Hard To Grasp | Death in Paradise

The Storm Part Two

Curled up in their blankets, everyone slept soundly on their mattresses, despite the aggressive rain pounding against the window.

Marlon's plan had worked - they really had danced the night away and everyone was exhausted, falling asleep immediately after their heads hit their pillows.

Neville was the first to wake up, fluttering his eyes open to the ceiling of the station. He lay there, hearing the soft sounds of everyone breathing, which allowed him to have a thought. He actually quite enjoyed last night, despite his protest of not dancing. The few drinks they had consumed helped too.

He smiled to himself until he realised something important - something very important - and shot up from his bed. "Harry!"

This promptly woke everyone else up, and possibly the rest of the world, too. "Huh?" Marlon said with concern, still half-asleep.

"Harry! I forgot about Harry! Oh god, how stupid can I be to forget him! He's probably flying around the place right now - or worse!" Neville screeched while twirling his fingers around to replicate the motion of the wind.

Naomi put a hand on Neville's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "I'm sure he will be fine, Sir. Lizards can survive anything!"

"And didn't you say that Harry had been with every previous Inspector? If he's survived that long, he can survive this!" Jane quickly added.

Neville nodded with a weak smile as he realised they had a good point. "Yeah... yeah, you're all correct, I just can't stop thinking about it." He hung his head, a twinge of sadness in his voice.

The storm was still very much alive - only a little better from yesterday - and Naomi deduced it might be quite a few hours till it was safe to leave the building, she tried to open the weather app on her phone to confirm it, but no luck as the signal was abysmal.

Neville wanted to escape as soon as possible, to make sure his scaly green friend was alright, but he knew that there was nothing he could do. The encouraging words of the others did help, but the sporadic thoughts continued to linger throughout his mind.

As a few moments passed, the water carried on with its mission of ricocheting off the roof, filling the station with the repetitive patter. The team were used to the noise at this point, the rain almost calming in a way, but at the same time was a constant reminder of how it trapped them inside.

"I'll check if the electric is back. I know it's unlikely, but you never know." Neville finally said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Maybe I can make us tea, too."

He got off the floor and put a shirt - a plaid one, of course - over his vest, doing the buttons up as he walked over to the kitchen. Neville glanced at the meter that was positioned on the side of the cupboard, crossing his fingers for the best.

Everyone else was still sitting on their mattresses, waiting in anticipation for the news.

Neville turned around slowly to face the team, his eyebrows knitted together and his mouth in a frown. "It looks like..." He inhaled deeply before his next words.

The others gritted their teeth at the drawn-out words and braced for the worst, the small pauses making their hearts beat faster.

"It's back on!" He burst with his hands now in the air. "Aha! Got you!"

A sigh of relief dispersed across the room.

**

Much like last night, the group sat on their beds facing each other, but this time with a hot drink in their hands.