Chapter Six: The Thunderstorm
Beast Boy wasn't sure if it was the rumble of the thunder that woke him up or the rumble of his stomach. All he knew was that he was slinking into the kitchen about midnight for a snack while the rain pelted the windows outside, and the thunder rumbled and lightning flashed illuminating the living room. A shadowed figure lay silently on the couch. Beast Boy's heart began to pound in his chest and his mouth went dry with panic.
"You shouldn't be eating so late," said a familiar voice that made him relax as Rowan sat up, sending the kittens to the floor with an irritated meow. "you'll get indigestion." Tigress and Jessie coiled around his ankles and the small girl resumed staring sadly out the window at the lightning. She was looking too serious. His snack forgotten, Beast Boy slid on the couch next to her.
"Are you afraid of storms?" Beast Boy asked.
"No." she said coolly. Too cool, he thought. He had expected a witty cut down like she always had when they tried to treat her like a child. It's absence unnerved him.
"Are you hungry. We've got everything you could possibly imagine to eat here. We've got pizza rolls, bread sticks, ice cream, steak, ham, fish, pizza, cheesecake, salami, pepperoni, chicken salad, potato salad, tossed salad, turkey salad, diet coke, cheery coke, vanilla coke, lime coke, tofu burger, tofu canzone, tofu cheese, tofu bacon, and some green stuff that looks like trees. Robin swears it's some kind of vegetable." Rowan didn't giggle and that worried him more.
"Ummm…do you have milk?"
"Uhh…err...I'm not sure. I'll check." He bustled off to the kitchen.
"We're out of milk. How about a popsicle?" No answer. "Hey kid?" Beast Boy went back into the living room to find Rowan in a state of silent reverie. She was humming, Beast Boy realized. He smiled and sat back down on the couch with her.
"I love thunderstorms," she said with a monotonous voice that Beast Boy usually associated with Raven, but from Rowan it seemed less serious and more sad."
"Why? They give me the creeps."
"My mother died on a Monday. Tuesday it rained." Tigress climbed into the child's lap in an attempt to comfort her. Rowan stroked the solitary kitten. Beast Boy scanned the floor for Jessie who was usually close behind her little sister. "I remember thinking that things would never be the same again, and yet there was the rain. I thought 'How dare life go on when I now have no one?' I never had a father and my mother was all I had." Jessie bounded out from under the couch and into Beast Boy's lap. "And then I found out I had a sister. I thought things were finely looking better. It rained the day after I found out about Raven. Rain has always been a sign of normality to me. It hasn't rained since I left my first foster home five months ago, at least not where I have been. Maybe this is a sign. Do you think Raven really wants me here?"
"It doesn't seem like it dose it?" Beast Boy put his arm around Rowan's shoulders and pulled her into a big-brotherly hug. "Raven's not good at showing when she cares about someone. She still pretends to hate me, but between you and me, I think she digs me." Finely a giggle. He relaxed. The thunder rumbled outside. Lightning flashed and Jessie scrambled into Rowan's lap to comfort the crying Tigress. "Don't worry about Raven. She'll come around in her own time. Meanwhile, the whole team, especially the girls, are ready to adopt you, so you're defiantly loved. Raven loves you, she just…has a funny way of showing it." She sighed.
"I guess you're right." The kittens were now curled up in her lap, fast asleep. "The rain tells me it will be ok. It only rains when things are almost back to normal."
She Began to sing again and Beast Boy was amazed at how practiced her voice was. He soon found himself lost in the melody.
"Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay
there's always one reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memory seeps from my veins
Let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight
in the arms of an angel
fly away from here from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here
So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
There's vultures and thieves at your back
And the storm keeps on twisting
You keep on building the lie
That you make up for all that you lack
It don't make no difference
Escaping one last time
It's easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
This glorious sadness that brings me to my knees
In the arms of an angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage Of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here"