Rainy Days

Prologue

[age seven]

"JORDAN ELIJAH REEL!" His mother shrieked from downstairs. Jordan and his sister, Ronnie, exchanged wild eyed looks.

"Quick!" Ronnie hissed, scrambling forwards. Quick as she could, the TV was turned off, her book was open, and the action figures where shoved under beds. Jordan did the same, but chose to run to the door instead, smiling widely with his small teeth.

"Jordan," the door swung open, revealing the tired and angry looking woman. "Care to explain the mess downstairs?"

Jordan and Ronnie exchanged looks again, and this was not unnoticed by Margaret Reel. "Ronnie? How about you?"

Ronnie shook her head frantically. "No, no ma'am. I didn't do it!"

"Well, Jordan?"

"It was the dog," Jordan blurted. From the bed, Ronnie sighed.

"We haven't got a dog," Margaret said.

"The hamster," Jordan said. "We've got one of them, right?"

"Hippie died last week," Ronnie muttered.

"Oh,"

Margaret rolled her eyes and cuffed her sons ear. He cried out, and started to wince when the woman grabbed his hair and dragged him downstairs to the small kitchen. It was mildly flooded, puddles of water spotting the floor. Jordan flushed, remember his failed attempts before Ronnie came home.

"Clean up the mess, Jordan, or I will beat you." Margaret sneered, shoving him forwards. His foot splashed one mess.

Jordan sighed and rubbed his bright red ear. Once the door swung shut, he looked at the small puddles of water scattered about.

Closing his eyes, he lifted his hand and took a deep breath.

Slowly, the water began to rise, a small thread of blue. It shone in the flickering light of their kitchen. He peeked at it, and then grinned, the naïve excitement of a child.

Without moving, the boy cleaned everything up, his mind focused more on this than anything it had ever faced. When his mother re-entered, she begrudgingly allowed him to go sleep.

Jordan smiled into the pillow that night, wondering what else he could do.

[age ten]

"Jordan! Jordan!" Ron ran into the room, practically tackling his older brother.

Jordan grunted, managing to stop himself from falling. "Hey, Ron!" He grinned, hugging his brother tight.

"Her name is Ronnie, Jordan," Margaret said, kicking her heels off. As if the name reacted it, Ron reached up and touched his long brown hair with a frown.

"I'm going to bed."

"G'night, mom."

The two watched her disappear, and then ran into the living room.

"Did you record it?" Ron said, bouncing up and down. "I swear, if you didn't I'm going to kill you."

Jordan laughed and said, "That's a bit more violent than usual, huh Ronald?"

"Ronald?" Ron said, scrunching his nose. "No. It's Ron."

"Well, that significantly lowers my chance to make fun of it," Jordan said, and Ron opened his mouth to reply—but then the special feature came on.