Love Of Thunder

SIX

Ray

Piercing the transparent wall of rain drops, I kept on running, stamping sticky mud beneath my bare legs.

I didn’t even wait to pick my dirty shoes – which had fallen while I was running to save my life.

I was so scared.

Only the thought of Thunder’s touch on my skin had deeply scared me. How could I forget his muscular arm’s grip around me? How could I forget his deep, husky voice?

All features of him were indelible.

Honey bell! What I was thinking?

How could I forget the most important thing?

He knew me. He knew about my identity. But how – was the biggest question for me then.

And if he knew me very well, why he didn’t hurt me?

Anyways, it was good he didn’t try to hurt me.

‘But, what if he hurts me tomorrow?’

“Ouch!” I yelped in humongous pain as I tripped over something and fell down, hurting my knee.

“Honey bell!” I mumbled as my knee throbbed with a deadly pang.

In my life all bad things had come like a shower of rain– which was somehow true.

Scrunching my face to control the pain, I pulled my leg towards my chest. That’s when I heard somebody’s voice. The voice was, obviously, familiar.

“Ray.” It was Jimmy.

When I zapped my face towards him, I found him rushing towards me, shirtless by holding his black umbrella over his head.

Yes, he was shirtless. Frankly speaking, I’d never seen him shirtless before. I’d always considered him as a thin and scrawny, but my thoughts were wrong. He was muscular with lean figure.

Oh! God of flower, please, kill me.

But, why was he shirtless?

“Hey! Are you okay?” he asked me worriedly, sitting beside me on his knees. He had held his glasses in his hand.

Avoiding his shirtless incarnation, I looked down at my knee, which was still offering me a killer pain.

“No, I’m not okay,” I cried as sudden pang attacked my poor knee, “I hurt my knee. Why are you shirtless by the way?”

My question, obviously, startled Jimmy, and even me. I even didn’t know how that question popped out my mouth.

Leisurely, I shifted my gaze from my knee to Jimmy, and as I’d expected, he was blushing, hardly.

“Um,” I cleared my throat, blinking as to clear my blur vision– caused by continuous drop of rain accumulated on my thick eyelashes– and said “Any problem?”

“Actually,” he trailed, running his hand over his head, nervously, “I was mingled in thorns there back. You know that, don’t you?” he showed his perfectly sculpted teeth.

“Yes, I know,” I said, remembering how my friends, dear thorns and pines, had halted him from running behind me. They were right on their place, anyways. They were just protecting my secret.

“Yeah,” he nodded, “It was very difficult for me to free myself from those pines and thorns, and I was getting anxious about you. So...therefore, as my shirt was almost torn, I removed it somehow and ran behind you. And now you are here in...this condition.”

How nice of him.

He threw his shirt just for me. Well, that sounded weird, even though, it was heroic act of him. I was impressed.

“So sweet_” My words got sliced as he held my left arm.

“Did you hurt your knee?” he questioned, looking back and forth between me and my injured knee.

“Um yes.” I wrinkled my forehead, rubbing my knee.

“Let’s go, then.”

He said, and without taking my permission, he stood, holding me in his arms.

Honey bell!

And he took me towards my house, not giving me a chance to speak anything. On top of that, tiny stone like raindrops impinging on my face, and honey bell, it was hurting my face like hell.

Still, I didn’t say anything and even Jimmy didn’t utter anything from his mouth.

In that movement I just prayed something good would happen in my life in the presence of Thunder in my life then.

INSIDE THE HOUSE

Somehow with my injured knee, I managed to walk in my washroom to remove my dirty clothes.

Of course, it wasn’t an easy task for me to enter in my washroom without answering my dearest friend, Linda’s anxious questions.

On one side she was happy that Thunderstorm was stopped, and on the other side she was sad that I was hurt. But in those sad emotions she had almost killed me by crushing me with her tight and deadly hugs.

Thank to Jimmy, he came to rescue. Thankfully, he made her know that the girl she was hugging is drenched in rain water.

I shook my head reminiscing it, and took out my drenched and dirty clothes. After letting hot shower massaging my body, I put on white knee length loose pant and pink T-shirt.

I was then about to tie my head with a soft towel, window of my washroom suddenly jerked open, causing me to scream from bottom of my throat.

“Belle, Everett how you both managed to come in my washroom?” My eyes wide in shock, and Linda shouted from behind the door in her shock.

“Ray, are you alright?” Linda shouted and thumped on the door with concern in her voice.

Ugh!

“I’m fine, Linda,” I told, getting closer to the door.

“Then, why did you shout?”

Honey bell!

“I felt like shouting, Linda.” Before she could say anything further, I decided to say something, “Don’t worry. I’m perfectly fine. It was just my knee,” then I continued. “Don’t worry, it is okay now.”

I waited for a while for Linda’s response – positive response.

“Okay.”

Very thankfully, it was closer to the positive response, which was more than enough for me then.

“If you finish, come out fast,” she added after a while.

I ignored it, and flipped my head towards my little friends, who were now right before me, fanning my face.

“Don’t tell me you faced the Thunder, princess” Belle whispered, placing her hands on her hips as if she had taken the incarnation of my mother. Anger, worry and fear– everything was mixed on her face.

“She did,” Everett clearly screamed, appearing before my nose, “Didn’t she?”

“Oh! God of Flowers, now we are going to die,” Belle cried, scratch that, she whaled, pressing her tiny hands over her tiny ears.

I knew, I knew that it would happen.

“Our queen will not even offer a pinch of mercy to us,” Everett shook his head so violently, I felt it would fall down from his shoulder.

I raised my hands and opened my mouth to stop their gurgling fear, which, unfortunately, didn’t hold them. On the contrary, they began flying weirdly, to my bad.

“Would you both shut up?” I yelled in whisper, finally, with rise of my palm, full of thorns.

Thanks to my good fortune, they finally stopped their little weird movements. Fear spread on their faces.

I heaved a sigh of relief.

“Now,” I took thorns on my palm inside, “Listen to me, carefully.” Then I looked back and forth between them with extremely serious expression on my face.

“Nothing has happened, okay? I’m perfectly all right.”

Everett was on the verge to open his mouth, that’s when I opened my mouth and said:

“Thunder has done nothing to me, and...will not. (Okay, I wasn’t sure about the last part.)

“But how can you trust him?” Belle flit before me, her wings fluttering faster than before, and her eyes widened as if they were going to fall down from her socket.

“I don’t trust him, Belle. I have just strong feeling that he will not harm me,” I lied very badly.

“Feelings don’t matter in such cases,” Everett shook his head, again. “You don’t know anything, princess. Everything is against you. Even one mistake from your side and...” he trailed, trailed with fear coated tone.

I didn’t ask him anything, because I knew, asking him would have added some more fear in my body, which I didn’t want. I wanted myself to be brave and fight against whatever comes before me, in my way.

“Ray, how much time you want?” Linda thumped on the door, and without wasting much more time, I opened the door with new built strength in me.

“I’m out,” I stretched my lips in fake grin as my eyes felt on Linda’s anxiety covered form. “And my knee is perfectly fine now,” I added, jumping on my spot, but not before checking Belle and Everett’s halted form in my washroom. I quickly closed the door before Linda watch them.

“That’s very good,” Linda flashed happily, “I was badly praying for that.”

She came beside me and threw her arm on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry, dear. It had happened because of me. I shouldn’t have exposed my fear to you.”

Oh! Honey bell! She was guilty for the thing which she didn’t do purposely.

“That’s okay, Linda. You are my friend, and I can do anything for you.”

“Aw!” and then again she enveloped me in her fantastic hug. “You are my best friend.”

“Ugh you too,” this words somehow managed to escape my lips, as my lungs had just given up.

“Oh sorry! Did I hug you very tightly?”

Oh! Thank you very much!

She had understood it. So, then, she hastily unwrapped herself from me and took her steps back.

“Anyways,” she waved her hand, “Do you know magic?”

Oh! Honey bell!

“W-Why?” I spluttered.

“No,” she raised her shoulder, “Thunder stopped as soon as you went out. How is that?”

Her curiosity and my death were in the same row.

“Um where is Jimmy?” I asked, roaming my gaze over my room, ignoring her very curious question.

“He’s gone in the kitchen to have some water,” Linda told me.

“Okay. Even I want water,” I faked a fantastic smile and directly rushed out of my room to quench my thirst with some chilling water.

IN THE HALL

When I kept my step in hall, I found dim light of the bulb delineating Jimmy’s cute face. He was not shirtless now. He had covered himself with my...blanket, and had sat thoughtfully on the chair, beside the dining table.

“Hi.”

He jumped as he heard my voice, loud voice.

“Hey! Hi,” his smile fluttered as if he was hiding something.

What’s wrong with him suddenly?

“Did you drink water?” I questioned him, searching his face while moving towards him.

“Y-yes,” he spluttered, pointing his finger at the empty glass on the table. Surprisingly he was...nervous and blushing very badly by avoiding my gaze.

He got up from his chair, wrapping himself tightly with the blanket, and took his steps back like a scared prey.

Why?

“Are you okay, Jimmy? What’s wrong?” I rushed towards him with concern.

What had happened to my sweet friend? Did Thunder hurt him or what?

Honey bell! No way!

“Um nothing,” he said, and took more backward steps till his back banged against the wall behind him.

That’s it. I had to take out from him why was he scared. So, I increased my pace, and that’s when, bottom of my legs found something oily and my treacherous feet decided to throw me...on Jimmy.