Orphic

Spring six 1/2 - Elliot

It was four am when I finally realized that I wouldn't be sleeping no matter how hard I tried. Typically, the sound of the raindrops hitting my roof put me to sleep faster than usual but it seemed to be irritating me more than anything, or maybe it was the pounding headache.

My mind had been racing since yesterday morning. It was the first time I'd skipped going for my morning walk, hoping to see Leah. I always ate before or after depending on what I wanted to make and I had a feeling it would bug me more than it did.

But, it didn't bug me at all actually. I slept in a bit, I didn't have to dress in those uncomfortable fancy clothes to go out and I didn't mind everyone seeing how messy I could be. Maybe it was because Cass came, dressed in the pj's and his hair one giant mess before I'd given him my last good hair tie.

Although, our visit left me with more questions than answers. I'd already known he was most likely a tattoo artist since he said he did his on his own, but that was really all the information he offered. Even when we asked about his plans for the holidays, he didn't offer up any more information than a "not sure."

It truly was frustrating, especially after what I was going to call our moments.

Cass seemed to have a hundred different personalities. I'd already met five of them, his usual self, the way he treats strangers like they're children, the anger in his voice when he was on the phone at the docs, the way he'd called me Eli yesterday that seemed to stop my brain and the last phone call I'd heard him on yesterday when his demeanor changed entirely.

Every time I thought about his shifts I felt odd, likely uneasy, the way he spoke to me in particular would always send chills down my spine, no matter how well I got to know him.

So, here I was, sitting outside my front door, barely missing the rain that was pouring down and thinking about the mysterious new farmer that seemed to be playing tricks with my head.

~

I sat on the porch until Willy walked by at some point and asked if I'd walk to town with him. This information told me it was way past the time I'd normally go see Leah, but the rain made it hard to judge. I decided I would try to go tomorrow morning and agreed.

"Rough storm there tonight. Did ya here? We're hitting the aftermath of a tornado." Willy muttered.

We both had an umbrella but it was already hard to walk with the winds and they weren't really helping much.

"That's insane. How long is it going to be like this?" I asked, brushing another strand of soaked hair from my face.

He shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I see some damage happening, you should stay somewhere with a basement tonight. Just in case."

I knew Willy's bedroom was upstairs as well and hoped he would take his advice as well before agreeing. Seb's room was in the basement and we'd had plenty of parties there before, maybe we could invite everyone and make a night out of it.

Besides, my little cottage was not very strong, I wouldn't be surprised if it blew away.

I decided to leave Willy once we'd reached Pierre's and head towards Seb's to ask about tonight, if he agreed now I could run and let Sam, Abby and Leah know before grabbing some stuff. If Willy was right and the storm was supposed to get a lot worse tonight, I didn't want to be out for longer than I had too.

Except, I hadn't made it very far when the bell started ringing. In all the years I'd been living in pelican town, it hadn't rung once, my eyes shot over to where then tornado bell was sitting in the middle of town, I could barely see Lewis struggling to move it in the rain.