4. storms
So maybe he’d fallen asleep. He hadn’t meant to, the library was a quiet place and he’d been hiding in the very back so his friends didn’t see him if they happened to come in. He’d not live down the taunts for him studying like a typical geek - there were definitely characters like that in his group of ‘friends’. It was warm tucked into the little corner he’d found, bag beside him and a large book propped open on his lap, his notebooks and pens laid out around him. Drifting off shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
What did surprise him more however was the rumble that awoke him. His neck was stiff from the way he’d been leaning it against the bookcase beside him, but he barely thought of the pain as he noted that the lights were off, and the soft hum of whispers or the shuffling of pages or feet on the carpet wasn’t present. The next thing he noted was the loud crack that sounded overhead and the rumble that followed.
Thunder and lightning.
Checking his watch as he drew his knees to his chest letting the book fall from them and close he wound an arm round his legs and tried not to listen to the sound of rain beating against the windows. The time was 8:15pm. The school had been locked up an hour and fifteen minutes ago, and he’d been locked in. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. How he’d been overlooked he didn’t know, as he was sure they must check the aisle in the library before closing up.
He wasn’t so much worried about being locked in, as there were showers and vending machines, but what he was worried about was the cracks of lightning and loud rumbling of thunder. He’d barely noticed he’d started to shake, until he felt tears trickle down over his cheeks - he’d not cried during a storm in years, but that was because he’d always either been with someone, or in his own bed, safe in his home - now he was alone, in school, growing cold and definitely alone.
That was when he began to let out the choked sobs of fear, just hoping it would end soon.
