On The Field

Chapter 14- Forts save lives

"Yes mom I know," I say sighing into the phone. "Yes, yes I know. NO parties, keep the door locked, say no to drugs, blah blah. Mom I know the drill." I roll my eyes at my mother. I have stayed home alone before. Its only one weekend. "Okay, I love you too."  I say as I hang up the phone.

I have 3 days without my parents. See, I don't throw parties like normal teenagers, I just sit around watching tv or have sleepovers. I laugh to myself.

I'm so boring.

The day goes by quickly without having my friends over. Because its summer and we don't have softball all this week, the all went on vacation. Leaving me here alone while my parents go to Jason's tournament. As for Riley, he went to visit Harvard. Yup, he may play video games all day but Harvard has accepted him in their school.

I walk into the kitchen to get some ice cream when I look out the window. Ew, its going to rain. I felt panic set in my stomach.

I'm deathly afraid of thunder storms. And usually when they happen, I'm with someone. But here I am, in my house, alone.

I walked into the living room and blasted Pandora from my Tv. Hey, maybe my music will cover up the thunder. That could work right?

I was jumping from couch to couch belting out the words to 'Can't Hold Us' by Macklemore when The sound of rain pounding the roof stopped me in my tracks.

Panic set in as ran up the stairs as fast as I could to do what I used to when I was a kid in times like these.

Flashback

"Get all the blankets!" Mini Riley screeched running up the steps. Jason and I exchanged our 'what the crap' look but followed him anyways.

We gathered up every single blanket and pillow in the entire house. "What are we doin wiley?" I say in my babyish voice.

"We're going to build us a fort!" Riley screamed as he fist pumped the air.

We built the fort in no time and played about a billion games underneath. We were in there for about 2 hours before we began to get tired.

Jason had his head rested on me, attempting to go to sleep. He still had his eyes shut when he asked Riley "Riley, why did we make this fort?"

Riley was quiet for a few moments before he answered "It will protect us Jason. Whenever your scared, build a fort and it will protect you." He sent Jason a sweet smile before we were interrupted by a huge crash. We scrambled out of the fort to see a tree was struck my lightning and went through our living room window.

"I told you it would protect us."

End of flashback

I smiled, remembering the memory.

Sure, I was only six but I still believed it was true. The tree could have landed right on us or the glass could have cut us. But the fort protected us.

When I finished I heard a huge crack of thunder. I curled up in the blankets and got my laptop. I just need a distraction.

I spent a good hour and a half forgetting about the storm until my laptop suddenly shut off.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" I screeched as a clap of thunder went off. I kept trying to turn it back on when I noticed the red light at the bottom. Oh, its just a dead battery.

I chuckled to myself as I crawled out of the fort to find the charger. I went to flip the light on, but it wouldn't work.

You have got to be kidding me.

Lightning illuminated the room for a few seconds as I started to have a panic attack. I ran into the kitchen, grabbed a flashlight, and ran to my room for my phone.

I picked it up and looked in my contacts for anyone who could come and save me.

Rose, Rachel, and Grace are all out the picture. I frowned and kept scrolling through. Ryan's with Grace on vacation.

I scrolled through my phone four times, everyone I had on there I didn't know well enough to have them come over. There was always one name I skipped over though.

Lightning flashed behind my house and I counted seconds until the thunder came.

1.. 2.. 3.. 4..

A huge clap of thunder rumbled throughout my house. The lightning struck four miles from here. Complete fear set in as I realized how screwed I am right now.

After five minutes of having an internal battle, I swallowed my pride and dialed the number I have been avoiding.

"Hello?" His rough voice said softly through the phone.

"Hey, It's Anna." I said softly as thunder boomed again. "Hey, what do you need?" He asked, obviously not being able to hide the surprise in his voice.

I explained my situation and gave him my address and he said he'll be over in five minutes.

It felt like forever until I heard the ring at the door. I sprinted to the door and slung it open.

"Thank god your here!" I screeched throwing my arms around him. He flinched under my touch but wrapped his arms around me after a few moments.

When I finally released him, he walked into my house scanning over the furniture and the pictures on the wall. He stopped in front of a wall covered in family photos. I don't know why, but I just stood there watching him look over the photos.

Creepy much Anna?

I laughed to myself under my breath and walked closer to him. He had his eyes focused on one picture of my mom in the hospital with all of us standing around her bed smiling. I watched him look at it with a sad face until thunder boomed and made me jump. I screeched and jumped over to him smushing my body as close as it could go to his.

He chuckled and said "Your really scared of thunderstorms aren't you?" I nodded in reply.

He returned his gaze back to the picture and opened his mouth to say something, but shut it. He shook his head and turned around to me. He looked behind me for a second and his eyes lit up. A wide grin covered his face as he began to laugh at me.

"What? What did I do?" I asked confusion clouding my voice.

"Really Anna, a fort?"

Chapter status - Unedited