Tale as Old as Time

La Tempête

It began as a whispering in the air. The day had been beautiful and the sky was like a dome of plasma blue until the dark, gravel-grey clouds began to roll in that afternoon. Large pillows of clouds were forming, blotting out the old-gold color of the sun.

Mitch got the first splatter of rain when he was halfway across the meadow, basking in the warmth of the sun that had since then disappeared. Droplets of moisture slowly sprinkled onto the grass like a gardener's hose.

Then the rainfall became more intense. A wall of rain moved over the trees and the drops were drumming against the packed dirt roads. The brunette boy was quick to run back to the safety of his home, where he would be able to dry himself and sit by the warm fire. As he ran through the wet fields of grass and hay, the showers picked up, easily drenching the poor boy from head to toe. So much rain was falling that the sound blurred into one long, whirring noise, becoming heavier and colder as each second passed.

The haunting sounds of the malevolent wind and rain sent chills down Mitch's spine as he reached the steps of his family's small cottage.

Inside the walls of the house, Mitch's mother, Nel, helped him shrug off the white tunic that was soaked through and nearly transparent. She was quick to put a pot of water on the stove to boil, hoping to stop her son from catching a cold from the rain. Water dripped from his bangs, down his forehead, and onto his nose, and he wiped it off with the back of his hand as he sat at the table in the kitchen to watch the ongoing ruckus outside. He had never seen such a calamity before. The wind was unusually strong, making the shutters tremble and slam against the exterior walls, and it was icy cold, as if it had blown inland from the North Pole. The trees shouted profanities as the gust of wind whipped through them and violently shook their branches. Mitch noticed the cows, birds, chickens, and horses were no longer skittering across the yard, but burrowing into every nook and cranny, an expectant look on their faces.

As the afternoon turned to evening, the torrent of rain continued to pound against the ground, the wind blowing viciously. The droplets hit the roof of their home with such force that Mitch was afraid the protective roof would give way to the waterfall. The pouring rains descent looked like small, clear beads falling to earth because an ethereal child accidentally knocked a large basket of them over. The sound of the rains landing was like the sickening sound of breaking bones. The wind had then picked up velocity and tried to break the branches of the precious fruit trees, rattling a hoard of apples to the ground. A heavy fog began to drift over the hills, making it impossible to see the huge puddles and streams that were forming in the road.

Mitch had sat at the table through it all, sipping at the mug of tea that his mother had handed him not long ago, eyes squinting in fear of the ruthless storm. He prayed that his sister had made it to safety.

When Mitch had begun to suspect that the storm would give up soon, nature added another element to its rhapsody: lightening and thunder. The silver arthritic strings sliced through the clouds and almost touched the treetops with its misshapen fingers. It danced through the dark grey sky, never striking in one area twice. Its trusty companion, thunder, grumbled and growled, angry that the lightening was moving quicker than the thunder could make a sound.

It was in the midst of the lightening show that Mitch heard it, the low whinnys of a horse accompanied by the sound of heavy and desperately fast galloping along the dirt road. An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach as he forced his way out of the wooden chair and to the door that would lead him straight into the heart of the storm.

"Mitchell, where are you going?" His mother questioned with concern lacing her features. She was in the process of scrubbing a pot when she saw the white horse outside of the kitchen window. Concern turned to panic in the blink of an eye and she was running to the door as well, leaving Mitch's father at his desk confused.