puddles

The rain didn't stop when it was supposed to. The streets are flooded now. Just outside my driveway is a yawning puddle deeper than the ocean. It runs all around the block. I'm not sure if I can jump over it. I saw one of my neighbors try and get swallowed up. He stepped off the curb and fell into the water. For a while he kept his neck above water but the torrents dragged him under before he could grab on to the side.

At other houses there are cars dangling off the precipice or sinking into the water, getting swept away by the rains. Mostly though nobody's trying to go out, because where is there to go in this weather? Everyone who wanted groceries probably got them by now, if they weren't swept away.

I'm only really afraid because I feel cut off from my love, who, like the rest of the world outside my block, is separated from me by an impossibly deep puddle. And I know normally the puddles dry up or drain in a few days but they're not usually seven miles deep. I don't know if that can ever go away. And what if I never see her again? What if there's more puddles like this?

She doesn't answer when I call and I find myself standing at the curb. It doesn't look so far.