Lightning rattled the windows as endless rain poured from the midnight sky. It was pitch black outside, making it nearly impossible to see anything among the endless black nothingness, unless lightning lit up the sky with blue light for a mere second at a time. It was a cold, wet night, and no one would dare to venture out into the storm.
"Seriously, what the hell... The storms came on a night Mona was missing."
Hidden deep under the blankets and trying desperately to block the terrible, horribly scary thunder out of his ears was Gilbert Beilschmidt. The sound reminded him very much of gunfire, which he was terribly afraid of after his time in battles. His girlfriend, Mona, was missing from her usual spot beside him, off at a meeting. Something to do with her stupid job.
Shakily lifting his body from under the blankets, Gilbert snatched up his cellphone from the charger on the bedside, checking the time. "Twelve-thirty, and she's still not done working..." He groaned, checking the last message he had sent her.
'This storm is seriously driving me insane, Mona. Please hurry home…'
She still hadn't replied. What was taking her so long? "Mooonaaa…" He groaned, slamming his face back against the bed and pulling the pillow and blankets down over himself.
Gilbert sat there for about twenty minutes, listening to the thunder as it just seemed to get louder and louder. Sometimes, it seemed to rattle the whole house, shaking the entire foundation, and Gilbert would cringe, scared of something even worse than just a plain thunderstorm. What if there was a tornado inching in on him? These thoughts slowly got him out of bed, and he tip-toed down the stairs and into the living room, yelping and taking a minute to recover if thunder rattled in the sky. He quickly curled himself up in a blanket on the couch and turned the TV on, flipping channels until he came across the news.
He sat there, waiting for the commercials to pass and get to the news. Currently, they were on tornado watch. "G-God dammit.." he pulled the blanket up to his face as the picture on the screen became distorted for a few moments. Finally, after hours it seemed, the commercial break was over and a very serious-looking reporter was on the screen.
"The storm seems to be just worse than a normal thunderstorm, so keep your candles and flashlights on hand. Tornadoes are very possible at the moment, and warnings will be sent out immediately. Tune in on a radio if your power just so happens to go out. Tornado watches are active in the counties of-"
Suddenly the entire house went black in a huge crack of thunder. Gilbert let out a hardly suppressed cry of fear, then leapt up and raced into the kitchen. His socks slid across the tile, and he fell and slammed into the island.
"God FUCKING dammit," he hissed, grabbing his leg and biting his lip. "Jesus, that really, really hurt!" He sat up, balancing himself on one of the barstools. He carefully limped over to the drawer where Mona kept the candles and flashlights in case of an emergency and grabbed several of each. Carefully he inched his way back into the living room, setting the candles around him in a wide half-circle on the table and lighting each of them.
Very soon, the entire living room was illuminated. Gilbert glanced at his phone, which he had brought with him from the bedroom.
"It's already past one in the morning… Where the hell is Mona?"
He sat there in silence, staring out the window. He slowly pulled the blanket over himself again as the thunder rattled in the night sky again, the rain still pouring down nonstop. Lightning lit up the rest of the house that wasn't covered in candles when it struck down, close enough to make Gilbert very nervous.
Suddenly, he heard the door slam in the kitchen. Jumping to his feet, he began to back toward the staircase, his heart running a marathon in his chest.
A small, soaked figure stepped into the living room, growling in frustration. Gilbert stared at her, widening his eyes.
"Mona?! You're soaked!"
"Don't fucking rub it in. You got to sit in bed all night, while I was out in the storm, trying to find my fucking car. I'm never letting anyone park for me ever again. How the hell was I supposed to even fucking know where my god damn car was parked at, if the guy who parked it-" her complaints turned into a loud feminine squeal as Gilbert threw his arms around her, picking her up into the air and spinning her around. He kissed her forehead, a huge smirk set on his lips.
"Put me d-down! You're a grown man, you don't need me at your side through every storm, do you?!" Venom dripped from her words as she threatened to kick him in the stomach, and then swore a few times before he actually did put her down.
"Y-You're finally home… Oh my god, I was really scared… The power went out, and I have no idea where you put the radio…" He rubbed his cheeks, seeming to be a lot more at ease now that she was back with him again.
Mona grabbed her braid and started wringing it out, not even seeming to care as water poured from it onto the carpet. "The radio is down in the basement, sitting on the shelf above the washing machine…"she sighed, slightly not amused with him at the moment, "Should we go down and listen to it?"
Gilbert grabbed her hand, dragging her along with a flashlight in hand. She huffed, just going along with it, kicking off her high-heels along the way.
Gilbert ran down the stairs, plucking the small battery-powered radio from the shelf. He plopped down on the couch, yanking his girlfriend down beside him and sitting it down on the floor.
"Thank you for being home, Mona… You know I don't like thunder…"
She huffed, blowing hair out of her eyes before turning and kissing his cheek gently. "Yes, I do know.. I bought you some ear muffs, remember?"
"I lost them."
"God dammit, Gilbert…"
He grinned, snuggling her. They both fell silent as they listened to the forecast, waiting for an end to the storm.
"The storm seems to be clearing up," the man's slightly distorted voice rambled on, "and the tornado cleared up with hardly any damage at all."
Mona sighed, letting her body go lax against Gilbert's side.
"The storm is over, do you want to go and take a hot bath with me?" She mumbled, twisting a strand of soaked hair in-between her fingers.
Gilbert patted her back, sitting the radio back into its respective spot and turning it back off.
"Why don't we go and do just that?"