My Short Stories

How It Feels

Not my best :/ but leave a comment anyway :)

I always wondered how it would feel to be told by a guy that he loves me. The truth is, I didn't know what to expect. My mom used to say when I was just a young child, she knew her and my father were in love at first sight. She said there was a spark, a connection, that told her without him even opening his mouth. The first time he told her he loved her, she said that it didn't feel like the first time because she already knew. Now, however, Mom says she didn't know how she felt at the time. She thought she loved him, she said. She was too young to understand. Now, she says if she knew then what she know now, she never would've felt that way.

       So, I didn't have a clue what it would be like for me. I was thinking this as I opened the door into Dan's car. Just the way he casually looked up at me sent my heart skipping several beats. It took my breath away when I saw how the light was captured in his wavy, brown hair. I was in love with him. It was love at first sight, just like my Mom used to say it was. But Dan and I were just friends, best friends. I could never do anything to jeopardise that. He could never like me in that way anyway.

       "Hey," he said gruffly and I felt my heart beat like it was floating.

       I got in the car. We made conversation. We could've talked all day. Just give us a topic and talking to him about us made something as basic as toothpaste seem like the most angelic thing in the world. We could've talked forever about the torrential rain that poured down that day. We could've talked for eternity about the odd flashes of lightning we saw and the roars of thunder we heard as we sat in the car.

       But suddenly the world resolved into pain and brightness. It was so quick, but I remember being blinded by the light. I remember seeing Dan's face; his eyes staring without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face. And then, suddenly, everything was black.

       I painfully opened my eyes, the pain and effort involved was excruciating. But as soon as I opened my eyes, everything else became so much easier. I managed to prop myself up on my elbows and look around.  I wasn't in the car with Dan anymore. I was lying at the side of a deserted country road. There was a signpost and crossroads at the top of the road. I knew straight away something strange had happened. For starters, I didn't know what happened. Just a second ago I was sitting in the car talking to Dan about the storm that had been out and now I was here with a light head and a thick throat.

       Dan. I saw him lying at the other end of the road. There wasn't even a drop of blood around him. I slowly got up, my new-found panic distracting me from the pain I was in. I tried to call his name, but my throat felt so thick and smothering, like it was full of cotton wool, that all I could put to sound was a muffled wail. I slowly ran down to where he was lying. I tried to run faster, I really did, but I somehow was in such pain that I felt like I was running in water, like there was a magnet behind me forcing me back.

       I finally reached him and knelt down beside him, shaking him. I still couldn't talk so I wailed over and over again. There were tiny scars all over his face, each of them in a different shape. They looked so raw, so fresh, it looked like a rash. There were crosses etched down and across his eyelids, reminding me of a clown's make up. These crosses were much bigger though. They went from his eyebrows to his cheekbones.Only then did I realise what had happened to us. We had been struck by lightning.

       I stopped shaking him. I felt too shocked and dazed. I curled up in a ball beside him and cried.

       I then heard a muffled noise, much like the noise that had come  out of my mouth not long ago. It was Dan. I looked at him , noting the orange colour of his eyes, and I saw his face turn into shock. I placed my finger on my own cheekbones and traced my finger alone the exact same scars on my own skin. I screamed and jumped back, inevitable tears rolling down my cheeks.