Tales From the Black Butterfly: Rayne — Part 4
Storm’s A'Comin.
The storm outside quickly rose in intensity. No one saw it coming. No one knew where it came from. It was like it came out of nowhere. It had put a damper on what would have been an otherwise pleasant day. The rain washed over the paved streets of the town. Where the roads hadn’t been paved, it made the mud even muddier, if that was even possible. Lights inside the buildings hinted at the people inside trying to stay warm and dry, away from the storm’s onslaught as it tried to wash everything in its path away, but they knew they were safe with shelter from the pounding rain. A flash lit up the world outside for an instant. A moment later a resounding BOOM rattled most of the windows around.
A few minutes later, another flash of light and a loud book a moment later. This time, there was the outline of a solitary person standing at one end of one of the streets. The figure in question was drenched. Dripping with water. With her head bowed against the wind, she slowly moved up the street, trying to find any kind of shelter to help her against the onslaught. She shivered a little bit. The rain made her cold and damp. If she wasn’t careful, she’d catch a cold. Then she wouldn’t be good to anyone. Rayne chastised herself for not bringing a jacket with her for extra protection.
“Don’t worry. You won’t need it. It’s a quick errand, Rayne. What could possibly go wrong, Rayne? Nice going, Rayne. You jinxed yourself.”
Another bright flash of light and cacophonous boom rattled the windows again. Slowly making her way up the street, Rayne could feel her strength slowly leaving as she fought against the wind and the water. She’d been tired since she’d been pulled back and awoken from the brink of death, and she needed to rest. She was only a couple of towns away from her bed. With any luck, it would only take her a few hours to….
Before she could stop herself, her body seemingly pitched forward of its own accord, and once again, the blackness of unconsciousness claimed her. She was gone so quickly, that she didn’t even feel her body hit the ground.
In one of the windows of a nearby house, a curtain falls over the window as whoever was holding it open let go of the drapes after seeing the figure fall. “Mom! I think there’s someone out there that needs help!” A young man’s voice rang out through one of the houses, clear as a bell. “Don’t be silly, Charles. No one would be fool enough to be out in this mess,” said a middle-aged woman with slightly graying hair and brown eyes as she walked over to one of the larger downstairs windows of her home, peering out into the torrential downpour, squinting against the rain and trying to see what her son had. “I think that people-” she stopped mid-sentence as her eyes landed on the figure lying in the middle of the street. Marie gasped.
“You’re right, Charles. Quick! Get your coat and go fetch that pour soul out there. We can’t just leave them out there on their own. It’s a horrible night for that.”
The young man nodded and grabbed his jacket and put on his shoes before bracing himself and opening the door. Charles wasn’t the biggest of men. All things considered; he was kind of scrawny. He was almost mousy in appearance. As he shut the door to the house behind him and ran out into the street to check on the person lying in the road, he pulled his jacket tighter around him in order to protect himself better against the rain.
“Miss?” He waited a moment for her answer after dashing across the fairly small yard which was now completely water-logged. “Excuse me, miss?” He knelt down beside the figure in the street. “If you can hear me, I’m here to help. I’m going to pick you up and carry you inside the house out of the rain.” He managed to wedge his arms underneath the woman. It was a bit of a struggle to pick her up, but after a long minute of trying to balance properly, he finally managed to get her up in the air. Apparently, he could lift more than it looked like. Appearances can be deceiving. Slowly, Charles made his way back to the house where his mother was standing in the now-open door.
Marie stepped out of the way as Charles brought the woman inside and shut the door behind him. Silently, she led him upstairs to the only spare room they had in the house. Hopefully, the woman would be okay.
Meanwhile, Rayne who was swallowed up by the darkness and now being carried inside a strange house remained still. It was almost like she was dead to the world. Little did she know that her world was about to change forever.
