The Lake

Lightning Storm

The rain ran in massive streams down my face, my shirt soaked already. Thunder still rumbled occasionally and I knew I was stupid to be out here. Even stupider was the fact that I was climbing a hill in a lightning storm in search of cell phone reception. But I couldn't face going back to the lodge and I needed something to do.

My feet slipped in the mud, streams already forming down the slope. I pulled out Noah's phone and checked for reception, still none. Wiping away the splatters of rain I tucked it away again. 

More lighting slashed the gloom, illuminating billowing sheets of falling water. I began to regret coming out here. But I was close to the top of the path, pulling out the phone I saw it had one, wavering bar of signal. Rain was already splattering down on the screen and my fingers slid messily as I unlocked it and opened the contacts. Scrolling down, I clicked on the one titled 'Mom'. 

"Hey honey," came the soft, Asian accent down the line. 

"Hi," I said, "It's Mackenzie, the girl who Noah came biking with today. I was just calling to say that we're both fine but we're going to have to wait out the storm in my uncle's hunting lodge. We'll be back tomorrow if the weather clears up." 

"Ok sweetie," she said, "Take care, and see you tomorrow!"

I quickly called my own parents and relayed the info to them, before tucking away the phone and looking around. The storm, if anything, had worsened and the wind was slashing rain across my exposed legs. I began to hurry back down towards the safety of the lodge, teeth chattering with cold. 

It had been nearly five minutes when I realised I was pretty much lost. I could hardly see anything through the curtains of rain, and the path had dissipated into millions of branching streams. I splashed on desperately, searching for the trees and lodge that would tell me I was safe.

"Kenzie!" I heard a shout, "KENZIE!" I swung to see an indistinct figure and screamed, 

"Noah!!"

He was soaked through, shirt and jeans clinging to his skin and hair sticking wetly to his forehead. He let out a sigh of relief as I fell into his arms. 

"Noah!" I shouted, "What an earth are you doing out here!? You're astraphobic, for gods sake! You could've been killed!!" 

I took a step back as I realised that I was still clinging to him, and the corners of his mouth twitched up. 

"I didn't want you to die because you were angry at me," 

My former bad mood returned in an instant. "I wasn't angry. I was horrified." 

"I wanted to explain," he said, pain etching across his brow, "not to justify what I said, but to explain. My first girlfriend was when I was fifteen. A girl named Cassandra Summers." He wiped the rain away from his eyes before continuing, "and I fell for her, hard. We'd been together for about three months when I first kissed her. It was after that that she revealed that she liked girls." 

It was clearly hard for him to tell me this, he must have really loved this Cassandra girl. I felt the first inkling of understanding.

"We made up, and we're still really good friends," he continued, "maybe even better friends that if we'd stayed together. I don't resent her anything, but suddenly I was worried that... that you'd be the same."

I stared at him, eyes so wide rain was pricking my eyeballs. Did this mean.... thankfully I was saved from completing that thought by a massive bolt of lightning, and I remembered where we were. 

"Noah, run!!" 

I grabbed his hand, sprinting along the mud soaked path, suddenly recognising where I was. This was the stone where I'd cut my knee when I was five, here was the fallen tree where we used to play king-of-the-castle. The lodge was only around the corner, we dashed the last few metres and fell through the door just as the last clap of thunder reverberated through the woods.