Fear of Storms

      Cara had always hated storms, as long as she could remember. She was never entirely certain of why, but she had some ideas. A lot of people assumed that it had something to do with how loud it was, but she didn’t think that was it. She felt like there had to be something more than that, something that triggered the hatred of the storms. Her therapist said that maybe something traumatic happened that she didn’t remember, and that that was what had triggered it. And Cara thought there might be something to that, though she didn’t have a traumatic childhood, and she remembered all of it as far as she was aware.

           Cara would lose money if she placed a bet that she didn’t at least sometimes lack intelligence though, because as much as she hates storms, here she is, staring out her front window as a severe storm rages outside. The torrential downpour of rain made the windows blurry, but she was determined to see out of it anyway.

           As she stared out of the window, her cellphone in her left hand, the phone rang behind her. She didn’t know why she still had a house phone when she had a cellphone, and it was basically all scam callers that called that number anymore. Well scam callers and one other person.

           “Hey, honey. Heard that it was storming up where you are and wanted to call and make sure you were alright.” Her mother’s voice came through the phone when she picked up, just as she did every time it stormed. Cara put her cellphone in her back pocket.

           “I’m doing alright.” Cara walked back over to the window. It had been just rain for a while, and she was desperate for the next flash of lightning to light up her front lawn. Just so she could see, even if just for a second. She needed to know if she was crazy.

           “How bad is it? Do you need me and your father to come up there? You know we will.” Her mother was still worried about her after all this time, it was sweet.

           “No, mom. I do not need you and dad to come up here, I’m doing just fine. Besides, it is pouring out there, I wouldn’t want either of you driving in this. Stay home, please.” She sighed; her parents were too old to be driving in this. She heard her mother sigh through the phone.

           “You’re doing it again, aren’t ya?” Cara could feel the disapproval in her mother’s voice.

           “No, why would you think that?” Cara got defensive. Her mother accused her every time it stormed of doing, well, exactly what she was doing now.

           “That just confirmed my suspicions. Honey you gotta stop looking for that thing. There is nothing out there. I promise.” Her mother was, of course, lecturing her through the phone now.

           “But I know it’s out there. You have to believe me.”

           “Honey we helped ya look I don’t know how many times where you were little. There was never anything out there. I was honestly hoping ya would have gotten over this by now.”

           “If you just called to lecture me, I’m hanging up now.” Cara pressed the end button and went to set down the phone. And then she heard the crash of thunder and ran to the window, dropping the phone next to the charger.

           And there, in the illumination of the flash of lightning, in her front yard was an all-black figure. Just standing there, as it always did in every storm. It never came closer, never moved, just stood there. And Cara knew that had to be why she hated storms, she just wanted to know why. The lightning only lasted a couple of seconds so her front yard was once again bathed in darkness. But she knew it was there. She could feel it watching her.

           The first time she saw it as an adult; she swore that it had to be a person in her yard, because it had been years since she had seen it, and she called the police. But when they arrived and cleared the area, they told her that there was no one there. That there were not even signs of anyone being there. They told her that it must have just been a trick of the shadows and left. But as soon as they were gone and the lightning struck again, she saw it in her yard.

           Since then, she stared out the window every single storm, watching for it. Waiting for it to show up again. Cara wanted to know what it wanted, why it kept coming to her house and just standing there. And why did it only come on stormy nights to watch her.

           The lightning flashed again, and Cara swore that the shadow was closer. But that couldn’t possibly be right. It never moved, just stood there, watching her. But it moving was exactly the reason she watched it. But she never thought she would actually see the day that it actually moved. And it somehow made it feel that much less safe during storms. As thunder rumbled, Cara received a text.

                      Hey girl. This storm is crazy. We lost power.

           Her best friend, Ally. Even if something happened to her tonight, Cara knew that she wouldn’t let her just disappear. Ally was a loudmouth on the best of days, there was no way she would let Cara disappear without shouting at everyone who would listen. And even those who won’t.

                       Damn. I still have power. Hope you get yours back quick. Are the girls okay?

           Cara knew that Ally would be fine. But her daughters were five and seven, they were probably terrified when the power went out. Cara only hoped that she didn’t also lose power, she hated to lose power. It always made the storms that much worse for her.

                       The girls are fine. Curled up in bed with their dad. How are you doing?

           That’s good. The girls are safe. Everything was going to be just fine. But lightning flashed again, and Cara was sure that the shadow had moved this time. It was definitely closer to the house. Why was it this storm that it decided to move? It had never moved before, Cara was sure of it.

                       Tbh. Kinda freaked out. This storm is insane.

           Thunder rumbled again, and this time it shook the house. This storm was definitely insane, it was the worst one Cara had seen in a while. At least since she was a teenager, if not younger. She was really starting to worry that she would lose power. But she had a backup generator, right? She bought it last year after she had lost power during a storm. She went out the next day, for just in case she ever lost power again. That would kick on if her power went out.

           Lightning flashed again and Cara dropped her phone. The shadow was at the window, it’s hand resting on the pane. She heard her phone ding, probably a response from Ally, but she couldn’t look away. The shadow was right there, staring at her, so she stared right back.

           Thunder rumbled again, shaking the house. It shook the glass that the shadow had it’s hand resting on, but that didn’t seem to phase it at all. It didn’t move an inch, didn’t even shake with the shaking of the house. And then the power went out. Cara looked away from the window at her now dark house, reassuring herself that it would only be dark for a few moments. But when she looked back at the window, the shadow was gone. And she felt a breeze like her back door had opened.