"The Two Storms" by Maya Quinn, Alaina Williams, and Jaylon Long

“Now, you know I didn’t mean it, Talia,” I whispered softly as her tears pooled rapidly. I’d hurt her feelings unintentionally once again. My mouth always seems to dump out whatever is in the forefront of my mind. It’s a terrible habit I’ve tried to break, but I can’t match her princess-like elegance. I’m constantly at war with myself. How can I measure up to the wealth of her parents when I, the minimum wage earner, ride in an old school pick-up? So many thoughts were swirling around in my head right now as she tucked her chocolate swirled locks behind her ear.

“Are we really going to split over this? Over meaningless insecurities,” Talia whispered. I looked up at the sky, which was rapidly blackening.

“It’s gonna storm soon,” I said stupidly and ignored her question. I wasn’t in the mood to be pinned as the bad guy again, and I definitely wasn’t in the mood to be caught in the middle of this oncoming storm. We got off the porch and headed to my truck. She sniffled softly, and I continued to regret my poorly chosen words.

This ride would be a silent one.

Approaching her house, her little brother Trevor dashed to my truck as I stopped.

“Jake!” He greeted me with a gap-toothed smile.

“Hey kiddo! You lost another tooth.” I ruffled his hair as he giggled happily.

“Yep! And when the fairy gives me my money we could get some ice cream again!” Only I couldn’t. “Come in and play with me,” he insisted, tugging my arm.

“Oh no bud, I can’t,” his face began to fall, “W-Well okay.” I stuttered as I felt Talia’s stare burning into my skull. Trevor dragged me to their living room, and we sank into the leather couch as he grabbed his favorite action figures. The nanny smiled meekly as she hurried out the door to beat the storm home.

“You gotta be Thor this time ‘cause I was him last time.” As I grabbed the action figure, lightning struck just outside the window, and a loud roll of thunder shocked Trevor into silence. He looked at me, then, out the window as rain mercilessly berated the frame.

“The storm’s here, Jake.” he spoke softly and crawled onto the couch beside me. I let him sit in my lap as Talia walked into the room. Her eyes were red and puffy.

“Yeah, it is bud.” I spoke to him, yet my eyes never left her.

“That means you’ll have to stay longer and wait out the storm.” She forced the words past her lips, but a grin crept onto Trevor’s face. I guess I can wait out the storm a little, for all our sakes.

“Talia, come sit with us while we wait out the storm. You never know, at the end there might be a rainbow.” I offer a small smile, and she sits beside me with reluctance.

“How would you know that?” Her voice cracks slightly. “There’s not always something good at the end of a storm.”

I don’t disagree.

“Well, I don’t know. I don’t know much of anything really, but I’m willing to wait and find out.” I grab her hand to intertwine our fingers. Another roar of thunder brings a ray of lightning down on a red maple tree not too far away. Some branches fall, but the trunk, surprisingly, stands strong. Talia and Trevor both cringe and cling to me as the malicious weather gets worse.


I wake up some time later when the sun beams down through the window. Trevor and Talia aren’t beside me anymore, so I get up to search for them. I walk towards the field by there and see them by the branchless red maple. There’s a lot of other broken down fences and fallen trunks littered about the area. Trevor turns around and spots me first.

“It didn’t fall even though the lightning hit it!” He shouts, completely astonished, and so am I. I get to the tree and glide my hand across the darkened, crunchy exterior. Talia is peeling back the charcoaled bark that disintegrates between her fingers, so she can study the undisturbed, caramel wood.

“I guess it didn’t want to give up,” she says. Its contorted, chunky roots even take up the surrounding grass to penetrate the hard dirt. My gaze turns to the sky, and I can’t help but grin like an idiot.

There’s a rainbow in the distance.