The Storm

Chapter One

"Great," Emma said, after she stomped on the acceleration peddle for the tenth time. Her small, lightweight car was utterly stuck in the muddy road.

She reached to the passenger seat to retrieve her phone from her purse. She tried to call someone, but her phone didn't have any signal.

The nighttime sky made the rainstorm seem even more intimidating, and Emma knew she would not be making it home that night. A sense of hopelessness washed over her as she noticed the force of the rain drops on her windshield. She realized she would have to spend the night in her soaked clothing and hope to get help in the morning.

Emma stared out the windshield into the darkness. After a few minutes, she was able to make out the outline of a house not too far from her car. Even with her brights on, she wasn't completely sure it was a house, but whatever it was seemed to be big enough to be one.

Hope and fear washed over her. This potential house could be the chance of staying safe from the storm through the night, and she could possibly get help for her car situation in the morning. But she also had no idea who was inside this house. She didn't know if the owners were sane. They could simply be unkind and shut the door in her face when she asked to come inside. Maybe no one was even home.

Emma sat debating if she should get out of her car. The stormy night was frightening, and she didn't really want to run in the pouring rain to what might be an empty hope. She looked down at her soaked floral dress and noticed how wet she had gotten the seat of her car. She also noticed an area of the seat that drops of water were constantly falling on. Her eyes followed the path of the drops up to the crack between the top of the car and the window. The rain was leaking in. She turned herself in her seat to inspect the rest of the door windows and saw that rain water leaking in from all four of them.

"Dammit!" Emma muttered. "That house better not have a serial killer in it."

Emma grabbed her brown leather purse from the passenger seat and stuck her useless cellphone in the bottom of it. She turned the car off and threw the keys into the bag, too. She made sure to zip the purse completely shut, hoping the rain wouldn't ruin everything in it. She tucked the purse under her jacket, and put her left hand on the door handle. Then in a count of one, two, three, she quickly opened the door and jumped out of the car.

The gravel road was completely turned to mud, and Emma knew her beige flats would be ruined by the time she made it to the structure. The rain was falling down hard and rapidly, and she moved as quickly as she could without slipping and collapsing into the mud. She could feel her long hair and skirt plastering to her skin. Thunder erupted and she screamed, but she kept moving.

After what seemed like a five mile marathon, she made it to the stairs leading to the porch of the house and leaped up them. Emma was so grateful for the roof over the porch and for the fact what she saw from her car was actually a house.

She stood at the door, trying to catch her breath before ringing the doorbell. She figured the owner would be more inclined to let her inside if she appeared calm and put together. She put her purse out from under her coat. It was completely wet. She didn't want to find her belonging ruined just yet, so she left it closed.

Emma's breathing steadied, despite her anxiety about what would after she rang. She reached her hand towards the doorbell and took one last deep breath. Her dainty finger pressed the button, and she heard the bell ring inside the house.