A Storm Brewing

This chapter is back in John's POV. I don't know if I'll keep doing this POV change, but it likely won't be as often as it has been in the future.

"Emily! Kylie!" I called out onto the beach. "We're heading back to the house, are you coming?"

"That's okay!" Kylie yelled back. "We'll stay out here talking!"

I glanced over at the two of them briefly. They looked like they were in a really intense conversation, and it seemed like Emily was crying, because the area around her eyes was red. Either that or she had neglected to put on sunscreen, which was equally likely. The other 8 of us were heading back to the beach house because it was getting dark outside, and it looked like a thunderstorm was on the horizon, somewhat of an anomaly for the region.

"Well, don't stay out there too long!" Amber shouted at them. "There looks to be a storm brewing!"

"We'll be back soon!" Kylie hollered back, turning back to her discussion with Emily immediately afterwards.

"They're grown-up, they can fend for themselves." That came from Paige, in her traditional matter-of-fact way.

With that, we ascended the steep path that led back to our house, everybody carrying some of the equipment back. After depositing it outside the ground floor door, the eight of us entered the building, immediately calling showers.

"Dibs on the first shower!" Amber said. There were two showers in the two bathrooms on the hall (one of which was connected to the master bedroom, something that might become a problem in the future) and one on the upper level. Amber claimed the standalone bathroom on the second floor, while Phoebe claimed the one upstairs. When it came to the one adjacent to my and Becca's room, people likely got a little unnerved.

"You can use the master bathroom," I said. "I didn't get in the water, just got sand all over me, so I can wait to shower."

"I'll take that one then," Grace said quickly.

I went into the master bedroom, made sure the door between that and the bathroom was locked, and then said "Go ahead. I'll just be watching TV. Don't take forever though, we all should shower before the thunderstorm gets here."

With a few nods of confirmation, the three of them gathered their shower necessities and headed into the respective bathrooms. I headed upstairs to relax. While that day might not have been physically taxing, it was definitely emotionally taxing.

A flash of lightning lit up the room, shortly followed by the room growing dark. Not dark because the lightning was gone, but dark because the power had gone out. The dim rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. Everybody had been watching a movie together, aside from Emily, who was in the shower in the master bathroom.

"Shit!" escaped Kylie's mouth out of surprise more than anything else.

"Is everybody here?" Paige asked.

"Everyone but Emily," Anna answered.

"Someone should go check on her," Becca said, mirroring my worries.

"You should go, John," Kylie volunteered.

"Alright," I said, getting up from the couch, grabbing my phone for light, and descending the stairs cautiously.

As I descended the stairs, they gradually got darker, as the second floor was devoid of some of the natural light that helped light up the top level. I heard a few thumping noises, but I was unable to discern if those came from the bathroom or upstairs. Walking into the bedroom, I knocked on the door a few times.

"Emily? Are you okay?" I asked.

"Is that you, John?" she responded.

"Yeah, you good in there?" I repeated.

"Um...not really," she answered. "I don't have my clothes in here, and I can't really see anything."

"Do you need me to give you your phone so you can use it as a flashlight?" I offered. "I can just hand it around the door."

"It's dead," Emily said with resignation in her voice.

"Well then how about my phone?" I offered again. "I have it with me, and it's not dead."

"Sure," she said, and I thought I heard a little giggle in her voice, but it could've just been me hearing things.

I cracked open the door away from me, and offered my phone through the crack with the flashlight on. I felt her hand fumble around a bit before she grabbed the phone from my hand. I brought my arm back, closed the door, and said "I'll be in here whenever you're done."

I waited around in my bedroom for a bit, not wanting to risk going up without any light to help me up the very steep and precarious staircase. I heard a few doors open, likely the bathroom door into the hallway and Emily's bedroom. I twiddled my thumbs a bit, thinking about random nonsense that my brain was often plagued with, such as the thought that if I were to change my name to escape the government, it would definitely be changed to Javier De la Rosa.

I felt two arms hug my neck behind me, causing me to jump and quickly swivel my head around. It was Emily.

"Thank you so much for checking on and helping me", she said, not breaking the hug. I awkwardly brought both of my arms around her and she nuzzled her head into my neck, as if hiding.

"What, what's wrong?" I said, pulling back a little bit, worried.

"It's nothing," Emily said. "I'm just scared of thunderstorms."

"Here, sit down for a moment," I helped, leading her to sit down on the edge of the bed.

She sat down and immediately laid her head on my shoulder and brought her arms around me, clinging to me as another clap of thunder struck. I got a strong sense of deja vu with what happened between me and Mary on the pier just earlier today. I brought one of my arms to her back and started lightly rubbing it for a few minutes.

"Are you better now?" I asked her, concerned.

"Y-yeah, I think so. Can you just stay here with me?" Emily said, her voice breaking up. "You're very calming."

"Sure," I complied.

She moved from beside me to sitting directly on my lap, facing me, before hugging me again with her head on my shoulder. I felt a little wary of what she was up to, but thought little of it. Emily just wanted some comfort, right?