• The rain started pouring. Three minutes ago it was only a rare hit of Thunder. But suddenly, like a car accident, the lightning crashed beside his apartment building and the rain smacked the ground. Using his arm to hold up his head, he watched out his window as the sky grew a deep grey and the roads began becoming less populated. He readjusted his body to step away from the glass when he noticed one girl in a pink sundress standing still in the middle of the sidewalk, her arms wrapped tightly around her head, blocking her ears. He blinked.

    How stupid could one get, standing in the middle of the road in totally inappropriate clothing for the weather, not even making an attempt to find shelter. He watched her for a few more moments. A car drove by, its wheels splashing the puddle from the side onto the girl. His eyes widened. She wasn’t stupid. The noise had scared her into paralysis. It was this that caused him to speed up. He rushed out of his bedroom door, grabbing a sheet from the bathroom cupboard and his headphones from the living room table.

    Sheltering the sheet under his coat, and spinning his iPod to find a song that was calm and light, he quickly ran across the street. The light was still red, but he didn’t really care at this point. His converse got soaked as they splashed through the water. The thunder crashed again when he was only feet away from the girl. From this distance, he could tell she was blond, and only a few years younger than him himself. Tears were streaming from her eyes and her knees were shaking.

    He picked her up in one arm and quickly rushed beside the convenience store next to them underneath the awning. The store was closed, so this would have to do. She was still shaking in his arms, desperately holding her head to block out the sound.

    “You have to trust me and let go!”

    He shouted, pulling her arms from her head. She snapped back into reality and let out a light scream. She was about to put her arms back in their original position, but he slipped the headphones over before she could. She froze again. The thunder struck again, but the music blocked it out. Her eyes closed and she fell against him, breathing heavy and desperately grasping his shirt in her hands.

    “Thank you...”

    She let out one last sob before he took the sheet from his coat and put it around her, along with his arms.