Fat droplets of rain pelted her window, leaving the world outside the glass a blur of darkness. Normally she would have loved sitting on her bed, drawing patterns with the condensation that would build upon the window, but not tonight.
Tonight, she sat huddled away in the corner of her room. The one that was the farthest from the warmth and comfort of her bed.
The reason was simple. She was scared.
She was scared of the bright flashes in the sky and the loud rumble that followed. It felt like the sky was angry with her, muffled yellings of what she had done wrong. Like it would tear apart and come down any second.
She was terrified by it.
"Wanda?"
She dared to open one of her eyes and peeked through her little fingers to see her brother in the doorway. "Pietro?"
"What are you doing on the floor?" He asked, scrunching his nose at her. It was a face he made whenever she did something he didn't understand, which was actually quite rare since they were both so often in sync.
"I'm scared." Then as if on cue, lightning flashed across her window, turning the world a vibrant white only for a second before returning to darkness. She waited for the rumbling that always followed the light, then she asked, "are you scared too?"
He laughed off the idea like it was ridiculous, the same laugh he used when she had asked him if he ate her chocolate bar. "No, of course not..."
That was the same answer he gave her. And he did eat her chocolate bar.
Then the thunder came and she could see her brother jump.
She smiled. Her 'brave and fearless' brother wasn't as brave and fearless as he claimed. "Then why are you here?"
"I just wanted to uh," he scratched his brown hair as if it would help him think of an excuse. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. I know how much of a scaredy cat you are."
"Fine, I'm okay. You can leave now."
Despite her confirmation, her brother's feet stayed frozen to the floor. She could see a flash of fear on his face that came and left as fast as the lightning. "No, I, but I-"
"Get over here you big chicken," she said shifting over to make room for him.
Her brother just about jumped to her side when she said it. So they sat huddled together like that for a while, hugging each other. They closed their eyes and each time lightning or thunder came, they clutched a little tighter onto each other.
"It's cold," Pietro complained. His toes touched hers and she had to admit they felt like icicles.
"I have an idea," Wanda said happily and whispered her plan into her brother's ear.
He smiled at the sound of her idea.
Pietro ran out of her room while she ran to her bed. She hauled the mattress, the pillows, and the blanket all back to the corner she was sitting in seconds ago. Pietro arrived moments later with the same things from his bed.
A fort. That would keep out all the scary things.
So they started, assembling and creating their fort with imagination, as all children did. They were laughing and giggling and screaming as the fort began to tip and eventually crumbled due to the poor distribution of weight and center of gravity.
Or, as Pietro said, "It's too weak. We need to make it stronger."
So he left as Wanda cleared the area to build a new fort. Her brother returned with cushions and pillows from the couch, and some blankets that were kept in the closet for guests.
With renewed determination, they began building. They were by no means architects, but they understood a very simple, yet useful concept: stack two things together if they fit and if not, make them fit. With this concept and a tremendous amount of perseverance, no amount of collapsing pillows could stop them. They were unstoppable together.
Eventually, they found themselves under a blanket surrounded by stacks and stacks of pillows, or as they would have called it, their Fortress of Fortitude. Pietro had come up with the name, hearing something like it in a fiction comic book about a fictional world of superheroes.
"What are you children doing?"
They froze.
In their unlimited joy and glory, they had forgotten to keep their volume down and use their inside voices. They may or may not have accidentally woken up their parents. Both of the children in question stayed still, thinking that if they didn't move their parents wouldn't notice them.
Their parents noticed them.
"It's four in the morning what are you children doing?" their mother asked again. She sounded more tired than angry. Their father, on the other hand, looked at them with an amused grin, fascinated by the antics of his children.
"We are scared of the storm, so we thought that if we built a fort, it would keep us safe." The lightning came, and shortly following it, so did the thunder. Perhaps the storm was scary, but even Wanda had to admit it had impeccable timing, great for dramatic purposes and further proving their point.
Both the faces of their parents softened. As if they could read each other's mind, their parents looked at each other and then left.
"I thought we were going to be in trouble." Pietro grinned, happy to get away with it. Wanda nodded in agreement.
However, their parents had not left to return back to bed. They would not let their children fend for themselves against the scary, vicious storm. Not long after, their parents came back, both carrying pillows and blankets from their room. The squeal that came from both Pietro and Wanda could only be described as pure joy.
Eventually, Wanda couldn't remember how, but she found herself in the midst a pillow fight. It was everyone for themselves, which meant she was simply swinging her pillow at anyone who got too close to the excited little girl.
"I think I won," Pietro said after the pillow fight. Their entire family had collapsed in exhaustion on the mattresses.
Even though there was no point system or any accurate method of determining a victor in their little competition, their mother smiled and answered, "I think you did son."
There was another flash of lightning, rumbling thunder coming moments later. When was this storm going to end?
It was easy to ignore it when one was trying to smack her brother in the face with a pillow, but when everything was quiet again, Wanda could remember what she was so scared of. And by the shared look she had with Pietro, so could he.
Immediately they made their way to their parents, staying as far from the window as possible. Their parents would protect them, they were sure of it. That's what parents were for.
Unfortunately, Pietro tripped against something and tumbled into Wanda, sending both of them flat on the mattress.
He looked at his feet and picked up the short metal tube with a switch.
"A flashlight?" Wanda asked.
"I brought it so we could use it to light up the room. That way when the lightning flashes, we won't even notice it," he explained, not noticing the smile on their parents' faces.
Of course, they could have simply turned on the lights, but they were children. Why destroy their fun?
Instead, their father ruffled Pietro's hair.
The sky was still as dark as ever, but they were all still awake. The four of them laid there on the mattresses, looking up at the ceiling. Pietro and Wanda huddled snuggly between their parents.
"Why do you see lightning before you hear thunder?" Pietro asked.
Wanda raised her eyebrow in curiosity. She had always been too scared to wonder about it, but that was a very good question. She would have saved the question to ask her teacher the next day, but there was no need.
"It's because light travels faster than sound." Their father said.
"Kind of like when I first met your father." Their mother said all too fondly. "You father looked smart until he started talking."
Then the four exploded in laughter.
Wanda smiled, closing her eyes. "I don't think I'm that scared anymore." And soon enough, she along with Pietro and their parents drifted off to sleep.
Unbeknownst to them, several years later Pietro and Wanda would find out that mortar shells sounded a lot like thunder. But unlike the harmless storm that could never touch them, the mortar shells would utterly destroy their lives, changing it forever.
Never again would there be great fortresses or pillow fights.
And never again would they see their parents.
I wrote this instead of sleeping, in case anyone is curious about the grammar and spelling.
Maybe I'm gloomy when I'm sleepy, would explain the story.
Hope you enjoyed it.