The Rain

Chapter Five

We sat in the dark for several minutes listening to the raging thunderstorm. I could hear hail smashing down into the windows and the sliding glass doors, thankful it wasn't big enough to break them. In the pitch blackness, I felt Kristy searching out with her hands for me. She grazed my leg and she felt around until she found my hand. She held it then, and squeezed for a few moments, silently. I squeezed back.

Haley's phone screen shone out in the darkness. "We've got to try and call someone." She typed a number into the keypad.

"Good idea." Kristy said, and she and I pulled out our cellphones as well . I tapped on my mom's contact info, then pressed the little green phone icon. I raised it to my ear, expecting it to ring, but instead got the beeping of a busy phone call. I hung up and tried my father's. The same beeping. I tried my aunt Katherine's and my grandparent's house phone with the same results. Eventually, I ran out of numbers to call on my contact list and began to dial random numbers. Any call that went through, even if it was a stranger, would have been a relief. But every time I received that same retched beeping.

I pulled the crumpled paper with Bailey's number out of my pocket. I knew he probably wouldn't pick up, what with all the busy lines and his most likely being exposed to the rain, but it was the last number I could think of calling. I held the phone screen up to the numbers so I could read them, then tapped them into the keypad and waited for it to start beeping.

"What was that?" Kristy asked, leaning in. I couldn't see her in the darkness, but I could feel that mysterious look she always got on her face when she saw something she knew she wasn't supposed to. I hesitated for a moment, thinking of a reply that would get me out of the situation. You see, Kristy, nor my parents for that matter, actually knew I was interested in, well, guys. She whispered in my ear. "We'll talk about it later."

Haley huffed and I heard her toss her phone onto the couch beside her. "They're all busy. I tried so many numbers, and they're all busy. How can all of them be busy?"

I scratched the back of my neck feeling awkward and slumped against the couch. "Mine were, too. Do you think it's because of the storm or..." There were a few moments of silence, in which the rain gladly took up.

"It's gotta be the storm," Kristy said. I could tell she was trying to reassure us just as much as she was herself. "Of course it's just the storm. Lightning must have struck the main tower or something. It'll be back in the morning." More silence. I think we all knew deep down that the signal was never going to come back.

Kristy stood from the couch and held her phone screen to her face, making it glow eerily in the bluish light. "In the meantime, we should find some flashlights and get some extra blankets and stuff. It's already starting to get chilly in here."

I was getting chilly, so I followed Kristy toward the hallway, despite not wanting to be alone with her in fear of her bringing up the note from Bailey. Haley followed us, her and I pulling out our phone screens as well. We huddled together in a group, like a scared herd of gazelles that had just seen a lion, and made our way toward the general direction of the hallway. Even with the phones out, it was hard to see where we were going.

We got to the back wall and edged along it until we found the corner. Creeping around it, Kristy pulled open the utility closet door and stood aside. "Put your phone's together and we'll be able to see more."

We all stuck them forward and created a pale beam of phone-screen light. Even with them all together there were still a lot of shadows. Storage wracks from floor to ceiling lined the side wall and there was a boiler in the back left corner.

"Do you remember where we keep the flashlights?"

Haley sniffed in the dark. "Here, hold this." She handed her phone to me and kneeled to the ground, disappearing in the darkness. There was some rustling and the sound of her fingers sliding along the metal bars of the storage wracks before she stood up with a box in her arms.