The Starved

Chapter 8: The Rain that Softly Fell (1)

Pitter-patter.

Pitter-patter.

Pitter-patter.

The rain slips down his face. Conner has a large grin on his face as he feels the cool wind blow past him. He laughs slightly, he cannot hear himself. The rain and wind are overpowering. "Haha!" he yells in joy. "Catch me now, Dad! Catch me now!" Conner gestures to the trees around him, he spreads his arms out and feels the rain cover him entirely. Conner twirls around in his spot in the forest. Trees completely encompass him. Small puddles in the forest are made which begin to break into rivers. Conner smiles at this. "I got away."

Conner's legs buckle beneath him as he falls down on his back in the bark and leaf covered dirt. He feels the fallen rain soak into his vibrant blue shirt. His stomach tenses in laughter. A jubilant laughter that could never be replaced. His clothes are soaked down to his skin.

Conner rolls around in the dirt and hears the soggy leaves stick to his soaked shirt and pants. He feels his skin being covered in wet dirt. He laughs. He chants to himself about his victory. He had gotten his chance to get away. He took it. He feels pride fill his chest and he has no desire to let it go. He hears the rain as if it was an applause for his performance.

Pitter-patter.

Pitter-patter.

Conner knows he did good work.

Conner pushes himself up into a sitting position. He shifts himself over to a tree to lean on and then closes his eyes. He listens to the rain falling down onto him. He hears the leaves dripping the sky's tears. The trees quaking with the wind. The monstrous howl that would ever so often find its way through the trees and into Conner's ears. Conner breathes out. A semblance of calm finally comes to him. He feels no urge to jump up and down over his victory. He feels no need to scream to the heavens. The only thing he feels the need to do is sit calmly under his tree. The one he claims right at that moment.

"Conner!" a voice echoes from afar. Conner shifts his head questioningly. Absolutely certain that he did not hear anything. "Conner?" the voice returns. Now, Conner cannot deny the voice. Conner, not wanting to be seen or heard by the voice, stands up and hides behind the wide tree. "Conner!" He knows the voice, but he still does not falter in his hiding.

Of course, it appears that the storm has other plans. Conner takes a slight side step and lifts onto one of his feet to try and view the one who holds the voice. His foot slips and his head crashes down onto the wet ground, hitting the tree in the process. He cries out instinctively, his head and body yelling at him in response to the fall. "Stupid tree..." Conner mumbles to himself.

"CONNER!" the voice becomes excited, filled to the brim with relief and joy. In the distance, Conner can hear leaves being crushed and ran over. An older boy jumps out from behind the tree. Conner jumps out of his skin, and more importantly onto his feet. He takes a few steps back, then regains his distance in an attempt to control the situation, like a good adult would.

"Will you not scare me like that!" Conner yells at the other boy, trying to seem confident. The other boy breathes heavily before responding.

"That's what you get for scaring your brother shitless!" The boys both raise their voices slightly to keep their volume above the rain's.

"Can you not cuss? Mom says it's bad for our ears!" Conner tries to reason, becoming more shy at the appearance of the word. Basically, trying to not address the fact that he did in fact scare his brother 'shitless'.

"Oh bah! Since when have we ever cared about what our parents actually say?" James smiles widely, his straight white teeth showing. He ruffles Conner's hair playfully, something that Conner hates and loves at the same time. His wet hair flicks out water droplets when James does this. James's face becomes serious as he stares at his little brother. "Don't do that again."