The first drop fell on a leaf, small and pale green, which stuck out from the rest of the leaves just a little bit. The drop slid down the crisp spine of the leaf, pausing at the very tip. It quivered, anticipating, then plunged off the leaf, down, down, down until it fell with a splat on the nose of a very skinny, very pale boy who was sprawled out below. He did not move but for his chest, which rose and fell in a harsh cadence; for though his body was still, his thoughts were racing.
His mind propelled him down the pathways it frequented when he was alone, passages so dark they seemed to pull the light out of him, past lurking creatures that reached for him. He tried to fight them, but when he reached for his sword, his hand was doused in thick, oozing blood. His face became spattered with red droplets, and it blinded him as he tried to run. All the while, surrounding him, filling him, sounded a deep, grinding voice that resonated with maliciousness and cruelty that chilled his bones.
Then it crashed around him, in a wave, as thunder boomed across the hillside. A torrent of water poured over his body, forming rivers that washed over him. His breath came in ragged, gasping breaths, and he was paralyzed, paralyzed with the terror that churned around him in currents too strong to fight, too powerful to resist. His eyes stared upward at the rain that hurtled toward him and the sky that stretched over him, like a fierce gray ocean that yearned to swallow him, and drag him under so he could sink in the depths of despair-
And then warm fingers curled around his shoulders and pulled him upright. A blanket was tucked around his thin frame and his muscles loosened enough to begin to shiver violently from cold and fear. Tanned arms wrapped around him, and pulled him against a chest that radiated heat and life. Blond curls fell against the skinny boy's forehead, and he stayed there, in the other boy's embrace, as the rain poured around them.