Blind

chapter fourteen

There were only two things in the world that scared the living crap out of Alina Harper.

Antony Hopkins voice

and thunderstorms.

Now, the first one she had managed to overcome, sort of, with a lot of effort. She still wanted to scream in horror every time Stella put on Silence of the lamps, but she had improved a great deal in the past years. Meaning, she had stopped whining at the sound of Antony's voice as well as molesting the pillows on Stellas couch every time he was talking.

This however did not apply for her second fear. Over the years she had tried to overcome it, she really had. But it was becoming impossible for her.

It had all started when she was five years old and her parents had to go out for a while because of work. At first they insisted on taking her with them, but Alina, stubborn as she is, persuaded them that she was old enough to take care of herself. She was a "big girl." Apparently that wasn't the case. Because shortly after she was left alone, it started raining.

At first she didn't think much of it, in fact, she liked hearing the rain fall. It was soothing and calming. But after some time the rain was getting heavier and heavier and that was when the first thunder struck.

Alina had witnessed thunderstorms before, but she was always with her mom or dad, she was never alone, so she hadn't considered it to be a scary thing.

But at that time, she was completely alone. And no one was there to talk to her,sing to her, distract her. So the thunders came, one after the other, and each time Alina felt the fear growing. She screamed and cried and buried her head under tons of pillows. Nothing worked. She could feel the ground and everything around her dancing to the sound of thunder. She could feel it in her bones.

She didn't know how long it lasted, thirty minutes, two hours, a century.

By the time her parents had gotten home, they found her curled in a corner of the room, crying her eyes out.

Since then, she had a few similar experiences. She had tried her best to avoid being alone when it started raining. When she had left for college Alina had told her parents that she had taken care of it. Which was not all together a lie. She had told Stella about her fear and whenever there was a rainy day they stayed in and talked or listened to old songs that Alina had picked out. From time to time, she would also go to her parents house and spent the night there. Generally she had found ways to deal with her fear.

Of Course, she couldn't always know the weather. And Stella, as well as her parents, were sometimes busy. So there were some days that she had to cope with her fear on her own.

And today was one of those days.

The rain was starting to get heavy. Alina could hear the rain drops tapping furiously on her window. She was sitting on her couch with Debra on her lap, sipping her tea.

"If we're lucky, maybe there won't be any thunders today. Huh Deb?" Alina said with a nervous laugh. It was ten pm. Noah had left a while ago with Emerson because of work and so Alina was alone. She had made herself some tea, thinking it would be good for her nerves but in reality it didn't really do much.

She took a deep breath and left her mug on the table.

"We need some music. Don't you agree Deb?"

Debra gave out a small bark in agreement. Alina smiled and stood up walking towards her room. She hadn't taken two steps when the first thunder struck. It was loud and clear and Alina felt her whole body starting to shake. Her breath hitched on her throat and a tight knot settled in her stomach. The sound was strong and lasted a long while.