Wind Chimes in the Wind

"-Before hazardous conditions begin. Urgently complete efforts to protect life and property. Have food, water, cash, fuel, and medications for at least 3 days-"

Ms. Beaufort turned the radio off with an irritable twitch of her bony fingers.

"Are you sure you're alright with the dogs being on the couch in here, Ms. Beau?" Asked Maisy.

Ms. Beaufort turned to look at the young woman who stood in the doorway of the safe room. She was short, with her hair buzzed close to her scalp and she wore a pair of denim overalls covered in years worth of car oil and grease stains.

"Yes, dear, you're all fine. Put some more food from the cabinets in there, will you? I'm going to go check to see if anyone else needs a space to stay for the night." Ms. Beaufort said, walking over to place the old radio in Maisy's arms just as the young woman's fiancée, Lee, appeared behind Maisy.

"You're going out? What about the wind?" Lee asked, her perpetually soft spoken voice matching her thick sweaters, wool skirts, and the delicate silver chain linking around her neck and up to her cat-eye glasses. Ms. Beaufort had no idea how Lee managed to not get heat exhaustion in the humid heat of the late summer.

"I can go out to look if you want?" Maisy offered, the same concerned furrow to her eyebrows.

"Pish-posh. You two don't even know the neighborhood yet. You've only been here a year. I've done this for every storm. Now, you two set up here nice and cozy in the safe room." Ms. Beaufort stated as she plucked out her raincoat from the coat rack.

The young couple watched as Ms. Beaufort paused at the front door to rummage in her pockets to check for her keys.

"You really do this every time?" Lee asked with her hand draped over Maisy's shoulder.

Ms. Beaufort waved her off. They were nice girls, but Ms. Beaufort was not quiet old enough to let them coddle her. "Toodles, girls. I'll be back in half an hour." She claimed and slipped out the front door before either of the two could reply.

The door shut with a easy click, despite the warm air attempting to pry it back open.

The hurricane was rolling in fast, but no faster than they always did. The sky was covered in grey clouds like a damp and heavy quilt laid over the sky and thunder boomed in the distance.

Ms. Beaufort knew she had enough time to go looking for any strays or wandering souls sulking about. She started on her usual routine, checking behind trash cans and pausing to pluck up a puffy and frightened stray cat. It was a black cat with long wispy fur and the poor thing clawed its way into Ms. Beaufort's inner coat pocket of her rain jacket to hide from the beginning patters of rain.

"Hello, dearie." Ms. Beaufort cooed into her rain jacket as two bright yellow eyes blinked up at her from the dark. This was one of the new strays. Honestly, it might have even been someone's pet considering the glossy sheen to the little one's fur. But there was no collar, and Ms. Beaufort had only started seeing the cat lurking around the trashcans yesterday.

The cat meowed in that pleading, desperate way cats do when they're frightened. Ms. Beaufort knew better than to stick her hand into her jacket and instead rubbed the cat's back through the outside of the coat as she continued to walk down the rest of the neighborhood until she reached the old wooden dock.

Normally she would not have gone this far, but she saw a figure leaning against the wooden railing, looking out to the ocean and the oncoming storm.

She dragged herself over to the figure, and anchored an arm around the railing to prevent the wind from blowing her away completely.

It was darker now, the ocean and clouds merging together in a black void that steadily whirled forward.

"Young man?" She croaks out, hoping that he heard her despite the wind's pesky hands plucking the words right out of her mouth and tossing them away.

He's really just a shadow of a person. She can see the faint hint of a brow and a thin, pointed chin as he turns his head towards her.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you." She said, louder now as the wind kept picking up. "Do you have anywhere to go? It's going to hit us very soon."

"It will be soon." He agreed, turning his head back to the void absent of stars.

He had a deeper voice that she thought he would. Despite the black sort of jacket he must be wearing, he looked bone-thin.

"I have a safe room." She informed him. "Why don't you come along? You're too young to be out here alone." Ms. Beaufort even put a hand on that startlingly thin shoulder.

The man laughed, a quiet and surprisingly bright sound that faded out as thunder interrupted with a boom that shook the very air.

"You're too young to be out here too." He said once the thunder had quieted down. He turned from the thrashing sea and offered her his arm. "I will be very busy tonight, but I have just enough time to see you and your little friend home."

Ms. Beaufort took his arm, the other still cradling the cat-shaped lump nestled in her coat.

'It's a wonder the wind doesn't blow us both away!' She thought anxiously, tightening her arm looped around his own thin one.

"Are you sure you won't stay in the safe room? I have a few neighbors in there too already. It's going to be a bad storm!" Ms. Beaufort shouts over the wind.

The man's head lulls to the side towards her, but he doesn't fully turn it. She stares at the faint silhouette that outlines the profile of his face as she just now noticed the dark frames over his eyes.

'How does he get his glasses to stay on?' She wondered before the thought slips away.

His voice is musing. "It will be a bad one. They should've called the evacuation warning a bit sooner. Thank you for your offer, but I'm afraid I cannot join you. I'm afraid I will be very busy tonight, as I said before."

Ms. Beaufort frowned. "Are you an emergency worker? The hospitals are all closed up so the workers can evacuate."

"They are closed. And they likely wont be up and running until tomorrow afternoon. I'll still be busy then too."

A bright burst of light flashed behind the pair, and Ms. Beaufort jumped, jostling the man a little. There was a light sound, a little like a wooden wind chime before he clasped his other hand over her white knuckles clutching at his arm as thunder stomped over above their heads and rattled their rib cages.

"We're almost there." Ms. Beaufort gasped, forgetting to shout over the wind as she tried to sound comforting.

The man simply nodded and began to walk faster, pulling her along.

"I have beds there too, these storms always go faster if you're asleep." She said but remembered to shout against the wind only halfway through her sentence.

"I can't sleep."

Ms. Beaufort can't fault the man for that. Sleeping during a hurricane was an acquired skill and an even more acquired taste.

"There! That's my house. Oh, the Robinsons are here too. That's their car. They're a lovely little family. Oh, but there's plenty of room for all of us!" Ms. Beaufort exclaimed before tightening her grip on the man. It was far too late now for him to go running off into the night. Even if he had work to do— the storm would surely kill him.

She turned her head to him as she led him up the stairs of her porch. "You're not allergic to cats or dogs, right? I'm sure we can work something out if you are."

The man's bright laugh drifted out again, and the air flashed with another bolt of lightning hitting the ground just as she blinked. In the next seconds thunder reached down and shook the air again, like a child vigorously shaking a present. He waited for the thunder to pass.

"I am not allergic to anything. And I don't wish to distract you from your guests." He began to slip his arm out from hers and he somehow managed it. Suddenly all Ms. Beaufort was holding was dark shadows in one hand while the other was still cradled around the squirming cat in her coat.

"Yes, and I have enough towels for all of us to dry off on. You must be soaked to the bone."

Another bright laugh from the man, but a little softer. "You are very kind. Please, before you catch something other than a little stray, go ahead inside." He said, his voice a soothing, rich timbre.

Ms. Beaufort stuck out her hand impulsively to grab his shoulder before he slipped away into the dark void.

Lighting flashed right into her eyes, illuminating the world in white. For a brief second she could see the outline of her poor rose bushes thrashed about by the wind. She saw the banister of her porch, and then she saw the white face of the man.

He was wearing sunglasses. They were pulled up to perch on to top of his head. Two hollow eye sockets stared back at her in that flash of light, with a grin full of pearly white teeth.

The light vanished as fast as lightning disperses, and her outstretched hand hovers in the dark near the skeleton's shoulder.

"Now, you should really head inside. I would hate to see you again tonight." The skeleton shuffles forward and turns open her front door before herding her into the room.

She walks backwards, eyes open wide at the dark figure as he leans over the threshold, bust does not step in.

"You should get that cat to the vet soon. She'll be just fine if you do that." He said, and knowingly tapped the side of his eye socket, the light knock reminded her yet again of a wooden wind chime. He stared at her a moment longer. "You'll live a long life." He said, his voice as soft and gentle as her own fuzzy memories of her parents tucking her childhood self into bed after a frightful burst of thunder.

With that he shut the door.

The wind howled outside.

The cat growled softly in the rain coat before clawing it's way out and jumping to the floor.

Ms. Beaufort blinked at the door until Maisy and Mrs. Robinsons found her there. It didn't take much effort to bring her and the little black cat back into the safe room and set her down on one of the makeshift beds with a towel and a warm cup of tea that Mr. Robinson had insisted on making while Mrs. Robinson soothed their little boy.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Lee asked with a frown as she tries to subtly slide over a granola bar into Ms. Beaufort's empty hand.

"Hm? Oh, yes, I think I'm fine. I think I saw Death." Ms. Beaufort said, breaking out of her stupor as she heard how ridiculous the words had sounded with a cackle of laughter.

Lee glanced at Maisy, who was curled up next to her with the black cat purring on her lap. Lee gave up her pretenses as she opened the granola bar and stuck it in Ms. Beaufort's hand with a put-off sigh. "Eat this, you'll feel better."