It Rains When I Cry

Ana was standing in the middle of the dining room crying. Not caring of the consequences. She put Kaila on a chair where she could keep an eye on her and told her to stay put. Seeing as her mom was crying that was no big thing for the child who had grown up with her moms moods, to do. She watched silently as her mom cleaned up the mess. She pulled in the trash can, and taking the barely used trash bag out she hung it on a chair in the kitchen and began tossing the larger pieces of the dishes in the trash can. She pulled the broom out of the pantry and swept the dining room floor. She hadn’t decided what to do about the table. She was taking the trash can with the glass and dishes in it to the garage when the lights flickered off. She ran back inside carefully and managed to get to her daughter before she started screaming. She had no idea where any of the candles she had were but she knew that her dad had put wood in the fireplace as a display thing, but looked like it was about to get burned. She pulled a lighter from her pocket and carrying Kaila she went to the family room. She placed her on the rug and then turned to the fireplace which she had to be careful to light because of the lighter she had.

After she got the fire started she pulled a few of the afghans off the couch and chairs in the room and spread them on the floor for her and Kaila. She felt cold pass over her and turned to look in the direction that it had gone in. She saw a box in the direction that she looked that said candles and flashlights. She raised and eyebrow but thanked whoever for the find. She walked over leaving Kaila sitting on the blankets, watching her. She pulled the box open and grabbed the candles out of it and then the flashlights. She got the big lantern like flashlight out and placed it on the floor and turned it on. The room lit up like it was the middle of the day for a minute and then the light went out. Just what she needed the batteries had died. She found another flashlight and turned it on. She heard something crash upstairs just as there was a knock on the front door. She picked up Kaila and with the flashlight in hand made her way carefully to the front door. She opened it and a rain drenched Johnny stood there.

“What are you doing here?” She asked as she opened the door to let him in. He walked in and she watched as he turned the flashlight in his hands on.

“I was next door, and thought I would come check on you. You know with the freak storms and all that…what the hell was that?”

“No clue I was about to go find out when you knocked on the door.”

“Well lets go check it out, c’mon.” And he led the way upstairs. She followed behind him.

“It came from the nursery.”

“And that’s where?”

“First door on the left.” He entered and shined his light around the room.

“Ana… was someone here earlier?”

“No, why…?” She cut herself off when she walked in the room. The crib was in the middle of the room again but everything else was ruined. Kaila’s clothes were all over the room and her toys were just plain broken. There was something written on the walls, but she would have to wait until morning to see what it was. She held back her scream, when his flashlight and hers went dead. The storm continued on outside and there was even more lighting and this time someone was standing in the room with them and then they were gone. Kaila was crying and so was Ana. The rain was now relentless. Johnny looked at her and thought about something. The woman that had been killed was pregnant. But her death was unexplainable because there was no gun in the room, and no one around that wanted her dead. Now Ana moved in with a nineteen month old. Wait why was he suddenly believing in this supernatural shit?

“C’mon we’re going next door.” and he took her hand and together they felt their way to the front door. She wiped the tears from her face and walked next door with him. He had placed his jacket over Kaila so she wouldn’t get all that wet. Zack opened the door and let them in the moment that they got to the front porch. Gena took Kaila from Ana as she dropped her flashlight on the floor and slid down the wall after it. She wasn’t crying but she was scared. More scared than the night that her mother had died. More scared than when she had found out about her curse, or even than she had been when Katrina hit.

“Come on let’s get you in front of the fire.” Zack said and she let Johnny and Zack help her up. The minute that they were in the room Gena went upstairs and moments later with her flashlight shining she was back downstairs with an extra pair of her pajamas for the rain soaked Ana to change into. She showed her to where the bathroom downstairs was and waited while she changed then walked back to the living room with her. Ana saw that her daughter was asleep on the couch with a fleece blanket over her and a pillow to keep her from falling off the couch. She sat down on the floor beside the fire and ran her hands over her arms. She looked at the other three adults in the room. Then toward the window when three pairs of headlights flashed across it. Followed moments later by three couples carrying in bags of warm food and about five pizza’s.

“Figured since we don’t know how long the blackouts gonna last the pizzas would be breakfast, here we brought warm food…” Val stopped talking and walking when she saw the four adults sitting in the room two of whom were shivering and one who looked to have been crying. “uh, you guys don’t look good.”

“Thanks Val” Gena said taking the food from her and making room on the floor for all of them. She sat the food on the coffee table which Johnny and Zack cleared off and then pulled closer to the fire so that all ten of them could sit around it and eat.

“We figured you might have been nice and gone and got her, so we brought extra.” Jimmy said as he nodded in Ana’s direction.

“Yeah, she just actually got here.”

“I’m Ana.”

“I’m Val and this is my twin sister Michelle.”

“Matt, my friends Brian and Jimmy.”

“And I’m Leana.”

“Hi, and that’s Kaila.”

“How old is she?” Val asked.

“Nineteen months.”

“She’s cute.”

“She’s scared” Ana said as Matt passed out the food.

“It’s a blackout I’m not surprised she’s scared.” Brian said.

“That’s not why.”

“What’d ya mean?” Michelle asked.

“I got home from the store, came over here to introduce myself to the neighbors and get a little background on the people that lived there three years ago and then I got back to my place and the dining room was a mess, my moms’ dishes were everywhere. The kitchen table was broken. Then the electricity went out. I started a fire and then I found the box in the family room with the flashlights and my camp light worked for maybe three minutes before it died and I heard a crash upstairs. I was getting ready to check it out when Johnny knocked.”

“We went upstairs and next thing we knew we were staring at the nursery, well what was left of it.” Neither one of them mentioned the apparition that they had seen.

“Holy shit”

“Yeah”

“Vandalism?”

“It was fine when I got home. I mean seriously we heard the crashing upstairs and nobody would’ve had time to flee before we got upstairs.” Ana said. The others looked at one another.

“So what exactly did Gena tell you?” Leana asked.

“That there was a woman killed next door, and they couldn’t explain it, and that her husband killed himself in the Bahamas.”

“She supposedly had a lover. They say that her husband came home and caught her with him and killed him. Then left to kill himself.”

“Yeah but Jimmy that’s only one of like ten or fifteen stories that people have told about it. We weren’t here remember.” Matt said.

“Hey I know it’s just that’s probably the one thing about this town that no one seems to understand. People like to talk and they’ll talk about this whenever they can.”

“Why do you think we don’t mention where we live or ever have any of our other friends over?” Zack asked.

“So what has it turned into urban legend or something?”

“Something like that.” Matt said shuddering slightly.

“Has anyone tried to find out what really happened over there?” Ana asked looking from face to face and finding comfort in only one of their eyes. Johnny looked at her from across the table and smiled slightly.

“People want to investigate the house but haven’t been allowed to. For a bunch of reasons.” Zack said. It was time to blow the lid off the pot.

“Why? Wouldn’t they only need the banks permission?”

“They’d have needed mine as well.” Zack said quietly.

“Why?”

“Because of who I am. It would make a difference in what I’d be able to do when they were out here to do it and if I wanted people asking questions or not.”

“Again why?”

“Because together the five of us make up the band Avenged Sevenfold.” Johnny said looking into her eyes.

“That would make sense.” was all she said. When she didn’t make a big deal of it the guys actually smiled about it. “So do any of you believe in the supernatural?” She asked a moment later.

“I’m starting too.” Gena said

“We do” Michelle, Val, and Leana said.

“Yeah.” four male voices said at once. They all looked to Matt.

“Not really no.” So okay she had make him a believer and quick.

“Well not everyone believes.” she said. Maybe by just letting him believe what he wanted was a good thing. They all blinked a moment later as Kaila woke up when the lights came on. She pulled the blanket over her head and muttered something incomprehensible before she went back to sleep. Zack stood and turned out the light by the couch. Ana stood and walked to the front door opening it and stepping out on the front porch. She looked next door to her house and noticed that there were still no lights on in her house. She shook her head. Shit she hadn’t put out the fire.

“Ana did you put out that fire you mentioned?” Matt asked.

“NO”

“I Got it, gimme your keys.”

“It’s not locked I don’t think but here.”

“I’ll come with you.” Brian said and the two of them darted across the lawns and in her front door. The rest of them went back inside. They sat down on the floor and looked at one another. Ana wondered if she would be intruding asking questions about the others. She thought it over quickly and just asked.

“What do you girls do when the guys are gone? Gena mentioned that she was here when it happened, but Zack wasn’t.”

“We hang out and work. We’re all friends so that helps.” Val said.

“Sometimes we fly out to where the guys are and visit with them. We take care of one another too.” Gena said.

“I’ve never really had friends that are close like you all seem to be.”

“Why?”

“Well it’s just people thought I was weird growing up is all.” Ten minutes later they started wondering where in the hell Matt and Brian were when the front door burst open and the two men slammed it shut and locked it behind them.

“Okay, now I believe.” Matt said