Stormy Summer

Chapter 2

‘Come on Ave you have to get up!’

An anonymous voice called me out of my nightmare and with a certain relief I propped myself up on my elbows in my single bed in the room I share with my 2 sisters. I look around and the first thing I see is Alysia sitting at the end of my bed, upright and looking rather worried. As soon as I sit up a relieved expression crosses her face.

‘What’s wrong?’ I ask.

‘You were crying out in your sleep,’ she says, confirming my suspicions, ‘and thrashing all over the place. Mum and I have been trying to wake you up for half an hour now. Even belle was upset. She started crying when she saw you crying and we couldn’t get her calmed down for fifteen minutes. She’s asleep downstairs now so we have to be quite when we go down.’

I nod at her. ‘Give me a minute to get dressed.’ She nods back at me and goes back down stairs. After she’s gone I give myself a moment to relax. I have that dream at least once a week and it is seriously raising my stress levels. I turn and look at my bedside digital clock which is showing the time as 8:00am. I swing my legs out from under the covers and push myself out of bed. The first thing I do, like I do every morning, is go open the blinds and look outside. Even though the sun has already risen it is almost pitch black outside. I sigh as I turn away and head for the adjacent bathroom that I share with my sisters. Even though it is the middle of summer it is still really cold so I change into jeans, a white t-shirt and a warm woollen jumper. As I get changed, I think about my dream and the events that have happened since then. It has been about 6 weeks since my Dad died and every day has been agony. The amount of storms and freak weather hazards has increased over the weeks and many people haven’t survived. We have heard that these storms aren’t just happening in America, but all around the world as well, which, surprisingly, makes us feel a little bit better, knowing that there are other people who know what it feels like to be trapped in a dark and stormy world. I sigh again as I finish tying up my sneakers and head downstairs for breakfast. As reach the kitchen my Mum comes over from where she is making pancakes and hugs me.

‘Are you OK, sweetheart?’ she asks in a worried tone. I just nod and cling to her. ‘Was it ‘that’ dream, again?’ I just nod again. We stay in this position for a little before I pull away and wipe my eyes. I go over to the dining room table where Alysia is eating her blueberry pancakes.

‘Where’s Belle?’ I ask, more out of need for normal conversation than out of curiosity.

‘She is in the study laying in her port-o-cot.’ She responds, still keeping her eyes on the pancakes. ‘She should wake up in a little…’ before she can finish her sentence a cry comes out from down the hall from the direction of the study. Mum smiles a little. ‘…now.’ Both Alysia and I laugh and volunteer to go down and get her. When I reach the study and open the door I see Belle sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

‘Hello, Belly.’ I say with an upbeat tone. ‘How was your sleep?’

As soon as she sees me she grabs the rail and stands up. ‘Avewy!’ she says with such enthusiasm and love I almost break down crying right then and there. Instead I pick her up, snuggle her, tickle her and then walk back to the kitchen. Mum smiles when she sees us.

‘Your pancake is on the table.’ She says.

‘Thanks.’ I reply and go to put Belle on the ground but she grips on to my neck like her life depended on it. I sigh (I seem to do a lot of that lately) and sit down with her in my lap. But before I start eating I stare out the window at the dark sky.

‘Mum,’ I ask, ‘will this ever go way?’

She comes and sits down beside me. ‘I… I don’t know, Ave.’ she replies in a melancholy voice. ‘I really don’t know.’

And we sat there, Mum, me, Alysia and Belle, who had seemed to understand the seriousness of the moment and sat quiet and still, watching the black-blue clouds travel to bring disaster to another place.