Spring in September (Short Story)

Chapter Seven

"alright then, a whole day inside." Sydney thought to herself as she smiled slightly behind Aaron's light blue hoodie that she was cuddling. "and Aaron will be here all day too..."

Outside thunder struck and Sydney froze in place, "no- not again...." she thought as she sat in the darkness and listened to the rain start to pour outside. She couldn't move as she recalled the day she lost her family.

Aaron watched outside the window on the first floor as the rain came down, "i should make sure Sydney's doing alright." he looked to the stairs and saw Sydney walking down them slowly and quietly.

Thunder and lightning struck outside and Sydney collapsed on the floor in fear. he couldn't see her face but he could tell that she was crying. He ran over to her side and held her close, he could hear her heartbeat racing in her chest as she cried in his arms. Aaron could feel the warmth of her small fragile body on his arms and chest as they sat on the floor.

"do you think you can stand up?" Aaron looked down at Sydney who was clutching his shirt in her hands. She didn't respond to Aaron so he picked her up and took her to her bedroom and lay her on her bed, she looked down at the ground and shut her eyes hard as the storm raged on outside.

"hey, look at me" Aaron stroked her cheek with his hand and she opened her eyes and looked at him as she cried. "it can't hurt you Sydney, your alright." Aaron spoke in a hushed and gentle tone as he smiled and wiped away her tears.

Sydney stopped crying as Aaron got up and opened the curtains showing her the rain that was pouring outside. He sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her.

"your safe, i promise."

Sydney looked into his kind hazel eyes and once again was drawn into them like before, she leaned in and kissed him pressing her lips against his. He ran his fingers through her soft black hair gently as he felt the soft touch of her hands on his back pulling him closer to her, the only things that could be heard were that of the rain and the sounds of Aaron and Sydney making out in her bedroom.

When Sydney and Aaron separated they both looked into each others eyes, Aaron smiled but this time there was something about it that made it more sad and maybe even confused. "Sydney I-... I didn't think you liked me like that..." Aaron said quietly as if someone would hear him even though they were the only ones in the house. "i didn't think you would uh.. kiss me-"

Sydney blushed and buried her face in he hands, "I- Sorry-.... Just forget about this alright?.." Sydney got up and left the room quickly and embarrassed.

"Sydney wait-" Aaron called after her as she left the room.

Aaron chased after her but she was nowhere to be seen, he searched the entire house but couldn't find her anywhere. "Sydney?! Where are you?!" he called out to her but the only answer was that of thunder outside. "Sydney? I'm sorry, i didn't mean to say it like that..."

Aaron sat at the top of the stairs and rested his head on his knees, "why did I react the way I did?..." he thought.

Aaron stood up and went to the back door and stepped outside as he got soaked from the rain, "damn..." he kicked a chair and knocked it over. "i liked it... but she got the wrong idea because of what i said..." he thought.

As he looked up at the sky he watched as lightning struck a nearby power line pole. Sparks and smoke emerged from the lines as the light from inside every house on the block went out. Aaron went inside to the sound of crashing and breaking glass followed by a tumbling sound coming from the stairs. He turned his phones flashlight on and went to check what it was and what he saw sent a chill down his spine.

Sydney lay in a pool of her own blood at the bottom of the stairs with shards of broken glass surrounding her, the cause of the glass seemed to be a picture frame and one of Lucy's glass mugs she uses for hot chocolate. both items were broken and a shard of glass stuck out of her left arm.

"Sydney! are you okay?! Sydney?" Aaron ran over to her and held her, getting her blood all over his clothes. "Sydney wake up!" he yelled.

Sydney lay unconscious and bleeding in Aaron's arms as he dialed 911, "911 whats your emergency?" the lady on the other side ran through the normal procedure with him.

"i need an ambulance here right now!" Aaron yelled into the phone with a panicked voice as tears streamed from his eyes.

"can you tell me what happened?"

"she fell down the stairs there's glass and blood everywhere!..." Aaron wiped the tears from his face with shaky hands.

"stay on the line with me alright? whats your location" the lady's voice was calm and sweet, it made Aaron feel sick to his stomach.

Aaron leaned his back against the wall as he held Sydney close to him "1027 West Mangrove street." his voice was getting quieter but was still shaky.

"help is on the way."

He pressed on her open cuts to try to stop the bleeding, "please hurry..." This was the one time Aaron couldn't and wouldn't smile, he felt like throwing up and crying at the sight of Sydney in this state.

He say in the dark holding Sydney, the only reason he could see was because of the flashlight on his phone but he couldn't stand seeing Sydney laying motionless in his arms. Then everything around him went silent, the rain, the lady's calming voice,

and Sydney's heartbeat.

Aaron stopped breathing and mentally shut down as sirens and red and blue lights came in through the windows, men in white kicked down the front door and saw Aaron cradling Sydney in his arms as he cried over her. The men took her from Aaron and carried her away on a stretcher.

Aaron's face froze when one man shouted from the ambulance, "we got no pulse over here!"

A man helped him to his feet but he fell back down as he watched everyone else trying to revive Sydney. Aaron's mind went blank as the men brought Sydney to the ambulance and took her inside. they started talking but Aaron couldn't hear them, his ears were ringing and the only thought that crossed his mind was, "shes gone." One man helped Aaron to his feet and walked him to the ambulance. Once they were inside, it sped off towards the hospital running every red light with sirens blaring and lights flashing in the pouring rain.

They gave Aaron some water but he didn't drink it, he stared unblinkingly in shock at Sydney who lay without movement just in front of him as paramedics surrounded her treating her injuries.

He couldn't hear anything.

He couldn't move.

He couldn't breathe...

Tune in next week for the next chapter of Spring in September.

And please like this week's episode and follow the story so you don't miss what happens next!