How Long is Forever?

How Long Until the Storm Rolls Out?

CHRIS:

I turned the dial on the radio, trying to get a news station to come in. News stations do weather reports, don't they? I don't know this stuff. Up until this moment, finding a weather report on the radio had not been a skill I had found necessary.

Being the half-brained teenagers that we are, we didn't check what the weather would be like before we embarked on this adventure. And now it was coming back to bite us. While we slept, (well, I slept. And Kat hid from the "monster" she'd imagined,) the weather had decided to flip out.

I had woken this morning to the sound of heavy rain drops on the roof on my truck.

How lovely.

It must've been raining most of the night, because huge puddles had already formed all over our clearing in the woods. The sky looked pissed off at the world. Some people thought rain was a beautiful, magical thing. Clearly, they were either stupid or blind. Nothing about rain is appealing.

Kat likes rain. She used to drag me outside with her during a rainstorm so she could jump in the puddles in her pink rain boots. I had usually just sat on the sidewalk with my umbrella, watched her dance around in the rain, and felt sorry for myself. Sorry for myself because I couldn't be as care-free as Kat. It was physically and mentally impossible for me.

"D@mnit Chris, get that static off the radio, I'm trying to sleep. And stop drumming your fingers or whatever you're doing to make that noise," Kat grumbled from her nest under the steering wheel. Speak of the devil.

I held my hands up in surrender. "It's the rain, not me."

Kat lifted her head enough to look out the car window. "Oh," she grumbled. I nodded.

"That doesn't explain that stupid static on the radio. What the h*ll are you listening to?" Kat asked grouchily. She wasn't much of a morning person. I didn't mind mornings too much, especially when Kat was with me.

"I'm trying to get a weather report to come through," I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Why?" Kat continued to interrogate me.

I pointed out the window, "There's clearly a storm, and we're in the middle of the woods. See the problem with that? If it keeps raining like this we'll be stuck out here until the storm passes. I'm trying to find a weather report so we can get a better idea of what's going on with this storm."

Kat looked at me blankly, like she hadn't heard a word I'd said. "It's too early for logic," she blinked at me. I sighed and gave up trying to explain, and went back to trying to find a weather report. Kat crawled up onto the seat next to me once she was more awake.

"Oh my God, it's raining!" Kat squealed when she looked out the window.

"Didn't we establish that at least 3 times already?" I mumbled, but she was already fumbling with the door handle, trying to get outside. She tugged at the door for a while, then looked to me, disgruntled.

"Your car sucks. The door won't open," she stated.

I gasped and held my hand over my heart, feigning great offense. "My car is an angel," I purred and gently patted the dash-board. "Don't listen to her, baby," I cooed to my car.

Kat rolled her eyes as I continued to fondle my car. "You're a freak," she mumbled under her breath.

"Take it back," I darted to her side of the car, and pinned her wrists against the car window.

She stuck her tongue out at me and declared, "Never."

"Take it back. Or I'll be forced to make you suffer," I tried to keep a straight face. She stared at me defiantly.