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Rain, in Henrietta, could certainly not be considered uncommon. Especially now, in the slums of early May, when the sun set just a tad later and it was almost warm enough to wear short sleeves. Today was no different, with dime-sized drops pattering on the tin roof of Monmouth. It was quite loud, almost too loud to not hear the agonized screams of the small child being dragged by his ankles by some demon.
“You know, this just screams sequel, don’t you think?”
"Not funny, Blue. He's probably going to die, or get damned to hell or something."
"I guess he won't be in the sequel then."
Blue smirked in Gansey's direction, and he frowned slightly.
The heavy rain had prompted early closing hours at Nino's, and Adam's boss at the mechanic’s didn't need his help, so the five of them, the boys and the girl and the ghost, lay sprawled over each other on Gansey's bed. Ronan had brought an awful horror movie to watch, which Noah automatically protested (those give ghosts a really bad name, you know?). But there they were, cringing as blood written words appeared on the peeling wallpaper.
“I would never do that.”
“We know, Noah.”
Noah’s eyes were half-lidded with boredom, and his arms were crossed casually in front of his chest. “I’m just saying. I wouldn’t.”
The child’s mother grabbed a very conveniently placed candle with shaky hands, and with creaky, unstable steps, made her way to the locked door where the creature had her son captive. Gansey tensed up slightly, Adam swallowed in apprehension, and Blue clutched onto the dove gray pillow she rested on. The terrifying tension brought a small smile to ronan’s lips. This kind of thing didn’t really scare him.
Suddenly, a crack of thunder boomed outside, and the room went black.
“Holy fuck!” Ronan swore loudly as he fell off the bed onto the cool cement floor. He had been pushed by Blue who had sat up so suddenly out of fear that Adam had knocked Gansey into the headboard with a hollow thump. Noah sat petrified, his form flickering slightly.
“What the hell happened?” Blue’s voice was startlingly frantic, since she was usually so calm.
“I guess the storm knocked the power out.” Adam’s face was slightly illuminated by the light of Gnasey’s laptop, but otherwise, everything was pitch black.
“Alright everyone calm down. We’ll be fine. Ronan, where’d you put all those emergency candles?”
“...”
“Ronan. Where are they.”
“Well, all that matters now is they’re gone. But I think we have others”
Gansey got off the bed with shaky, tense steps. “Then let’s go look for them. Anyone want to go with?”
Everyone volunteered (I’ve seen horror movies before, splitting up never works!) to go with, and they made their way slowly down the stairs to the basement. There were a few boxes full of items they either didn’t want or had no place to put, and then there were the thirty or so boxes simply labeled “dream stuff”. Ronan took one of those boxes and opened it, revealing about twenty candles in neat glass jars. Blue picked one up gingerly, squinting at the label in the darkness.
“Why do you have vanilla cupcake scented candles hidden in your basement?”
“Who ever said they were hidden?”
“Not talking to you, boat shoes. Wasn’t it Ronan who dreamed them up?”
Noah sighed loudly in impatience. “Who cares who owns the candles! Just light one, it’s creepy as hell down here.”
Ronan fished a lighter out of his pocket, and with a few clicks, they had a candle each. Their light was rather dim, but it was better than nothing.
Adam sneezed, making Gansey jump. “God, these smell awful.”
“I agree. It’s like sugar wax.”
“Want me to put them out?”
“No!”
Without either light or electricity, there wasn’t much to do but sit on the cold floor and wait for it to blow over. Everyone had either a scowl or a bored expression on, illuminated creepily by the candles. The rain still poured, possibly even louder than before, unless it was just their imaginations.
“This is stupid.” said Blue grumpily.
“I agree,” said Adam, plain and simple.
And then there was silence, except for the rain and a few wayward sighs.
Until a large crack of thunder pounded through the building. Ronan grabbed Adam’s arm a bit too tight out of fear, and he swallowed hard. It wasn’t like they touched like this when the lights were on, not around their friends at least. He didn’t mind. Noah wrapped his arms around Blue’s chest, whimpering. She didn’t mind. Gansey just winced at the noise.
“Okay this is ridiculous! It’s just thunder. Let’s be sensible.” Gansey’s voice didn’t shake as the others’ had, and his jaw was set with determination. “Ronan. Why don’t you tell us one of those stories your dad used to tell you?”
“No.”
“Oh come on. Please?”
“Fine.”
And so he dove into a tale, his voice stark and cold at first, but warming up slowly as the story enveloped his mind. Everyone listened calmly, the rain soon simple background noise to the story. It was a fairytale of sorts, but not one the others had heard before, with wolves and witches and kings and magic. They slowly drifted asleep, one by one, not out of boredom, but out of exhaustion. Ronan was left speaking into the semi-darkness, with Adam’s sleeping head on his knee and Blue leaning on his shoulder, snoring quietly.
And in that moment, a happiness that can only be described with this moment fell across Monmouth.