Astraphobia

“Bye mom. Bye dad,” Hailey said, giving both of her parents a quick hug before they loaded into their Honda Civic and backed out of the driveway. Her father had to go to some type of conference in California for a few days, and her mother was not going to pass up the opportunity to spend a few sunny days shopping in Los Angeles. Hailey was sixteen, and they both trusted her to be mature enough to stay home by herself for a few days. Besides, they knew as well as she that during the school week, she wouldn’t be throwing any parties.  Of course, Hailey wouldn’t have any desire to throw a party should they leave over a weekend anyway.

Hailey’s school week consisted of classes, dance team practice, and homework. She wasn’t the party girl like most of the other girls on the dance team, but they tolerated her and she tolerated them. It didn’t bother Hailey at all. Nothing was going to keep her from dancing. The fact that she had just moved from Iowa to the small school just outside of Portland at the beginning of the school year may have had something to do with it as well.  She definitely didn’t have to use more than two hands to count those she considered ‘good friends.’  Having joined the school two weeks into the new year, she was still looked at as 'the new girl' by most of her peers, with only a few actually wanting to get to know her as a person.

As Hailey walked back towards the front door of her house, her eyes rose to the sky, groaning at the sight of the large, gray clouds moving quickly towards town. Of course it would rain the first night she would be home alone.  It was Oregon.  Did she really expect anything different?  Stepping into her vacant house, she was greeted by the eerie silence. It was the first time her parents had left her alone for longer than an evening. It usually didn’t bother Hailey, but knowing her parents wouldn’t be returning in a couple of hours made everything seem a lot quieter, as if the walls were whispering behind her back.

Hailey settled down at the kitchen table and began to work on her homework after turning on the stereo in the living room to drown out the silence of the house. She worked with ease through her math homework and then moved on to the outline for her paper on The Scarlet Letter when the low rumbling began. The sound was almost too low to be heard, but rest assured, Hailey heard it. She had a keen sense for hearing storms, which didn’t exactly calm her nerves.

Ever since she got struck by lightening when she was six years old and nearly died, Hailey retained a very healthy fear of storms. Her parents figured it was something that she would eventually grow out of, so they were somewhat surprised at the fit she threw when they told her they were moving to Oregon  the previous summer. Oregon.  Where it rains… a lot, probably more than any other place in the United States, aside from perhaps Washington. 

“Rain, rain, go away. Come again….never,” Hailey muttered silently to herself as she typed the title of her essay on her laptop. A louder rumble of thunder sounded, causing her fingers to freeze above her keyboard. Why? Why did this have to happen while she was home alone? Couldn’t the weather take a break for a few days? Surely Mother Nature needed some rest occasionally, especially with winter just around the corner.

A loud rumble of thunder seemed to answer her questions promptly. Hailey pushed her chair back forcefully as she strode into the living room and turned the stereo up even louder. Perhaps she could drown out the storm. Of course, it didn’t take her long in the kitchen to realize that being in a room surrounded by windows probably wasn’t the best thing. The sky was almost completely overcast by that point, and the threat of rain was hanging heavily in the air. Slamming her laptop shut, Hailey threw it and the rest of her schoolwork into her backpack and quickly bolted up the stairs to her bedroom.

Her hands moved without thinking, shutting all of the blinds before turning on the radio in her room, once again trying to ignore the sounds of the approaching storm. No matter what she did, it seemed as if the storm was determined to make its presence known. When the music overpowered the noise from the thunder, the rumbling merely got to the point where it would cause the house to shake. 

“I hate Oregon. I hate Oregon. I hate Oregon.” Hailey repeated the sentiments softly to herself, hugging her knees up to her chest as she began trembling on her bed. A few tears had begun forming in her eyes, and she didn’t even bother to wipe them away. They’d only return a second later. Her shaking hand slowly reached into her back pocket, pulling out a small red phone. She hesitated for a few moments before flipping the phone open and dialing a number.

“Hello, Ben?” she asked when the person on the other line picked up. “It’s me. Um, my parents are out of town for a few days, and…well...”

“I’ll be right there,” Ben interrupted.

“Thanks,” her small voice replied. “Key’s under the mat.” Hailey felt a small sense of relief after she hung up the phone. Ben was her neighbor and best friend at her new school. He was also very aware of her fear of storms. He’d witnessed her panic attacks on quite a few occasions. She might as well add one more to his long list.

Five minutes and a couple of loud claps of thunder later, she was barely able to detect a small knock at her door.

“Hailey?” 

Ben stepped into her bedroom, his brow furrowing as he looked around the room for his friend who was nowhere in sight.  Her radio was blaring, as was the one downstairs that he had turned off when he walked through the living room.

“Hailey?” he asked again after turning down the radio a couple of notches.

“In here.”  Ben noticed her closet door open and slipped his head around the door frame to see his good friend curled up in a ball in the corner of the closet.  Between hanging up with Ben and his arrival at her house, Hailey had moved from her bed, which was located in between two windows, to her walk-in closet.

“Hey you,” Ben smiled warmly, trying to fight off the chuckle that wanted to escape his lips. Hailey looked so cute and fragile in the corner, despite the terrified tears trailing down her cheeks from her bloodshot eyes. Ben took a seat in front of the girl, putting his legs on either side of her curled body as he gently rested his hands on her knees. “It’s gonna be okay, Hailey.”

Her body was still shaking, and a small scream emitted from her lips as a loud roll of thunder set the house shaking again. Hailey’s sobbing merely intensified, causing her to gasp for breaths in between sobs. Ben stared at her shaking figure and slowly began to run his fingers up and down her arms in an attempt to try to soothe his friend.

“I hate Oregon.” It was all she could manage to say, and Ben couldn’t help but to let out a small chuckle at the girl’s revulsion of his home state.

“Surely Oregon can’t be that bad,” he scoffed, pretending to be offended.

“Oh yes it can,” Hailey muttered, nodded furiously.

“I can think of one good thing Oregon has that all other states don’t,” Ben replied, a smug grin spread across his tanned face. Hailey slowly raised her eyes to meet his bright blue orbs and let out a small giggle at Ben’s ridiculous expression.

"Ducks?" she responded immediately, thinking of Oregon University’s school mascot and laughing at the pout that appeared on Ben's lips. That look was why she called him in the first place. They’d only known each other for a few months, but he was the only one who could get her to genuinely smile. For a moment, Hailey tried to ignore the rumbling outside the walls of her house and allow herself to pay attention to the sensation of Ben’s fingers trailing up and down her arms in a gentle motion.  She could feel the small bumps rising up on her arms, accompanied by a tingling sensation, along the trail of his fingers. Hailey was slightly confused by the odd feeling in her stomach. She’d had enough panic attacks with storms to know that it was not a usual reaction to the thunder and lightening.

Suddenly, a loud crack of thunder burst through the house, a flash of lightening lighting up her room a few seconds afterwards. Hailey’s head immediately dove onto her knees and into Ben’s chest as his arms wrapped around her small frame.

“Shhhhh….” Ben tried to quiet her tears, but they kept flowing in a steady stream. His back began to stiffen from his hunched over position, so he quickly slid to sit beside Hailey and lean against the wall of her closet. He hesitated for a moment, before wrapping one arm around her waist and placing his other underneath her legs.

“Come on,” he urged gently.  Hailey took the hint and climbed sideways into Ben’s lap, her head resting on his shoulder as his arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

“I’m…so…pathetic,” Hailey managed to mutter in between her shaking sobs as she clung to his shirt, her tears already beginning to soak through his shirt. Once again, she felt that odd stirring within her stomach as Ben pulled her close to his warm chest.

“You’re not pathetic...just slightly insane,” he smirked, throwing the girl a small wink when she looked up at him. His hand began to glide up and down Hailey’s back in an attempt to quiet her sobs her yet again. “Just try to relax and ignore all the sounds. Don’t think of it as thunder, but the drum beats of your favorite band.”

Ben felt sorry for Hailey. She was so terrified, and he had no clue how to help her. It didn’t help that he had to think twice as hard about calming her down, his mind occasionally wondering to the fact that he was actually holding her in his arms. He knew that Hailey only thought of him as a friend, and if that was all she wanted, then he wasn’t going to do anything to ruin that friendship. However, Ben couldn’t exactly ignore the small tug at his heart that wanted him to want her as more than a friend.

Perhaps one day he would be more to her, but at that moment, Hailey needed a friend to hold onto, and Ben would be that friend. He noticed that her sobbing and shaking were subsiding a bit; she had probably exhausted herself with fright. He could feel her warm breath softly blowing against his neck, and he gently rested his cheek against her forehead, the floral scent of her hair consuming his senses. Ben inhaled deeply, relishing the smell of her hair and enjoying just being close to her, even if it was huddled in the corner of her closet.

As the storm continued to rumble outside the home, Ben sat in the closet, holding Hailey and quietly shushing her whenever she’d begin to shake at a new clap of thunder or flash of light. Eventually, Hailey’s breathing slowed and steadied, a sign that she had fallen asleep in Ben’s lap.  His hand methodically caressed her back and played with the tips of her golden hair as his eyes closed in contentment.

“One day, Hailey,” Ben whispered into the darkness of the closet as he turned to brush his lips lightly across her forehead.  A small smile appeared on Hailey’s lips, but Ben was unaware as he tightened his grip around her waist, allowing unconsciousness to take over him as well.