Hurricane

[mitochondriaaya]

There were several things that people knew to do when a hurricane was going to hit. Tape the windows. Fill the tub with extra water. Find your candles and lanterns. Lay out sleeping bags in the room with the least windows.

Well, most people.

Aya was from New York. Her dad had actually remembered to call her when he stopped for the night. A road had washed out, she wasn't to keep dinner waiting. Not particularly bothered by this fact, she'd put his portions in the fridge. She didn't see the news, or the weather alerts, because she decided to watch a tape. The late night television she'd found here ran towards infomercials most nights.

By the time the power went out she was fast asleep on the couch; rain had that effect on her. She was more than a little shocked when the branch came through the living room window. Luckily, her instinct was to freeze, else she'd have given herself a good knock on the head. She noticed the glass when she began to crawl off the couch, it tinkled and rained to the floor as her blankets shifted...and that was scary. Her shoes were by the door. and it was very, very quiet outside.

And dark.

She wasn't going to cry, not yet. She'd stop moving if she cried and this wasn't a good place to stay...so she just clutched her moogle to her chest and carefully slipped over the couch arm instead of stepping down to the floor. She bumped her knees on the recliner arm, but it got her away from the glass! From the recliner she felt her way to the door and her shoes.

Where was she suppose to sleep now with all that glass? She could go back across the living room now, but...but...

...instead she dragged on her raincoat one arm at a time so she didn't lose her moogle. There was just enough room to zip it most of the way up over her plush toy. Sure, they looked like a monster with two heads (one in the middle of the chest!) but it would keep them dry? She didn't want to leave the moogle at home. It wasn't safe.

She'd learned, quickly, that the best adult to ask favors of was Braig's mom. So she carefully locked her door behind her and headed down the street. It was dark outside too! But she could walk along the sidewalk and count the driveway dips until she was pretty sure she was at Braig's. If she was wrong she'd apologize!

So, that was why there was a small fist banging on Braig's door at four in the morning during the eye of the storm.

Comments

[sliceitwithwind]

It's Braig's mother who, eventually, calls out to her from the storm cellar. "AYA! Come this way!"

[mitochondriaaya]

It took her a moment to actually register the call. It was really, really early in the morning and she was scared and the voice was coming from the wrong place and...

...and how many big rocks were in the garden on the way? She didn't remember. "Okay" she called, just to let Braig's mom she was coming, if slowly.

[sliceitwithwind]

When she gets to the cellar door she's scooped up and dragged in, to be set down with Braig, Dilan, and a giant nest of blankets. The adults are sitting around a table.

"There's a hurricane, Aya! Where's your dad?" Dilan asks, dragging her into the kid hug-pile.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Meep..." being scooped up really derailed everything she'd been planning to ask until she was set down with the boys. It was totally okay to cry around kids. Adults, well, adults just wanted to know kids were okay so that's what she would have told them.

"Don't know..." she admitted quietly, wiggling enough to kick one shoe off "...he got stuck so I went to bed." the other shoe soon followed, then more wiggling to toss her raincoat off. It was easier to hug her moogle then, and clutch at the boys.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Okay." Dilan tugs her close and resumes leaning on Braig. "You're gonna stay the night here now."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Good 'cause I don't know if I can get all the glass out of my blankets." she muttered through the plush of her toy. "Why are you guys down here? Did your windows break too?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Some of 'em. But it's a hurricane, and you always stay inside in a hurricane. It can kill you."

[mitochondriaaya]

"It's over now though, all quiet and dark up there..." she yawned and dragged more blankets over the pile. "But this better than Braig's couch."

[sliceitwithwind]

"It's the eye of the storm. It's gonna hit again." The boys cuddle down with her, ready to sleep, "Everyone'll help clean your house tomorrow."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Oh..." that totally came out a lot softer and a bit more scared than she intended, but that was alright. "That's good? I think the branch was bigger than me..." so the adult help was a really good idea!

[sliceitwithwind]

"It's okay. Everyone helps everyone." Dilan snuggles her like she snuggles the Moogle (no shame in it, either, Braig has him the same way).

[mitochondriaaya]

That...worked. She hadn't been able to sleep with anyone since her sister died and it helped so much. "Okay..." she sighed again, losing to the need to sleep.

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan drifts off shortly after.

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya didn't even stir when the eye finally passed them and the pounding hurricane returned. The storm was over a little after dawn, the skies as clear and crisp as crystal.

And the world outside of Braig's basement was a mess.

"Oh man..."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah. Come on, lets get you some thicker shoes." Dilan heads her toward his room. He's got spare boots!

[mitochondriaaya]

Boots were a good idea!! "Weather here is crazy! Why do people live here when storms do this?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Because it's beautiful?" Dilan says, "It doesn't happen more than once every couple of years."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Oh...well, then I guess that's okay." she admitted, stomping in the new boots to get a feel for them. "As long as it's not all the time. That tree branch was scary."