A calm and soothing voice woke Nora up.
It was the woman's voice, Nora was pretty sure without even thinking twice.
She slowly opened her eyes greeted with a stiff yet genuine smile by the woman.
The woman sat beside where Nora slept and to her surprise she was no longer tied down.
Nora casually sat with the woman like she wasn't tied up a few hours ago… like nothing happened.
The woman greeted and introduced herself to Nora.
"Hey, I'm sorry for how my brother acted earlier. He was just--"
Nora cut off the woman immediately before she can even mention her name.
"W-wa-wa-wa-wait… you? Johann? Siblings? I thought you, Johann, uh-"
The woman grinned to Nora almost bursting herself to laughter.
"Yes. Yes, we are, Nora. I'm Jes. Jes with a single s. Jo has the double one. I'm her older sister. I know what you're trying to say, we get that a lot."
Jes promptly added in a more serious voice yet maintained a light face,
"We've talked it over and I have convinced Jo to give ya a little space to move. I mean, this is a small bunker. It's actually used when there are huge storms, and the occasional tornadoes. I guess he was just being protective of me."
Nora as her usual self pointed out the bunker being small for Jes, later complimenting Jes's name while giggling from time to time.
"Small? Smaaaaall?! This is what you call small? You could fit like eight limousines in here. This bunker is huuuuuge. By the way, Jes, I like your name! It's a deviant from the more obvious Jess with the double s."
Jes noticed how bubbly Nora's personality is.
"You know, Nora? I like your vibe. I feel like we're going to be like sisters."
An instantly found friend, Nora glowed with a huge smile.
"Aww thanks. You too, Jes."
Nora hugged Jes tightly like she has known her for a lifetime, oddly, Jes did just the same, almost tighter than Nora did.
Nora casually asked her some questions.
"So what were you up to before all this happened?"
Jes replied.
"Oh, I was a nurse at the local hospital of our town. A proud member of the Mary Mills Memorial Medical Center medical staff. It's quite a mouthful so we kinda just call it four-MC. A bit cheesy to say but nevertheless we hold pride of our institution. I'm a four-MC nurse working on pediatric patients."
Nora replied with a quick side note.
"Uhuh. That's probably why you're so good at talking. Jes, your voice is a gift! You're such a natural. I feel like a kid listening to a calming lullaby.. without the sleepy part! Ugh, I wish I had a voice like yours."
Jes replied briefly with a short thank you.
"Aww thank you."
Jes added.
"When you're working with mostly kids all day, you need to have that extra charm. To be honest with you, I wasn't really born with this voice. My voice used to be growly like Jo's. My voice just gradually changed through my internship years. I guess the environment I work at just needs a bit more patience and understanding than other workplaces."
Nora just couldn't comprehend how Jes' voice is that magical—magical like a bedtime story for a four-year-old toddler.
Wondering why she wasn't blessed with such fairytale-like voice, she unknowingly stared at Jes almost closing her eyes with awe while daydreaming.
Busting out of her mouth, a bad habit she'd developed, her private thoughts just babbled out of her mind again—unaware.
"I wonder why my voice isn't like yours."
Jes, waving her hand in front of Nora's still daydreaming face trying to contain a bit of her laughter at what she's witnessing.
"Hey. Hey, Nora. Are you alright? You seem like you're out of touch. Are you okay, Nora?"
Snapping out of her own cloud of thoughts, Nora suddenly realized she's been wandering far too long in her own mind.
"Oh, u-uhm, sorry. It's just, I haven't been this relaxed to escape reality for a moment."
In that moment, Jes saw in Nora's actions the surface of what she'd been through—a scratch to the surface she'd unraveled.