𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒. ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ¹

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 05.

━ 𝗮 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁.

    𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐈 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 at the house, Caroline and Daryl were sitting on the futon, holding hands.

With a weak smile plastered over my lips, I had stood frozen behind the screen door, water dripping from every inch of my body. The container of oil was in my two hands held in front of my stomach, and I had simply stood there, until they noticed me. My hair was blowing in every direction, no longer tied back with the elastic, and the rain-water slid off my body and stained the wood of the porch.

    Caroline had rushed over to the door with trembling hands, grabbing my shoulders with her thin fingers. Daryl waited behind the screen door, as Caroline's hair flew up in a wild mess. She had pulled me into the house, told Daryl to get me a towel, and engulfed me into a hug despite my clothes being soaked. She was saying things to me, but I didn't really listen, my mind was somewhere else.

    Then there I was, sitting on the couch wrapped in a warm brown towel. The wind bristled past the house, and Daryl sat next to me, as Caroline prepared me a mug of hot cocoa. When she had placed it into my shivering hands, she asked how I managed to get home through the storm. I left out the part with the Routledge kid in it, and simply explained, through quivering lips, that I ran the bike all the way home in the rain.

    They believed me, but I think it was just because they felt bad— felt guilty for letting their granddaughter, whom they just met, out biking into a hurricane, by herself, in a town she didn't know— even though it was my suggestion to go out.

    Eventually, after warming up, we ate dinner in silence. None of us really looked at each other, and rather out the windows at the storm that raged on. It wasn't supposed to get bad until nighttime, so Caroline made sure to close and lock the real door, which I noticed was rarely ever shut. She also closed all the blinds, leaving the house in darkness, and made sure the window in my room was sealed shut before I went to bed.

    Nothing was really spoken as she said goodnight to me, except for something along the lines of "Come and see us if something happens.", before she smiled, exited the room, and left the door open a crack. I found it hard to hear what she had said, mainly because the rain was pounding so hard on the rooftop of the house, but also because my mind wandered elsewhere. I was worried about the hurricane of course, and what would happened afterwards, but I couldn't stop myself from also thinking about the two boys who picked me up.

    It was hard to fall sleep that night. The house felt like it moved and swayed with the heavy wind, and the roof had sounded like it was going to cave in with all the rain hammering down on it. I had pulled my blankets up all the way past my cheeks, and eventually fell asleep after what seemed like hours.

    "Holy cow,"

    The house was so silent, that I woke up from hearing Caroline whisper. She was in the kitchen.

    I opened my tired eyes to the bright sunlight, spilling through the bedroom window— portraying a weird feeling, as if nothing had happened the night before. The old clock on the bedside table beside me wasn't working, meaning that the power was off, causing a groan to be heard. Immediately after, as reality sunk in, I took notice of large tree branches scattered along the bottom part of the wide window, and wedged between it's wooden framings.

    I looked at the leaves pinned up against the glass, while my legs swung over the side of the bed. The floor was cold against my bare feet towards the already opened door. The floor planks creaked beneath steps, which was, about, the only audible sound throughout the whole house. I turned the corner to see Caroline staring out the kitchen window, both her hands rubbing over her forehead with a strong air of stress.