The Outsiders Meet Katrina

Part 2

Storm

ALYSSA

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I've been busy with school and stuff. I'll try to update more often.

I really don't like storms all that much. I mean, the occasional lightning flash, or clap of thunder, probably won't faze me, but I'm not fond of hurricanes at all, and I really don't do all that well in bad weather.

I finished packing my stuff, and Soda's stuff as well, because the darn boy doesn't know the meaning of the word organized. By the time I had done both, I went to lay down on my bed. Needless to say, I hadn't gotten all that much sleep the night before, therefore, I was extremely tired. Since it was still thundering like crazy outside, I didn't get much of a chance to sleep.

I finally got frustrated, and put my pillow over my head.

"Drat, that thunder." I said.

Soda came over to me, and kneeled down beside the edge of the bed.

"Tired, sweetie?" He asked, peaking under the side of the pillow, where I wasn't holding on.

"Yes." I groaned. "Mother Nature hates me. I swear it's out to get me, it never lets me sleep."

Soda laughed, and picked up my hand off the pillow, which caused the pillow to fall to one side, so I could see his face.

"Hey." He said, as he laced his fingers through mine, "I'll make sure you get plenty of sleep."

I smiled. "How are you going to do that? Going outside and calming the storm?"

Soda shrugged. "I don't know, it just sounded good. But you know…that idea doesn't sound half bad."

I laughed. "Well thank you for thinking of me." I leaned up, and propped myself up with my elbows, and pulled Soda close to me, and kissed him.

There was another loud thunder clap, which caused the windows to shake, and the lights to go out again. I jumped.

"First thing you gotta remember, is not to panic." Soda said.

"Oh, forgive me, I forgot to read that part in the 'How to Survive a Hurricane handbook'." I said, sarcastically, grinning up at him.

"You're very cute when you're nervous." Soda said, reaching down to rub my cheek.

I pushed his hand away. "Hey, I'm very cute all the time." I said, laughing just because I could, and reaching up to mess his hair.

He laughed. "Oh ya, I forgot." He said, fixing up his hair, and then kissing my hand.

"Don't worry. You're very cute too." I said, sitting up in bed.

Soda smiled and started kissing me again. We were really into it, when we were interrupted by a knock on the door. Darry's head appeared inside.

"Come on guys, we gotta go!" He stated, closing the door again and leaving.

Soda sighed, and helped me up, and we grabbed our suitcases. We met Two Bit and Steve in the hallway outside our door.

"Hey man, where are we ever going?" Two Bit asked, slinging his bag over his back.

"Yeah, and where'd Darry go?" Steve retorted.

"I'm here." Darry's voice came from behind us. We turned around and saw him approaching us, with Pony trailing on his heels.

It was only about ten in the morning, and we still had a long day of wind, rain and waiting ahead of us. I really didn't know what to expect.

As soon as we stepped outside, we almost blew away. The wind was blowing like crazy every which way. My hair was blowing all in my face, and I couldn't see anything. Soda reached out for my hand, and I grabbed onto his, knowing that if I let go, we'd most likely get separated.

"So, how exactly are we getting there?" I yelled through the ever growing wind.

Darry pointed to a bus that was parked just outside the hotel, where people were already piling into it.

We ran over to it, and got on. We grabbed the nearest six seats that we could, and sat down, soaked.

My clothes were sticking to me, and it was uncomfortable. I wiggled around in my seat, trying to get my soaked pants to stop sticking to my butt. Soda thought this was funny, and was laughing at me. I stuck out my tongue at him.

"I don't see you offering to help me." I said.

"I didn't think it would be appropriate. At least not when other people are around." He said, grinning.

We drove for what seemed like forever, but finally, as we rounded a corner, we saw the Superdome.

After the bus parked, we got off and joined the hundreds of other people walking inside.

It took us forever to get all settled in. We found a medium sized spot as close to the corner as we could, and started to set up camp. It wasn't the cleanest place in the world, but at least there were no rats or anything.

We didn't have any beds or anything, so we decided to use whatever we had in our suitcases. Our "beds" ended up being mostly clothes laid out on the ground.

From inside, the rain that was pelting the roof sounded like a train was moving right over head. Through one of the windows, we could see all the trees blowing around. It was really noisy, and we could hardly hear a thing that we were saying to each other. People started quieting down at around nine o'clock that night, and that's when the storm hit an all time worst.

None of us felt like sleeping, so we all just kind of sat around in a circle. We didn't say much, but as far as we were all concerned, we didn't need to. We all knew exactly how we were all feeling.

The Superdome made the thunder sound almost twice as loud as it actually was. Everyone knew by this point that I hated thunder, and when all the lights in the Superdome, and the place went pitch black, that's what did it for me. I screamed. I was drown out by everyone else, but Soda heard me, because next thing I knew I was burying my face in his chest, and he had his arms around me, not letting go. I couldn't help it, I started bawling. I was just glad that no one else could hear me.

It wasn't so much the blackness around me. I think it was all the emotion of the situation finally hitting me, and I was letting it out in the only way I could.

"It's gonna be okay. I promise." Soda said, stroking the back of my head while I cried.

I wanted to believe him, I really did. But, at this point, I didn't know what was going to happen. I was glad that Soda was there with me, because I know that I couldn't have faced this alone.

Please R&R!

Jess