Dan O'Shea's Flash Challenge

Last week Daniel O'Shea issued a flash challenge to write a story that involved rain. For every entry in the challenge he's going to donate $5 to the Red Cross Tornado Relief fund. Here's my entry. You can find links to the rest of the stories here http://danielboshea.wordpress.com

LIGHTNING DANCE
By Sandra Seamans

For the third night in a row, just as she was nodding off to sleep, the sky rumbled. The thunderstorm shaking the old house down to its very core, waking the monster. Lightning split the black clouds and rain descended like an advancing army. Amy huddled in her bed, blankets pulled tight against her chin, tears just a drop away.

With the first night of the storms he’d tiptoed softly into her room. Amy’s bed creaked a startled warning. Too late. She tried to slap him away but the monster just laughed. He pounded her slender body deep into the Cinderella sheets, plundering her innocence, while the thunder stole her screams. When he was finished his voice whispered in her ear, “It’s just a nightmare, sweetheart, go back to sleep.”

In the morning light the blood on her nightie unraveled his lie and Amy knew the monster was real. Tears filled her eyes as she watched the sun fairies dance through the gap in her curtains and she heard their voices chanting, “Embrace the storm, hug the wind, hold tight the lightning, and dance.” But she didn’t understand.

On the second night as the thunder roared and the army of raindrops pounded on her window panes she closed her eyes tight and chanted, “Embrace the storm, hug the wind, hold tight the lightning, and dance.” Over and over she repeated the fairy chant but still the monster came, his lying whispers trying to convince her it was only a nightmare. Hatred filled the space in her heart where love had once lived.

Huddled in her bed, dreading the coming storm, Amy saw a moonbeam split the clouds and smiled as the fairies rode the beam of light into her room. She started to chant, “Embrace the storm, hug the wind, hold tight the lightning, and dance.” The fairies giggled and took her hands, pulling her from the bed.

Amy listened to the storm, feeling the rhythm, hearing the music of the wind and the rain drumming against the house. Her body swayed with the magic of the storm. She tingled with the light of a thousand fairies swirling in the air around her. As lightning strobed the night sky she began to dance. Round and around the room she spun, eyes closed, her arms flung wide, reaching into the heart of the storm until she was wrapped in its power.

She didn’t see the monster, but she felt his evil fill her room when he opened the door. Amy allowed the churning wind she’d created to lift her from the floor. Amy swirled with the power of a tornado, felt the wind and rain pound her body and when the lightening sheared into the room, she grabbed hold and danced as fast as she could.

Amy woke to the giggle of sun fairies, her room twinkling with tiny rainbows dancing on the walls, reflections from the raindrops clinging to the tree branches that filled the room. She wiggled out from under her covers and climbed through the branches toward the open door.

A dark shadow trapped under the heavy limbs of the tree caught Amy’s eye and she stopped to stare at the still form. She shivered. Had she really danced with the storm last night? Had she really killed the monster?

A throb of pain made her wince and she looked at her hand. The palm was charred black. Amy giggled. “Sleep tight, Daddy,” she whispered. “It’s just a nightmare.”