So Much For A Normal Day
By: Atomic Kokoro
Storyline
Zed is afraid of thunder, and therefore he hides in Robes' castle when a huge storm hits while he and his friends, Roya, Mickey, Noah, and Seguri, stay for dinner.
Before You Read
I thought it would be cute if, for once, Zed was scared of something unpractical. I was thinking spiders, but then I realized that was my fear and that it just wasn't a good idea to use spiders. Zed was never in a thunderstorm before, so I thought maybe he was afraid of them.
On with the story.
…
So Much For A Normal Day
It was a typical day. Sort of. Okay, not really.
"Zed?" Roya called through the seemingly empty house. "Where could he be?"
All this non-sense started not too long ago. It started when Zed realized the sky was getting dark. And it was still daytime.
They were invited to have dinner with Robes, for some odd and beyond reason no one knew. Perhaps to celebrate the fact they saved the world from utter destruction and mayhem.
The first part of the weird and strange day.
The second part started when Zed looked outside after being bored to death by Robes' constant talking. Suddenly, he stood up and raced over to the window.
"Uh, oh," he muttered, backing away slowly.
Everyone looked up, knowing 'uh, oh' was a lot for the white-haired warrior since nothing ever deterred him. "What's wrong?" Mickey asked, looking up from his soup.
He pointed out the window. "Sky," he muttered. "The sky isn't supposed to be that color."
Roya stood up and looked out the window. "It just means a thunderstorm is coming," she said.
"Oh, boy," Noah moaned.
Roya wasn't sure if what she said was bad or not, but when everyone turned to ask Zed what the issue was, he was gone.
"Where did he go?" Seguri asked, looking at Noah.
Noah pushed his glasses up in place and sighed. "If I'm right, Zed's gone to...hide."
Roya laughed. "Hide? Hide from what? Does want to play a game or something?"
"No," corrected Noah. "He's scared."
The whole table burst into laughter. "Zed? Scared?" Mickey repeated between giggles. "The only time those two words should be in the same sentence is if someone is scared of him. Like, oh, I don't know. Hugh?"
Noah sighed. "I'm dead serious," he insisted. "I warn you. When he hides, he usually find a good hiding place. And by good, I mean you can't find him to save your life."
Robes stood up and clapped his hands. "Sounds like a good game of hide-and-seek if you ask me." Everyone nodded. "Name of the game is to find Zed. Game starts at the first roll of thunder."
Everyone agreed and stood up, waiting for the first roll of thunder. I don't believe it, Roya kept thinking to herself, giggling. Zed's scared of thunderstorms! I thought his bravery was too good to be true.
"How long has Zed been like this for?" Mickey asked Noah, while waiting for the first roll of thunder.
Noah shrugged. "Ever since I met him, I guess. I don't think he's afraid of the rain as much as he is afraid of thunder and lightening. I guess loud noises scare him."
Mickey tilted his head. "How odd."
The first rumble of thunder roared like a gunshot.
"Be sure to check everywhere," Noah reminded everyone before they all split up. "The vents, the closets, the contents in the closets, everywhere. He can fit into anything when he gets too scared."
And the search began.
The group of heroes set off in search of their friend.
Noah and Seguri set off into the west wing, while Mickey covered the south, Robes the north, and Roya to the east.
"Zed! Zed!"
"Zed!"
"You in here?"
"Ah!"
"Okay, you're not."
For the first little while, the search was unsuccessful. The storm had grown so bad, door and windows had been barred. "This must be a hurricane!" Roya shouted over the roars of wind and constant rolling of thunder as loud as gunshots when they met up in the dinner hall.
"Zed must be scared out of his mind right now," Mickey sighed.
"We can't find him anywhere," came the quiet tone of Seguri's voice. "This place is so big. We might not find him before the storm ends."
Noah scratched his chin.
The loudest roll of thunder roared through the halls and someone unleashed an even louder scream. "Make it go away! Make it go away!"
"That sounds like Zed," Mickey gasped.
Everyone ran towards the origin of the scream. Roya was the first into the hall. She stopped. Everything was quiet and still. Then, she heard something. "Is that...?" she began, her voice trailing off.
Everyone soon joined her and listened, too. "Crying?" Robes questioned. "Is someone crying?"
Roya walked as slowly as she could towards the sobs and stopped when she came to a door. She looked back at everyone (especially Mickey, since it was his side of the castle) then back at the door. Slowly, she turned the nob and the door creaked open.
She peered inside. It was dark, and the only light was from the lights behind her. The door opened fully. The place looked like a janitor's closet.
The sobs were louder since the door was open. Very loud. "Zed?" she called into the closet.
There were a couple sniffs and a gasp. Roya took a couple steps in and peered over the side of the crate.
And there he was.
Sobbing into his arm, the other entangled in wires of some sort. He rubbed one eyes with the back of his free hand and opened one eye. "R-Roya?" he whimpered.
"Oh, Zed," she sighed, getting to her knees and untangling Zed's arm from the wires. Once done, she pulled him closer and embraced him in a protective hug. Zed held his arms against his chest like a defenseless child. "I've never seen you so scared before."
Zed just sobbed into her shirt. The others calmly entered the closet and took a seat somewhere- on the ground, on a crate, against the wall- and watched Roya whisper soft comforts into his ears and stroking his snow-white hair softly.
After a couple hours, the storm had calmed. In those couple hours, they had managed to move Zed somewhere safer than a janitor's closet. Mickey finished the rest of his meal and chatted with Seguri about how to make bread and other bakery foods he knew.
Zed clung onto Roya the whole time and refused to let her go no matter what the circumstances were. Eventually, he passed out and Roya was free to eat the rest of her supper, too.
Noah wasn't particularly hungry and stood by Zed to make sure he kept sleeping.
Robes also passed out halfway through the storm.
The following morning was bright and beautiful, like the storm had never happened. Zed was woken up in a guest bedroom by a beam of bright sunlight through his window. He leaned up and looked around. "Where am I?" he muttered to himself.
He pulled the sheet off his lap and stood up. "Did last night really happen?" he asked, placing a hand against his forehead. "What happened? I don't remember anything."
Zed walked out of the room and found everyone sitting at a table. Roya was the first to notice him. "Hey, Zed," she greeted with her normal smile. "Are you feeling better?"
"Better?" Zed repeated. "Was I sick or something? I don't remember anything that happened last night."
Everyone looked at each other, looking a little worried. Roya, however, smiled. "That's right," she said. "You said you weren't feel too well so you went to lie down and passed out in the guest bedroom. There's nothing you need to worry about. Sit down and have some breakfast with us."
Zed nodded. "Okay."
Mickey was the first to catch on and nodded in agreement. Finally, everyone went with what Roya said. (Seguri needed to be told, though, that Roya lied to save a major blow on Zed's so-huge ego.)
Zed, Mickey, and Roya returned to their little cottage outside of town shortly after breakfast. Mickey went to the store to make sure it was still intact and to make more bread and Roya went to the fields to gather and fix anything broken in the storm.
Zed fall onto his bed and pulled the covers over his head to hide himself from the world. "Please tell me what happened last night really didn't happen..." he groaned.