"Hey, it's getting late. How about we go to your place?" I nod as the faint sound of thunder in the distance meets my eardrums. I freeze in terror. I've always been afraid of storms, especially when they get real bad.
"Hey, you alright?" Dan's hand comes into contact with my back as he gently rubs it with his eyes filled with a mixture of compassion and concern. "Guys..?" Suzy's voice breaks the silence of Dan and my eyes staring at each other. We both turn our attention to Suzy walking in the room showing us both the screen on her phone. What was displayed was the radar for the weather in our area, and what it told us was not good. "It looks like there are some huge storms coming. (Y/N) should stay here till they blow over. Wouldn't want you getting caught in a storm, now would we?"
KRA-KOW!
I let out a small squeak of fear as another thunder strike shakes the house. Suddenly, I can't see anything. "W-Wha? What happened to the lights?" Dan held me close in a tight hug so I wouldn't go far. Thank god he can't see how red my face is. Then I see Arin's face illuminated from the glow of his phone screen. "The power's gone out, no need to panic. Barry and Ross are lighting some candles so we can actually see in here." Dan loosened his grip on me, "Cool, man. Being able to walk straight is more important than having TV or some shit." I felt less frightened. Hey, at least I'm not alone this time.
----
How we all passed the time was playing this phone game called Spy Fall, a game that my friend showed me a while back, in the living room of the Grump space. It's a game where you ask each other questions about where you all are and who you are, and everyone tries to guess who the spy is.
"So Ross," he gives me a smirk and puts his arm on his knee to support his head in his hand. "What's the weather like here?" "I don't fucking know." Everyone points to Ross and says that he's the spy, to which he replies, "Damn it. Too obvious?" Dan face palms while muttering, "God damn it, Ross." Our laughter is interrupted by the sound of sirens. Tornado sirens.
"Oh fuck." Arin gets up to lead everyone to the basement for protection. At this point, I'm hyperventilating. Ever since that one incident, I've been horrified of tornadoes. "(Y/N), are you okay?" "Uh-huh..." I manage to mutter through my sobs. "You are the fucking opposite of fine!" Dan yells. Then he proceeds to carry me bridal style to the basement where Ross and Barry are sitting on the couch. They stand up in shock when they see me crying Dan's arms. He reassured them that he had it under control.
After a few minutes of sobbing into Dan's shoulder as he softly rubbed his hand on my back, I decided that it was time to tell them why I was so scared. "H-Hey guys...?" Everyone, including Dan, turned themselves to face me. Everyone looked so worried. "Do you wanna know why I'm so... scared?" "Is it just a fear? Cause I totally understand where you're coming from." Arin responded. "I'm not just afraid, I'm traumatized." Suzy sat next to me to give me a small support hug, her eyes urged me to go on. "So," I began. "When I was about twelve, my parents went to watch the football game with my dad's best friend. The news said that it was gonna rain that day, but it only said small showers. So I thought it was okay. I got up to make myself some breakfast, and that's when the sirens went off. I looked out the window to see the trees bent to one side and rain falling so hard on an angle that I thought it was coming from the side. I ran as fast as I could to the trap door that led to the crawl space underneath our house, but I couldn't open it. I tried and tried and then I finally got it open. I took a small lantern, our home phone, my cell, and my teddy bear down with me. I was a twelve year old girl home alone during a tornado. So ever since then I've been petrified of storms, especially if I'm home alone during them."
I finally look around to see everyone's reactions, they all looked so sad and sorrowful. Sadness doesn't suit any of them. Then I feel Dan's tight grip around me as he enveloped me in a big hug. "I'm sorry you had to go through that alone... You must've been so scared." He murmured in my ear. KRA-KOW!! I felt tears start to well up in my eyes as I hugged him back. "You protected me during Five Nights at Freddy's, now it's my turn to protect you." Those were the last words I heard before I drifted off to sleep in the safety of Dan's arms.
