Thursday, 10 October 2013

Dark and Stormy Night - Junemoon - anwaname - Junemoon - Moominbrooke - Fever

ROUND 1
Junemoon

            It was a dark and stormy night.  Myra loved weather. Many people see weather as their enemy. Not Myra. The weather channel predicted a night and day of storms. End of the summer storms were one of her favorite kinds of weather. She lived enough toward the center of the country that hurricanes never reached and yet not far enough west to be in Tornado Alley (although sometimes she considered moving to Kansas or Missouri just to experience the excitement of a tornado watch).


            Storms were the best of all weather. Summer storms like tonight were the very best.  The rain didn’t start until nearly nine. Myra was prepared. Myra was prepared. She had her dad’s tarp that he used to cover the woodpile during snow storms. She had hosed it down early in the afternoon and let it dry. When the rain started she wrapped the tarp around her like a tent and went out into the backyard. She sat down in the lawn chair with her back to the house. Their wooded back yard adjoined the neighbor’s even woodier backyard. She didn’t know the neighbors, she only knew her parents didn’t like them. Sometimes they had loud parties and the were “probably some kind of drug dealers” (according to her father), or  “young good-for-nothings” (according to her mother).


            Tonight there was only one small light shining through the trees. The rain fell harder, thunder and lightening began somewhere far away but was coming closer. Myra had promised her parents she would come in if it got very close. But she didn’t intend to do it. The wind was trying to pull the tarp off her but it was well tucked around her. Then the light in the neighbor’s house went off and the light from her parent’s house went out. Oh, good! Wonderful! Myra loved it.  “Come in, Myra. Come in right now!” her mother called. She didn’t move.
            “Get yourself in the house, young lady!” he father called a couple of minutes later. He had on his stern fatherly voice. “The power is off. All of the street is dark.”


            “Later!” She called back. The door slammed. They knew she was impossible.


            The lightening was getting closer, the thunder cracked sharp as a blade and other thunder rolled like a jet warming up. The rain was falling so hard Myra was getting wet even inside the tarp but she didn’t care. It was chilly but not really cold. She loved it.


            What was that? Two lights in the woods were sweeping back and forth like police searching for something. Couldn’t be police, she hadn’t heard any sirens, saw no flashing lights. Was it the neighbors?
 
ROUND 2 
anwaname
 
No, that couldn't be right either. The light was coming from overhead, shining on the tops of the trees. Myra perked up a bit, sitting up straighter under the blue plastic. The light trailed over the trees, casting everything in odd contrast. She leaned forward to get a better look, but she was momentarily blinded by a flash of lightning.
 
The clap of thunder that followed the strike was only a few seconds behind. The storm was coming closer and now Myra could see the trees starting to whip in the oncoming wind. It was not that bad where she sat in her front yard, but it was coming fast.
 
Still, the approaching storm could not hold her attention in the face of spotlights now dancing against the sea of trees. Who in the world could be out in this weather?
 
Smiling, Myra grabbed the flashlight she had set by her chair and gathered the tarp around her shoulders so that it would cover her head and not drag the ground, not that it seemed to be doing much good at this point. She flicked the switch on her light and made her way into the edge of the woods.
 
The wind hit just as she reached the cover of the trees. Bits of leaves and dirt flew past her and she shivered at the sudden chill. She had not gone thirty feet when she heard the oddest noise. It wasn't loud - just barely audible over the sound of the storm. It sounded like the high pitch whir of a motor. She turned and followed it the best she could in the din of the storm.
 
ROUND 3 

Junemoon  
The wind tugged at the tarp, so she gripped it all the tighter. “Unghh!” she grunted, as the tarp tightened even more and the wind was nearly knocked out of her. In an instant, she was flung up into the sky. “Holy crap!” she shouted, and she was forced to close her eyes against the swirling debris that followed her into the air. She felt the tops of the sycamore trees with their flat leaves slapping at her ankles and wondered why on earth she hadn’t gone inside.

“Grab this!”


Myra heard a voice but couldn’t divine the direction it was coming from.
 

“Hurry!!” it pleaded.

Now she could feel a rough sisal rope sawing against her cheek and she grabbed it for all she was worth, with her hands, her knees and her feet “just like in 5th grade” she thought.  
As she was dragged shivering through the storm, she felt a few sets of hands grabbing her from above and dragging her into some species of wooden vessel. 
ROUND 4

Moominbrooke
  The world around her seemed to be spinning, everything was blurred and Myra couldn't distinguish any particular shapes anymore. Her eyelids became heavy as if weights had been glued to them. She tried to force herself to stay awake and alarmed, to not just give in to the enticing darkness that awaited her, to be aware of what happened, of who it was that dragged her over uneven ground in her little rescue boat … but even though she tried to put up a fight, her shocked body dosed off into an uneasy kind of unconciousness.

The last words she heard before she completely lost contact to the world were spoken by a female: „ … glad you found 'er … horrible weather … coulda been carried away … jus' like lil' Dorothee ...get 'er in alright ...“  
ROUND 5 
Fever
   Myra woke up in a very soft bed, under a very warm blanket, her head buried in a pillow that wore the scent of forest and pine trees. Still half asleep she smiled at the comforting scent – just to be startled a second later. 

Suddenly she was wide awake. Something was wrong. It was a lovely scent, it smelt like something she would like to call home, but here home never smelled like pine trees. 

Sitting up straight in bed she turned around to take in the room she was in: It was a small one - apparently she was in a wooden house – with a fine layer of dust on everything. Except for the bed, there was not a lot of furniture in the room: A bookshelve, a small cupboard and a little table. But there were lots of posters pinned to the walls and books were piled on the floor around the table. It was a cosy room, a little messy, but cosy. Once the first moment of fear had passed, Myra felt rather curious. This room didn't look like anything to be afraid of. She swung her legs out of bed.

That very moment the door swung open and in hurried her parents, their faces crumpled with worry and at the sight of her tears of relief rolled down their faces. „Myra, darling, you're safe!“ They hugged her tightly, her mum stroking her face time after time, as if she was feeling for invisible injuries.

After the first joy had faded, Myra realised they weren't alone. A young woman was standing in the door smiling at them. Myra's father followed her gaze and got up on his feet. „Thank you so much! If it weren't for your boyfriend and you … I'm so relieved you found her.“ Her mum stepped towards the young woman, grabbed her hand and shook it almost violently: „We're so grateful! How can we ever thank you? Please, at least join us for dinner tonight, that's the least we can do.“ The woman smiled and nodded. Then she looked at Myra and gave her a little secret wink. 

Myra's parents lead her out – they couldn't stop talking about how worried they had been and how relieved they were. Myra didn't listen properly. She was still amazed. Before leaving the foreign house, the woman took her by the shoulder and whispered in her ear: „It still was a beautiful storm, wasn't it?“ Then she opened the door and Myra stepped out. She looked directly at her own house. With a knowing smile she turned to her neighbour once again and nodded.  

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