Caged in a Storm

    There I was, in a little house enveloped in the black abyss of a raging summer storm with black clouds swirling up above and the large droplets of rain pelting down upon the house. I should be scared. I should be worried for my own life and for my baby brother here inside the house with me. But in the midst of the pandemonium that was producing havoc outside, I knew my brother and I was safe.

    Our parents had left the house only a night before to go on a mission’s trip to South Africa. And every night before dinner, our neighbor (who lived two and a half miles down the dirt road) came to check up on us. To make sure I knew how to do all my homework and to make us dinner. She was a very nice old lady, like the grandmother I never had. When I was little, I actually called her Grandma, my brother still does. I think her real name is Jencie.  

    But on that stormy night, she did not come. The roads were now mud, maybe that’s why she didn’t come. No light lit our house, for the power was out. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the soft, green meadow and the colorful forest that Jencie always talked about.
    Boom! Crack!
    My mind was locked in a cage with the constant interruptions from the thunder. 
    "Dede," my brother tried to say my name as he pointed toward the door.
    "No, Michael. That's just the wind," I pulled him close to hug him. He crawled up in a ball on my lap and tucked his head into the sleeve of my nightgown. 
    "Michael, how about you grab all the pillows you can find in the house and we'll make the biggest fort ever!" I tried to sound enthusiastic over the disturbance outside.
    Michael lifted up his head with a big smile across his lips and ran towards the tiny room that we shared. He made several trips, each time with as much pillows and blankets as a three year old can carry. He continued to do that whilst I started to stack the pillows on top of each other.
    "Dede!" Michael shouted in my ear. He handed me s flat, striped, down-feather pillow as if to help me.
    "Michael, never touch this pillow!" I rapped my arms around the pillow and hastily moved the pillow away from Michael.
    Oh, dear, I just yelled at my brother.
    In that moment, he looked at me with big brown eyes with water droplets in them and say down on the floor.
    "No, I"m sorry for yelling. This pillow is really special, that's all. Jen— I mean Gamaw gave it to me." I looked down at him, his eyes still on mine. "Yeah, she said her lover gave it to her on one of her trips to her Dream World. I know right, sounds kind of crazy, but to Gamaw it's not." 
    Michael's eyes were a little less watery now.
    Boom!
    There was no stopping the storm.
    "Come on, let's finish that fort."