Loving Storm

22. Unspoken Thoughts

4:30 PM

Jack exhaled a cloud of smoke outside his bedroom window. He had been strangely quiet since their run in with Hudson at the main square. Storm knew it would prove futile trying to pick his brain. When Jack closed himself off, he didn't let anyone in-not Hudson, not even her.

Storm tore the plastic off the new Alice in Chains CD he bought earlier, intrigued to hear the new album just as much as him but also in hopes of distracting him from the elephant in the room, the growing tension that was unspoken between them but that they both knew existed. Carefully, she placed the CD in the stereo and pressed play.

Within a few seconds, the heavy guitar riffs brought the room to life. With Mr. Foster at the local run down cougar bar in the outskirts of town for the rest of the afternoon, they were free to take advantage of the empty house, raising the volume on the stereo to its max, just like Jack preferred it-loud and reverberating through the walls of his bedroom.

Embracing their Saturday afternoon, Storm took it upon herself to revel in the moment. She started dancing to the music in her purple and white flowered summer dress, flipping her long wavy hair like a headbanger. She danced as if no one was in the room, finding an escape in the sounds of the heavy guitar and the rhythm of the drums.

Spontaneously, she reached for Jack's hand, pulling him away from the window ledge to let loose with her. Seizing the bud from his mouth, she placed it between her own lips, taking a small pull.

"You sure you want to do that?" Jack questioned, retrieving the bud from her.

She blew out a small puff of smoke. "Already did," she said defiantly.

He watched her resume to her head banging, something he had taught her when they were kids when he introduced her to heavy metal music. They were eight when he first exposed her to Metal in that very room, and then Grunge when the genre surged in 1990 at the age of ten. Unlike Storm, Hudson thought Grunge music was depressing and so unlike his thumping, love drunken country music.

Jack strode towards the stereo, cranking up the volume even louder. With the volume now to his liking, he threw himself on his bed, and crossed his feet, propping one hand behind his head. He took in another drag, exhaling a perfect cloud of smoke as he watched Storm lose herself in the music.

When his mother left, Jack shut everyone out. He spent most weeks locked in his room. Hudson and his parents constantly visited, and some nights, they invited him and his father over for dinner. They went over a few times, but it didn't last long before his father made a drunken scene that lead to shouting and broken plates. The Walkers were an honest and righteous family, with that came truths Ted Foster didn't wish to hear. Truths Ted Foster buried deep and refused to ever face.

After the friendly dinners came to an end, Hudson still made it routine to show up at Jack's door every day wearing an empathetic look that Jack found unbearable. He didn't want to be pitied. Although he knew Hudson's concern was genuine—he was just looking out for him. Either way, Jack chose to detach. He didn't want sympathy or to talk more about his mother's departure. That's when Storm swooped in with her free-spirited ways, and uncanny ability to understand his unspoken needs. Almost every day afterschool she would come over with a new casette tape from Nirvana records. They would lie on his bed in silence and listen to emerging Grunge artists, debating which was better and what album was best. In Storm's company, Jack found solace. Despite the weight of his dark thoughts and the overwhelming detachment he felt from the world, having her there beside him, understanding what he needed without telling her, made him feel less alone.

Now, as he watched her, he appreciated what she had done for him back then. She had saved him from himself and she was completely unaware of it.

While Jack took in the view in front of him, Storm remained lost in her own world. With closed eyes, she embraced the music as it surged through her body like sweet adrenaline. After a few minutes, a soothing calmness washed over her, easing her energetic nature.