The Veil

Chapter Twenty-Six

A few hours and a whole bag of marshmallows later, Sky had taken to roaming around upstairs, like she refused to be in the room with the person that refused to let her blow away into oblivion outside. 

The evening had been perfect, despite the weather. 

Laying with Tom playing would you rather, talking about anything and everything, getting into a fight with the marshmallows and laughing so much my stomach hurt was incredible and made my stomach fill with butterflies. 

I'd grown up unbelievably happy and spoilt with love and support from my perfect parents, they made me feel special and bright everyday, made me feel like I could do and be anything I wanted. 

When they'd been taken away from me, it was like my spark had died with them and I didn't feel like I could be happy again. 

Moving to Eastrose was a start, and meeting Tom helped, but the day I found out he felt the same about me as I did him seemed to bring the spark back, it may have been even brighter than it had been before. 

It was like I could feel myself glowing all the time, I hoped he felt the same, he seemed happier, always smiling and the look in his eyes when he looked at me sent shivers down my spine and turned my knees to jelly.

"I'm getting more hot chocolate" Just as I finished my sentence the lights went out with a pop. 

The wind and rain had picked up even more outside, I only noticed as the odd sounds of the house stopped. 

"Shit, the powers out." Tom stated, lifting the blanket off us both and standing up. 

I stood up too and walked to the window, I glanced up and down the street and saw nothing but black. 

"It's not just us, it's a blackout, this storm is getting really bad." I turned around and could just make out his shape heading towards the kitchen door. 

"Sky." I called, not wanting her to be on her own in the blackout, she could see a lot better than us, but it made me feel better knowing she was with me, which by the time I'd walked over to the sofa she was. 

I clicked my fingers and pointed to the sofa and she jumped up straight away. 

Tom returned, flashlights in hand, he had one already turned on and he passed me one, it was heavier than I was expecting, metal. 

I turned it on straight away and accidentally blinded him. "Ouch, thanks for that." He laughed, closing his eyes for a few seconds. 

"Sorry." I aimed my torch at the floor quickly, laughing a little.

He dropped himself onto the sofa next to Sky, who immediately placed her paw on his chest, wanting his attention. 

He absentmindedly started to stroke her chest, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the attention. 

"I hope this hasn't got to Jade and Andrew." I said, biting my lip, Jade hated storms. 

I grabbed my phone from the coffee table, checking for signal and I didn't have any. "Do you have signal?" I asked Tom, sitting down, Sky in between us both, still content being stroked by Tom. 

He fished his phone out of his jeans pocket. "None, the storm has probably taken down the phone mass." He shrugged. 

I'd placed my torch on the small table beside the sofa, facing up so it was like a lamp. Tom had done the same on his side so the living room was almost lit fully. 

"My parents used to love storms." I said as I looked out the window just as there was a flash of lightening. 

"It made me love them just as much. Dad would light a fire to keep us warm and we'd all huddle under a blanket on the sofa, me in the middle, and we'd make-up songs about the rain or Sky or anything we could think of. Or we'd see how many words beginning with different letters we could say before the next clash of thunder. The one who could think of the most got to choose the next letter." I sighed sadly thinking about it. "I miss them" I turned back to look at Tom over Sky's head, he was looking at me with a weird look in his eyes.