In the evening, Elisa cooked a bowl of noodles in the kitchen to fill her stomach. Afterward, she sat on the sofa, looking through some documents. The room was too quiet, as if the rustling of the papers had echoes. Elisa couldn’t stand the silence, so she turned on the TV and found a sentimental art film. After watching for ten minutes, she found it dull. She then focused all her attention on the documents. At nine o’clock, all the documents were sorted, and the art film had finished as well.
She sent a text to Louis, asking when he would return. After waiting for a while, she received a message notification. Elisa thought it was from Louis, but when she opened it, she was stunned by the sender’s name. After reading the message, her hand holding the phone suddenly tightened, and a look of disbelief flashed in her eyes.
How could this be?
Elisa sat on the sofa, not knowing how much time had passed. When her feet began to feel cold, Louis called.
“Elisa, there will be a storm tonight. Remember to close the windows. I’ll be back soon.”
“Aren’t you working late tonight?” Elisa asked. Normally, Louis would sleep in the office if he worked late.
“Not tonight.”
After hanging up, Elisa noticed the wind outside, which was blowing the curtains wildly. She went to close the windows, and indeed, the room became much warmer.
After washing up, Elisa went to bed. The wind outside grew stronger, followed by the sound of thunder and lightning flashing across the sky. Normally, after a busy and tiring day, and with weary eyes, she would fall asleep. However, she couldn’t sleep while lying in bed, listening to the thunder outside.
There was a reason she couldn’t sleep. Elisa was afraid of thunder, especially during thunderstorms at night. Although she seemed brave, in reality, she was quite timid. She was afraid of getting sick, afraid of taking medicine, afraid of bitterness, afraid of storms, and afraid of thunder and lightning.
Elisa thought, the most terrifying thing was being alone. If something happened, no one would even know if she died.
She used to think she could live alone and that she would get used to it, but humans are inherently social creatures. Once loneliness reaches a certain level, it becomes social anxiety. Despite saying that being alone was fine, she secretly envied those who could run around outside with two or three good friends.
Now that she had Louis, she had someone who cared for and loved her. On rainy days before, Louis had always been with her. Today, however, he was not. The feeling of helplessness and loneliness without support felt like it was taking root in her heart.
But as long as someone was with her, she wasn’t afraid of the hardships and pain ahead.
Elisa kept the light on; the storm that night seemed more intense than before. She wrapped herself in the blanket. With a crack, the sound of what seemed like a circuit breaking, the light flickered twice, and finally, with a click, it went out. The surroundings plunged into darkness, and she couldn’t see a thing in front of her.
In a person’s room, everything was dead silent, with only the flashing of lightning and the thunder rumbling outside, so quiet that she could hear the sound of the night wind shaking the branches.
Elisa sat up, wrapped in the blanket. Leaning against the headboard with her eyes closed, she blocked out the thunder, and she wasn’t as afraid as before.
Louis had checked the weather forecast and, upon seeing that there would be a storm that night, he left work, taking the car keys directly. As he drove, it started to rain heavily. Countless lights illuminated the path, and the ground reflected the fragmented and hazy light.
As the thunder grew louder, so did the rain, and it poured down in an instant.
“Boom-”
A startling thunderclap echoed from the sky. It was rare to have such a violent storm at this time of the year. One should drive slowly on a rainy night like this, but Louis drove fast.
He wasn’t afraid of the thunder; he was afraid of the thought of Elisa being afraid of such a stormy night.
Without thinking, he stepped on the gas and drove on. When he reached Vaquita Bay, he parked the car at the entrance and ran inside, getting drenched in the rain.
This kind of rain couldn’t even be stopped by an umbrella. One would get soaked even with an umbrella, and the large raindrops hitting the top of the head would cause a headache. Soaked by the rain, Vaquita Bay was engulfed in darkness.
The security guard, holding an umbrella, was arranging for someone to fix the circuit. Someone was in a hurry, speaking urgently, and there was a staticky sound coming from the intercom on the walkie-talkie.
There were still a few streetlights outside, but inside, it was even darker, making it impossible to see anyone. Louis opened his phone’s flashlight and used it to find the door.
“Elisa,” he called as soon as he entered, his voice loud. He went straight to the second floor and, using the light from his phone, saw Elisa curled up in bed, covering her head with the blanket.
When one is engulfed in fear, the body no longer feels like its own. It seems to shrink into a protective shell, unresponsive to the outside world.
Elisa closed her eyes, vaguely hearing someone calling her. Her body trembled uncontrollably, her eyelashes quivered, and she slightly opened her eyes. She just opened a small slit, and a beam of light shone into her eyes. Soon after, she fell into an embrace. It wasn’t warm enough, but it was the safest.
She fully opened her eyes and looked at Louis in front of her. He was panting heavily, his eyes slightly red, soaked from head to toe, his hair in disarray, and his clothes sticking to his body, as if he had been rolling in water.
“How… how did you come back so quickly?” Elisa said.
Louis didn’t explain; instead, he said, “From now on, I will always check the weather in advance. I will never leave you alone at home like this again.”