confirmed that the Atlantic Hurricane Season was about to begin in earnest. 鈥淧otential Tropical Cyclone Nine鈥� had a new name: Helene. And she was taking dead aim at the Florida panhandle鈥攁nd beyond.
By dinnertime just days after that Hurricane Hunter flight, Helene washed ashore in the Florida panhandle鈥攋ust as three girls gathered around their kitchen table for a rare dinner together and 12 hours before a man decided to come to work early.
Outside all was calm, just a light breeze massaging the leaves of the oak tree outside. A storm was coming. That much the girls knew. But wasn鈥檛 that good news? They thought so. Classes were cancelled, after all. If ever there was a night to stay up late and just hang out, it was this night.
The storm was a respite from their hectic lives as college seniors. Final projects to finish, graduation to plan, job searches to conduct鈥攕urely all of that could wait for one night. So, they ate a homemade dinner. They talked about life. They talked about serious things and they talked about silly things. They talked about God and his plan for their lives. By 1 a.m., when all three had gone to bed, a light rain was falling outside.
Outside, all was chaos. Bullets of rain ricocheted off his van, branches waved at him vigorously through a windshield obscured by water, by green leaves, by twigs and branches and mulch and the detritus no one sees until it鈥檚 stirred up by a storm.
It was an hour before he normally went to work. In fact, he couldn鈥檛 remember starting this shift this early. But why wait? His kids didn鈥檛 have school today. Let them sleep, he thought. Might as well get the workday started. He hopped into his van, alone, for the five-minute commute.
He doesn鈥檛 know why he took a left-hand turn at the corner of Kingsley Road and Virginia Circle. Just as he鈥檇 never been to work that early, he鈥檇 never gone that way, never taken the shortcut up Wilson Street. But he did.
Once there, he heard the screams.
They attended the same Base Camp (AU鈥檚 version of new student orientation) before the fall semester of their freshman year. Rachel Coleman joined their friend group once school started, the three of them helping form an intramural basketball team鈥攖he Hottie Hoopers鈥攖hat year.
They weren鈥檛 the 1997 Chicago Bulls, that鈥檚 for sure. But that鈥檚 OK. Competition is great, but the purpose of intramurals isn鈥檛 necessarily winning a championship. Not for Ashley, Mackenzie and Rachel. Playing is about being a part of a community, having fun, letting off some steam.
Intramurals are just one way that happens, though. Togetherness off-campus is another one; Ashley and Rachel went on a spring break trip together, to Santa Rosa, Florida, during their freshman year. AU is already
a close-knit community even without structured activities, and Ashley says her freshman class was especially tight. 鈥淲e were all very close in our year,鈥� she says.
Before their junior year, Ashley, Mackenzie (most everyone calls her Mack, though) and another classmate moved into a four-bedroom cottage on Wilson Street, just two blocks from campus. They loved that house; it became a natural gathering spot for their entire friend group. 鈥淚t was the place to be,鈥� Ashley says. And when Ashley and Mack needed another roommate the summer before senior year, Rachel jumped at the chance.
While all three are seniors, they have different plans for their futures. Mack will earn a degree in human development and family studies. Ashley is working toward an education degree and a career as a high school English teacher. Rachel is studying kinesiology and has designs on becoming a physical therapist.
They finish each other鈥檚 sentences, laugh at the same jokes, interrupt each other, pepper conversation with phrases like 鈥渞emember that time?鈥� and 鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe you did that!鈥�
In the driver鈥檚 seat was Storm Page (yes, that鈥檚 his real name) a maintenance technician on the 91福利社 facilities team. Ashley was screaming. By her own admission, she was close to hysterical. Yet Storm could understand the gist of her message. 鈥淓verything felt so dark. The sun was rising, but it was very gloomy. It was dark and gray. All I could say was, 鈥極ur friend is stuck.鈥欌�� Ashley says.
What none of them could see鈥攏ot Storm exiting his van, not Ashley through her tears, not Rachel in her stunned silence鈥攚as Mack trapped between the massive oak that had split the house in two and the entry way behind its front door.
Above her, the roof had opened like a tin can, the slate-gray sky and branches mocking her as they waved. 鈥淚 could only see a narrow bit of the sky. It was all a muted gray, like a tunnel to nowhere. It felt like I was going to be stuck in there forever. I didn鈥檛 even know there was somebody there until I heard a man鈥檚 voice,鈥� she says.
By that moment, around 7:30 a.m., Mack had been awake for two hours. She roused from sleep not because of the noise from the storm outside, but rather the absence of it. The low hum of the fan beside her bed had gone silent: the power had gone out. Then came the simultaneous screech of all three roommates鈥� phones, successive beeps delivering an unambiguous warning: danger, danger, danger. 鈥淥nce that alarm went off, we were all up,鈥� Ashley says. 鈥淲e were scared at that point.鈥�
They had reason to be. Stepping out on their front porch, they saw what had become of the disturbance first spotted by the Hurricane Hunter crew days earlier in the Caribbean Sea. 鈥淭here were limbs on the ground everywhere,鈥� Mack says.
It was like, 鈥淥h my gosh, look at how close that tree came to hitting us.鈥� Despite the maelstrom, once the additional surge of adrenaline wore off, the roommates started to relax. Ashley and Rachel returned to their rooms to get whatever sleep they could find. Mack was a little more wired, though; she sprawled out on the living room sofa by herself. She called friends and family and scrolled Instagram.
Once you get used to hearing the same sound over and over again you start to tune it out. Mack had heard the sharp crack of so many broken limbs and falling trees, it was mere background noise. It wasn鈥檛 a sound that moved her from the couch. It was an inner voice.
鈥淚t was like someone was telling me, 鈥楳ack, you need to get up and run.鈥� So that鈥檚 what I did. I got up off the couch and started running to the front door,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd as I was running, the tree was crashing in.鈥�
Mack struggles to explain what it looked like, what she was thinking and feeling and even whether she was scared. All she knew was that she was by herself, cut off from anything鈥攐r anyone鈥攖hat could bring her comfort. 鈥淚 know this sounds so dumb. But it was like this monster stomping through the house. That鈥檚 what it was like.鈥� She had to face the monster alone. 鈥淚 was screaming with my hands up, as if this monster was going to have mercy on me just because I was screaming.鈥�
Covered in insulation from the collapsed ceiling, soggy with rain and unable to comprehend what happened, Ashley didn鈥檛 know where to turn, where to go and what was to come. 鈥淚鈥檝e never screamed like I did that morning. My first thought is that the entire house was about to crumble on top of us.鈥� Making matters worse? She鈥檇 removed her contacts before going to bed鈥攁nd her glasses were nowhere to be found. She was blind.
Rachel came to the rescue, helping guide Ashley outside while giving her a sweatshirt to ward off rain now falling both in and out of the ruins of their house. They could hear Mack screaming. But they could not see her.
鈥淲e just could not get to Mack,鈥� Rachel says. 鈥淚 said, 鈥楢shley, we鈥檝e got to get out of this house and find some help.鈥� We took nothing with us. We didn鈥檛 even have shoes. So, we went outside and tried to call 911. But we could not get anyone on the phone.鈥�
鈥淵ou鈥檙e always taught, in an emergency, call 911, and 911 will always be there to help you,鈥� Ashley says. 鈥淣o calls were going through. Nothing. That was a nightmare. They鈥檙e the ones who are supposed to save you.鈥� Instead, it was Storm Page. 鈥淚 have never been so out of my mind because I鈥檓 thinking the house is going to crash in and Mack is going to die,鈥� Ashley says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 all I can think. And that鈥檚 when the van pulls up.鈥�
Storm was already having a different-than-normal morning, what with his kids鈥� school being canceled and coming in to work an hour earlier. Then, there was that change in his normal route. 鈥淔or some reason I went left that day instead of right, and I was cutting up Wilson Street.鈥� There, he found Ashley and Rachel sprinting toward his van, screaming for help.
From outside the house, Storm pinpointed Mack鈥檚 location easily. 鈥淪he said, 鈥業鈥檓 in the corner and I can鈥檛 move, and I鈥檓 scared,鈥欌�� Storm says. 鈥淭he house was creaking so much, as I鈥檓 sure you can imagine, and the rain was coming through. I knew there was no chance to get to her from the outside door. I mean, the house was actually leaning on the door jamb.鈥�
Unbeknownst to the rescue attempt already underway, Mack was convinced that all she needed to do was turn the deadbolt. 鈥淚 just kept trying it over and over and over. That was my horror movie moment. I couldn鈥檛 get out, but I could literally see the morning sky and the rain coming in. There were tree branches everywhere and leaves all over the place,鈥� she says.
Then, she saw something else: the beam of a flashlight cutting through the branches of the tree holding her hostage. Mack knew Ashley and Rachel were outside, trying to call 911. Neither of them had a flashlight; they鈥檇 escaped the house with nothing but their phones and the clothes on their backs. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know who that was in our house,鈥� Mack says.
Whoever it was, Mack realized she was no longer alone. 鈥淚 said, 鈥楬ello?鈥� That鈥檚 when I heard his voice. I said, 鈥業鈥檓 in here! I鈥檓 in the corner and I鈥檓 scared. The door won鈥檛 open and I can鈥檛 get out.鈥欌�� Rather than attempt prying the door open from the outside, Storm had used a second door, this one undamaged, to get into the house. The precarious lean of the house had him concerned. What if, in pushing toward Mack from the outside, he further destabilized the structure?
鈥淲e were scared,鈥� Rachel says, 鈥渂ecause we thought the house was going to collapse.鈥� Mack had precious little room to move. Yet just moments after seeing the flashlight and shouting for help, Storm was there. 鈥淗e鈥檇 crawled through the branches to get to me,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 was saying, 鈥楶lease be careful, please be careful.鈥� I scooted as far away as I could to let him in.鈥�
Storm tried the deadbolt. Nothing happened. Then, he took a small step backward and rammed his shoulder into the door. Nothing happened. He tried again. Then鈥� 鈥淲hen that door opened, and that air hit me, I just thought, 鈥楾hank you, Jesus.鈥欌��
It wasn鈥檛 safe anymore at the house on Wilson Street. The cavalry of 91福利社 first responders who arrived en masse after Storm Page rescued Mack from the house made it clear: we鈥檙e sorry, but you can鈥檛 go back inside to get your personal items. They鈥檇 driven the two blocks to the G. Ross Anderson Jr. Student Center and parked in the middle of the lot 鈥渁s far as possible from any trees,鈥� Rachel says. 鈥淲e looked like crazy people. We had no shoes, and we were crying.鈥�
Inside there were few people milling about, yet more were showing up over time. Power was out across campus and students knew the Student Center would have electricity, food and staff to help. They knew they wouldn鈥檛 be alone. And that鈥檚 one of the lessons Ashley, Mack and Rachel take away from the experience: what happens when you lose everything you own? They learned it in the hours and days and weeks and months that followed. Belongings don鈥檛 make life precious. Life is precious because of the people with whom we share it, those who make sure you are never alone.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 realize how much you rely on people until there is a threat, the threat that they won鈥檛
always be there,鈥� Ashley says. 鈥淭he comfort of people has never felt so real as it did in that moment.鈥� In the weeks that followed, Ashley, Mack and Rachel found a new house. This one has only one tree in the yard (Ashley jokes it鈥檚 one tree too many.) They kept their community intact despite the storm. By the time of this year鈥檚 commencement, they鈥檒l all have graduated and moved on to the next chapter of their journey.
Mack will remember that moment when she was all alone, huddled beneath a gray and rainy sky, hemmed in by the branches of a monstrous tree, crying and afraid she鈥檇 never get out. She will remember her friends who cried for help. She鈥檒l remember Storm Page standing next to her, risking his own life to help her escape. They鈥檒l all remember walking through the Student Center barefoot and afraid. They鈥檒l remember the Culinary Center staff who prayed over them. They鈥檒l remember AU staff members Tyrome Philson and Jody Bryant finding clothes for them to wear and shoes for their feet.
Rachel Coleman said, 鈥淲e can look at (the experience) and say, 鈥業t was a terrible moment,鈥� but we are so blessed. We are all alive. It could have been much different. We all loved that house. It was our home. But home is where people are. It鈥檚 not the building. The fact that we got out of it and that we鈥檙e living together again? That鈥檚 something to be thankful for.鈥�
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