Short Stories

Waiting on the Sky to Change

Rain beat down as it had for months. It had rained for almost one year to the day. Sometimes the rain fell down hard as if bullets were striking the earth, and other times it fell lightly and sounded as if everyone on earth were tiptoeing at once. By now the sound was drilled into everyone's head and it drove some mad.

"I'm tired of this rain," said Dustin for what must have been the millionth time since the rain had started.

"We all are," his friend Janie replied.

"Grey skies everyday," he continued ignoring her. "The ground is more than saturated with water. We can't go outside. We can't do anything. I want to escape it."

"That's ridiculous, the whole earth is circled by the clouds. It rains everywhere, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week."
"That's not what I meant," Dustin said in a far away tone. "I meant escape. Go above the clouds. Escape the Earth."

"That's also impossible," Jaine said. "Everyone that's tried has never been seen again."

Dustin cursed. "There has to be a way. I'm not going to waste my whole life in this rain."

"Why do you care so much?" demanded Jaine. "It doesn't matter anymore. The rain is here and that's how it is. Why does it matter to you?"

"Because I remember how it was before the rain. I want back what was stolen from me. From everyone. It can't keep raining forever. It has to stop eventually. But until then I want to leave. I'll come back when things are normal again."

"You dream too much," Jaine said, standing up. "Maybe the rain has gotten to you finally." She walked away without glancing back.

Dustin sighed in resignation. "So you are like the rest of them," he mumbled "Just like everyone who thinks I've been driven crazy from listening to the rain." He stood up and strode away angrily.

Dustin stared out of a rain streaked window in disgust and anger. As he stared, he remembered the day everything changed.

It had been a beautiful day. The sun shone high in the sky, there wasn't a cloud to be seen. The temperature had been perfect. A light breeze gusted through the city, ruffling his hair as he walked. Birds sang gorgeous melodies in the parks. Everything had seemed so perfect for once in his life. There were no complications. Sarah had finally agreed to date him, he had good grades, enough money. For once in his life, Dustin had been happy.

But then the clouds came and with them came the rain. He remembered clearly as if he were still there watching the clouds gather on the horizon. Then they moved as one giant monster and he remembered like it was yesterday how his clear blue skies slowly turned to grey as if they were being swallowed by a snake. Soon after the rain began. From that moment forward his life had spiraled downward. He had lost his job, he lost Sarah, he lost his friends. His parents had passed away and left him nothing. It seemed like no matter what he did, he lost something. And it was all because of the clouds and the rain.

He turned away from the window and slumped into a chair. Thoughts burned through his head like a hurricane. All he wanted was to see blue sky again. To see the sun. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Tomorrow tornadoes are expected to cut through on the outskirts of the city," the weatherman on the radio announced.

Dustin opened his eyes, his forehead resting on one hand. He had forgotten about the tornadoes. They happened every so often. It was strange, he thought. That he never heard any reports about them doing any damage. He then remembered something he had seen months ago, when the tornadoes first started to happen. He thought he remembered seeing clear blue sky. It was as if the tornado had ripped a hole in the clouds.

That's impossible, he thought. They can't reach that far to the sky to break through the clouds. Could they? And if so, they can't be a natural occurrence. He fell asleep debating the thoughts.

In the morning Dustin woke up groggy and with little memory about what he had thought about the previous night. He threw on some pants a shirt and a jacket and headed out the door. He was instantly soaked. The rain beat down harder than it had in previous days. He didn't know why he walked in the rain all the time. He just did it.

"Hey, what do you think you are doing?" a man asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Who?" Dustin asked. "Me?"

"Yes you. Why are you headed that way? Didn't you hear about the tornadoes?"

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Dustin. "Thanks for reminding me sir!" he called as he raced down the street, towards the outskirts. He realized that unconsciously he had been heading in that direction and would have eventually reached the outskirts.

As he ran, Dustin realized something he hadn't before. The water in the streets was starting to rise. The ground had soaked in all it could and the flood was now beginning.

He raced past the last skyscrapers of the city, his heart pounding in his chest. He stared in amazement. Two tornadoes raged before him, each taller than the highest skyscrapers of the city.

"Get away from there!" a voice shouted behind him. Dustin turned and his eyes widened. Janie stood in front of a group of policemen.

"What's going on here?" Dustin demanded.

"I had a feeling you might try something like this, so I alerted the authorities of your intentions."

"I'm not doing anything illegal, you can't touch me."

"Ah Dustin, always so naive. Get him," she said motioning for the officers to advance.

Without hesitating, Dustin turned and ran away from them and toward the tornadoes. His heart pounded in his chest and he felt fear rise up in him as the winds ripped against his clothes. He barely heard the shouts of the police officers above the howling winds of the tornadoes. He didn't look back but forward. He saw the twin walls of tornadoes and fear gripped him. For the first time he wondered if he could really do what he was trying to do.

He didn't have much time to consider the possibility of turning back, for he was picked up by the power of the tornado and swung around and around in its arms of air. He closed his eyes tightly and a scream was torn from his lips as he realized that he would die in the tornado. He would get ripped apart. There would be no body to recover. There probably wouldn't be a funeral. He wouldn't be remembered.

Oddly, the thought made him laugh. He took a deep breath and sighed. His fear dissipated as if the atmosphere had washed it away. He dared to open his eyes and was stunned to find he wasn't torn in two. It was quite the contrary. Dustin saw he was in the eye of the tornado being pulled upward by the power of the wind. For the first time in a year he felt whole. It was like he was able to put everything he had lost was in the past and was finally able to look forward to the future.

He saw movement in his peripheral vision and looked to see Jaine in the other tornado, staring at him.

He looked away and a determined expression masked his face. He looked up to the end of the tunnel that was the tornado and the blue of the sky filled him for eagerness for what lie ahead. He had finally escaped the clouds and the rain. He had escaped the flood. He was no longer waiting on the sky to change.

I hope you enjoyed! This story was inspired by a song of the same name, which i have included.