Jesse in The Refuge

Chapter 1: The Storm

A storm was coming. After 106 years of being alive, Jesse Tuck could read the weather like reading a book. He loved to be outside so he had developed the skill almost naturally. Other members of his family had perfected various things since they had become immortal 89 years ago. His mom could balance anything perfectly, his father could tell exactly where to cast a fishing line and his older brother could tell you the time without seeing a clock all day. Everyone always said to stay away from trees during a storm but that was precisely the place Jesse liked to be during a storm. He loved to watch the wind bend the trees and the clouds churn and twist as they spat out gallons of rain a minute. Plus, climbing reminded him of Winnie. She was 15 now, only two years left to wait then they'd be watching storms together. And so, he went through the large oak forest and scrutinized every tree. Looking for one with the perfect footholds and a strong trunk to the very top, a top that peeked out over the rest of the forest and seemed to touch the sky when you looked up while laying on the ground. Having found a tree that satisfied him he climbed up to the very top, sat and watched the storm brewing around him.

It was a tremendous storm, blinding bolts of lightning, powerful claps of thunder and forceful gusts of wind buffeted the forest below him. Jesse sat through it all, admiring the power and beauty of the storm. It was nearing the crest of the storm, the most violent part, so, Jesse's favorite part. It always gave him an adrenaline rush. The howling wind, the jagged lightning followed by deafening thunder as if the sky itself was attacking the earth and he was in the middle of it all, observing and weathering the blows with ease. Suddenly a blinding bolt of lightning hit the tree he was perched in and for a few seconds, Jesse actually thought he was dead. Then he felt pain. The first true pain he had felt in 89 years and it was searing through his body, ceasing any thought, any emotion and all senses except the one he most wished to lose. Pain was everything, then there was nothing.

Slowly, Jesse's world came back into existence. When Jesse opened his eyes the storm was over and he was looking up at what used to be his tree. Now it was splintered, black and smoldering. Jesse tried to sit up and pain shot through his body. He involuntarily thunked to the ground as his head pulsated, his ribcage groaned and his right leg burned and snapped with waves of pain. It felt as if some poisonous snake was burning his flesh and cracking his bones every second. A few ribs were definitely broken, his head felt like a boulder and he was bleeding from a gash on his left arm and, he was sure, somewhere else. Once he was able to push through some of the pain he looked down at his leg. It was wet with blood and rainwater, burned and mangled like the tree above him. As Jesse Tuck lay bleeding, mangled and helpless on the forest floor he realized he should be dead. He hadn't felt pain in almost 90 years yet he was feeling it now. That affirmed that he was definitely alive. The lightning strike must have counteracted the magic spring somehow. But not enough to actually kill him. No mortal could survive a lightning strike, a forty foot fall and losing this much blood. Slowly a realization came to him. Jesse Tuck was still immortal but could now feel pain.