She Came In The Storm

Usually, 

When a person sees a pretty girl standing in the rain outside their small chicago apartment with a mischievous smile on her face, they would call the police. However, Julius Berry was desperate. He hadn’t left that apartment for weeks! Heck, he hadn’t left that room for weeks! He had been hit with the worst case of writer’s block that he had ever seen!

When Julius was seven he wrote his first novel and was an instant hit. His book was about a little boy with the power to control metal. At nine, he made the second book in the series. And by his graduation, his book series, the “Titanium” series, was a ten book series with multiple New York Times Best Sellers, a few talk show interviews, and quite the fan base. 

Now, Julius is twenty five. He graduated top of his class from Yale with a majoring in writing. The “Titanium” series is now thirteen books strong! And Julius’s producers want him to write something new. They want him to start a brand new series that enters a genre that he hasn’t written in before. So, he decided on a mystery. Sounds simple enough right? Someone dies and someone figures out who. 

For inspiration, Julius got himself an old mechanical typewriter that works like a dream and he read all the “Series of Unfortunate Events” books for the fithteenth time in his life. After two weeks of nothing, he decided to stay in his room until he wrote something entertaining but no matter what nothing would come from his mind. His tree of creative brilliance that was once bountiful was now barren. He had barely slept. He had barely eaten. 

Then there, outside his window with a flash of lightning, was a beautiful girl standing on his fire escape. She looked to be his age. She had beautiful green eyes, raven hair, soft lips, and pale skin that looked as though she had never seen the sun a day in her life. She wore a black crop top, black leggings, black sneakers, and a silver ring on her pinky. 

After a moment of just looking at the strange young woman, Julius opened the window. 

“Why don’t you come inside?” He asked. “You must be freezing out there.” 

The lady smiled and said, “Why don’t you come outside?” 

“Because, it’s cold and wet and I have work to do.”

“Which means it’s the perfect conditions for dancing.”

Julius was confused at this. 

“Dancing?” He asked, “but it’s raining and there's no music.”

“Not with that attitude there isn't.”

This woman was the strangest girl Julius had ever met and he found this intriguing, then when he saw the lightning and heard the thunder, he insisted that she come inside.

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” She said.

She stepped through and closed the window behind her. She walked around and caressed every piece of that room with her gentle and delicate hands as the two of them talked. 

“So, what brings you to my apartment,” Julius asked while inside he wondered why he brought a stranger into his home, “if I had known I’d be having a guest I’d have cleaned up some more. I’ve been working on a novel, so that explains the sticky notes and the half eaten chinéese food everywhere.” 

It’s true, that room looked like the inside of Julius’s mind; cluttered, messy, and fully devoted to writing. 

“I completely understand, you’re a genius. Which is what brought me here, Julius.” 

Shocked, Julius said, “Ok, who are you, and how do you know my name?”

With a soft giggle, his guest answered him, “My name is Faith, and I am your guardian angel.”

After a moment of pure silence, Julius erupted in laughter. It was clear he did not believe her. 

“Just come outside with me,” she said, “I’ll show you.”

“No way. You must think I’m an idiot to believe that you are an angel. Aren’t angels supposed to have wings and a halo?” 

“No, actually we are terrifying to look at. That’s why our go-to line is ‘do not be afraid’. That image of wings and a halo is a form that we sometimes take to make humans feel a little more comfortable. If you want, I can do that for you.”

Julius scoffed and said, “Sure, why not. Grow wings and a halo.” 

Faith took a deep breath in, closed her eyes, and wings of golden flames extended from her back, and a ring of bright light formed above her head, leaving Julius in pure shock. After a moment Faith returned to looking like a regular person but Julius’s jaw remained dropped. 

The next hour or so went something like this:

Julius: This isn’t happening. 

Faith: Yes it is. 

Julius: I’m dreaming aren’t I.

Faith: No, you’re awake. 

Julius: Am going crazy? 

Faith: I assure you you’re not.

Julius: Of course I’m going crazy, I’m a writer! How I haven’t already been to a mental facility is a miracle!

Faith: YOU’RE NOT CRAZY!!!

As I said, this went on for a while, it only stopped once she finally did what she came to do, and kissed him. 

When Faith kissed Julius, all his writer’s block went away and the full power of his creative mind was released. He could suddenly see every aspect of the perfect crimes perfected by the perfect criminal. He could see every detail about the most brilliant detective he could possibly think of. Every fingerprint, every clue, every single word he could see so clearly. 

When the kiss ended, there was only silence in the room. Until Julius said the only word he could think of. 

“Wow”, he said, “what was that?”

“The reason I came,” said Faith. 

“But, why?”

“Because, I’ve known you your whole life, and I have grown to love you. I have been waiting to kiss you for so long, and I saw you were hurting on the inside, so I just had to come and help.” 

Julius’s fingers went straight to his typewriter and wrote a single sentence. Then, he looked at Faith and asked, “What now?”

“Now,” the beautiful angel said, “I want to dance with you in the rain.”

“But there’s still no music.”

“Leave that to me.” 

And with that, Faith grabbed her lover’s hand and led him out the window and down the fire escape to the street where the rain fell from the sky. 

“You know what my favorite song is?” She said with a smirk on her beautiful face. 

Of course, only having met her that day, Julius shook his head no. With a giggle and a snap of her fingers, lightning struck, thunder sounded, and as if being played by God himself, violins were heard, then thunderous drums, and guitars and pianos all playing Cher’s “Dark Lady”. Faith pulled Julius close and danced with him into the night. Julius would later ask her to stay with him, but she couldn’t. She could only come when it rained. So Julius would always keep his shower on, so that the falling water would keep his lover there and together, they would write some of the greatest works of fiction the world might never know. But little did Julius realize that this angel of his was his very own dark lady; mysterious, magical, had many secrets of her own, and had told him more than a few lies. 

But that is a story for another day and another time, after all, I don’t want to ruin this special moment for them. So I’ll just let them dance into the night for now. Just two lovers, together in a storm. 

“Dark Lady laughed and danced and lit the candles one by one, 

Danced to her gypsy music ‘til her brew was done. 

Dark lady played black magic ‘til the clock struck on the 12,

She told me more about me than I knew myself.”

-Cher.