thunder storm

Crescent Café, nestled snuggly between La Push and Forks, was close to its closing time. There were a few customers that remained, too caught up in their books or laptops to notice that there was only half an hour before they had to leave. The light downpour and occasional thunder helped to set the mood as the lights were dim, for the aesthetic.

"You know, you were born during a thunderstorm."

Tama sighed as she cleaned her last table before returning to the kitchen. "Yeah, mom, you've told me a million times."

Her mother, Mitena, smiled at the memory as she recalled the night she gave birth to her daughter, her only child. It was a miracle that she had even managed to become pregnant, and Mitena never let her forget how special she was to her. "I remember almost falling on my way to the hospital, Sue almost fell herself trying to catch me, poor woman."

While Mitena giggled to herself, giddy "from the moonbeams" as she liked to say, Tama was busying herself with cleaning, ready for bed. She slid from behind the counter, alerting the few remaining customers that they would have to start packing their things up as they'd be closing soon. Reaching the last customer, Tama jumped, a loud bang on the window scaring her. Outside, four men watched her with dark eyes, the teenager trying her best to ignore them.

The men had come around often, trying to ask her out and even making inappropriate comments about her. They had been banned from entering the establishment, but they still hung around, just to taunt her. Tama rushed away from the window, behind the counter, ignoring their comments. Mitena waved them off, not bothered as she had seen her fair share of creeps. "Ignore them, Tama."

Mitena went on about what she wanted to do to the men that tormented her daughter, Tama finally placing a hand on her mother's shoulder to calm her, reminding the older woman that they still had customers. As a curse escaped her mouth, Mitena placed her hand over it, apologizing to the few that remained in her store. "Sorry...sorry."

After closing, Tama sighed in relief after she had finished her nightly chores, grateful she had a day off tomorrow as her body ached from standing all day. It was still summer but school would be starting soon, and Tama couldn't be more excited to see her friends and get herself back on track. Sophomore year she had been distracted, too infatuated. Then, she was heartbroken, all too fast for her liking. Both a recipe for disaster for a teenage girl. Her grades had slipped and she stopped showing the same vigor she had for school her entire life. But, this year would be different. She promised herself and her mother.

Mitena wasn't excited about her daughter's behavior the previous school year but, she couldn't blame her. When she was her daughter's age, she found herself in a similar predicament; infatuated with a boy she was sure she loved more than anything in the world. All she could do was hold her daughter when she cried and bake her favorite sweets for her whenever she came home from school.

She watched her daughter work with a smile, placing a bit of frosting on her nose in an attempt to make her smile as well. Tama scrunched her nose up, wiping the buttercream frosting away. "Here, taste it."

Tama did as she was told, her face brightening in delight as she tried her mother's newest batch of frosting. Mitena smiled at her daughter's reaction, happy that she was getting better at baking. "It's good, huh? Not as good as yours though."

Shaking her head, Tama complimented her mother's work once more before she put the last of the waste into the trash, noticing that it was full. She groaned at the thought of throwing the garbage out on a rainy night and she contemplated leaving it there til morning but she saw her mother watching her out the corner of her eye. "I'm going to bed? You sure you're okay down here?"

Tama nodded, reassuring her mom multiple times that she was more than capable of finishing things up as she had done many times before. Sighing, she took the trash out of the bin, tying it, before making her way towards the back door while her mother retreated up the stairs that led to their apartment. She placed a brick by the door, knowing the cheap industrial made door was known to lock on its own. The alley was dark and her vision was blurred due to all the rain.

An unsettling feeling rose in her stomach and she hurriedly chucked the trash into the garbage bin. The thud that came with the bag hitting the bottom wasn't the only sound that echoed in the once quiet alley. To her horror, she heard the door behind her close, unable to stop it. She heard a laugh and saw one of the men from earlier looking more than happy that she had no way to get back inside. Backing away, she made an attempt to call for her mother but was stopped when a large hand covered her mouth, muffling her screams.

Kicking with all her might, she gained a small victory when her attacker let her go for a brief moment to hold himself. Knowing her mother wouldn't get to her in time, she ran down the alley as fast as she could, praying she could get to safety before she was caught again. Her prayers weren't answered though, because just as she made it to the end of the alley, she was snatched up by a third man, who grabbed her by the arm tightly, another man coming to hold her down so she couldn't get away.

Her screams were muffled by the hand over her mouth and the thunder that seemed to be growing louder and louder by the second. Using all of her strength, she got her legs free and kicked both men, biting down hard on the hand that was over her mouth, blood rushing into her mouth from the puncture. Once she was released, she ran straight to the nearest hiding spot, knowing she wouldn't be able to outrun them on the main road. The forest wasn't the best option in the dark, while it was raining but, she had no other options as she couldn't go back.

She had been in the forest multiple times, since it was only a few feet from their cafe and apartment. However, it was dark now, and raining. Her visibility was low, only able to see when bolts of lighting lit up the sky. Shivering, she tried her best to find a hiding spot as she heard the men draw in near.

"I think she went this way," one of them said, another one following after him as he ventured off opposite of where she was currently hidden.

Tama sighed in relief, sucking in a breath when the other two came her way. One branched off, drunkenly stumbling through the thick grass. Her focus was on him so she didn't notice the fourth man, the one she had bit, was coming closer and closer. Once she had noticed though, it was too late. Deciding to at least buy herself a few more seconds of time, she threw dirt into his eyes before running off in the other direction, cursing when she came before a clearing.

It only took a matter of seconds for him to catch up to her, grabbing her from behind so that they both tumbled into the wet grass, branches and mud sticking to her entire body as she rolled and fought with him. Their tussle came to an abrupt stop when a hand, wet from rain, came across Tama's face quickly, stunning her. There was another, and another, the third and final blow causing her nose to bleed profusely. As her head came crashing down, she felt the back of her skull connect with something, hard and sharp. She screamed out in pain, only to be struck again, this time in the eye.

"Shut up," the man spat, straddling her against her will. He didn't take his eyes off the bruised and beaten teenager, rotten teeth appearing to form a smile that made Tama's skin jump. "Imma teach you a lesson."

Her body ached, her face and head bloody and bruised. She had no more fight left in her. All she could do was cast her gaze upwards to the sky, her tears falling from her face that mixed in with the raindrops fell onto the moist dirt. She pleaded and prayed for a miracle, some sort of help. She begged the spirits to at least give her a painless death.

The sky spirits watched on with sadness, the rain becoming heavy as they littered the earth with their tears. They tried desperately to come up with a solution to help the pure hearted, only coming to one. Within an instant, her destiny had been altered, only slightly, as they came to an agreement.

Her new fate was written.

Tama cried out when she felt a pair of hands wrap around her throat, cutting off her airways. It was even darker and the rain was so heavy she could no longer make out her attacker. "Please...please."

She felt dizzy then, black spots clouding her already terrible vision. Before she could slip completely under though, her eyes saw a miracle. She assumed it would be her death, her undoing, but she was wrong. It seemed like it all happened in slow motion, when in reality, it was only a second. She watched a bolt of lightning come crashing down on her, knowing for sure it'd kill her and her attacker. The man on top of her flew backwards from the impact, his body twitching as he fell yards away from her.

It didn't hurt but, she felt it. The bolt of lighting had pierced her heart, causing her to shoot up from her position and gasp, feeling the air being sucked out of her lungs and then put back in. She breathed heavily, turning and emptying the contents of her stomach. The energy the lightning had given her, seemed to vanish then and she fell onto her back, so weak she could no longer move.

As she felt sleep take over her, she watched the sky, the rain finally letting up. The thunder rolled on and she almost let herself believe that the thunder was speaking to her.