The sky screamed its grief and sobbed its fury. Rain obscured Anna’s vision in translucent sheets as she crossed the street of the empty city. Everywhere, she could see families sitting out the storm in warm rooms and lonely people watching it from the safety of their homes.

Anna was alone.

Her boots slowly filled with water, which she barely felt amidst the rain. Wet strands of hair clung to her face, and her clothes plastered to her ice-cold skin. The wind was almost a physical force pushing her backwards, to the safety (was it really safe anymore?) of her house. The storm raged, its furious sound almost, almost drowning out her thoughts.

Still, her mind chose to rewind backwards to those nostalgia-tinted memories.

…

“Hey, it’s okay…”

Violent shivers racked Anna’s small frame. She huddled backwards in a corner, snot running down her chin. The lightning painted the room in terrifying flashes of clarity. Thunder boomed though the house, and Anna flinched and started crying again.

“Anna, look at me.”

Her vision blurred and re-focused again, and teary-eyed she desperately clung onto the image of her brother. Warm eyes colored in green and worry looked down at her. A tentative smile tugged the corners of his mouth upwards. Anna felt her shaking recede, slowly, into a manageable tremor. She smiled back at him.

“Let’s go down to the basement,” her brother suggested with a mischievous grin. “We’ll make some hot chocolate and play our favorite board games, okay? I’ll get you a blanket. It’ll be so much fun.”

Slowly, Anna felt her shaking limbs gain feeling again. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. The thunder and lightning she could still hear shaking the house apart seemed a little bit less terrifying. She got up.

“O-okay…” she managed. “…thanks.”

…

Another blast of wind almost knocked Anna off her feet. Startled, she realized the water running down her face wasn’t rain. Tears spilled down her cheeks and nobody was here to wipe them away anymore. Shuddering, Anna lowered herself onto the ground. Water seeped into her pants and mercilessly, the rain chilled her to the bone.

Couldn’t one thing go right for me? She wondered (selfishly, hopelessly, desperately).

Her whole body began to ache in protest. She sobbed and drew shallow, painful, shuddering breaths, the tears spilling out of her like blood from a wound. Something vital inside her had been torn open, and she wasn’t even sure where it was.

When Anna looked up, something had changed. Bleakly, she stared out at the sky, the tears having calmed to a sniffle.

The rain had stopped…