So Long and Goodnight...

You laid motionless in the dark, silently staring at the ceiling, or what you could see of it amidst the blinding flashes of lightning outside your window.

You listened intently as the rain came down in torrents.

It had been raining all day and it seemed like it would never stop.

The thunder was so powerful it shook the entire house.

You loved storms.

The worse the storm was, the more you loved it.

While everyone else was complaining about the "shitty weather," you liked to be out in it or just listening to the rain, watching the lightning streak across the black sky, feeling every clap of the thunder in your bones.

You loved it. But you hated it at the same time.

It made you think of the times you and your sister would sit on her bed and watch the storms rage outside.

You wouldn't say any words.

You would just sit there and let your sister brush your long black hair.

You missed those times

...more than anyone would ever know.

You weren't sure how long you'd been lying there, drifting in and out of consciousness.

All you knew was that you'd had enough of being in this house, this room.

There were too many memories you could never relive.

You sat up swung your legs over the edge of the bed and put your feet on the soft black carpet.

You walked over to where you had tossed Franks sweater earlier today.

He'd let you borrow it when you were getting ready to walk home and realized it was raining because he knew how much you hated getting your hair wet after you'd just straightened it and his sweater had a hood.

You put the sweater on, found your boots and put them on too.

You walked over to your bedroom door and opened it, just a crack, then you put your ear to the crack.

You could hear the t.v. in the living room, downstairs.

That meant "daddy dearest" was still awake and you couldn't just walk out of the house.

You had to do it the hard way.

You closed your door with a sigh.

If he was still up it couldn't be too late.

You glanced at the clock on your headboard.

10:45 pm.

You walked over to your window and after taking the screen out and moving it aside, you opened it.

It was too high to climb to from the ground so you stood on your bed, perched on the bottom of the frame and held onto the top to keep from falling.

You stared at the ground for a moment and had to laugh a little.

This used to be your sisters room as well as yours and she snuck out all the time, except she never really had good landing skills so she had quite a few broken bones in her childhood.

You looked up into the giant tree in your backyard.

When you were five, your mom, your sister, and you built this awesome tree house up there.

It was still there, in that tree, but it was worn down, and the wood was rotted.

It was too unsafe to use anymore.

You closed your eyes as a cold, rainy breeze slapped you in the face.

Then you let go and pushed off with your legs into the relentless rain.