A Stormy Night

By Mike Styer

 

The sky was dark except for the brief but brilliant flashes of lightning that reached their electric fingers from the clouds that gloved them.  They stretched and stretched until they touched the ground, the sky prodding at the ground below as if provoking a fight, trying to make it as angry and energized as the sky was itself.  Caught between the earth and sky stood the mighty forest.  And even here between the wooden giants, the storm found a way in to make it’s self felt.

 

The wind shook and the rain beat down upon the thin sides of the small tent nestled between the redwood and oaken trunks, protecting it at least from the worst of the storm throughout the night.  The tiny tent was only a visitor in the forest, but the woods seem to have taken pity on it and its two occupants, occupants that had not come out of the tent since the first drops of rain earlier in the evening.

 

The two occupants that brought the tiny tent into the mighty forest now laid inside their fragile shelter wrapped tightly in each other’s arms.  Covered in blankets, they shared each other’s warmth, making up for what the wind and rain stole from them.  She lifted her head from his chest and found the reassuring smile she was looking for.  The glow in his eyes and the love in his smile made her smile too as she lay back down.  He held her against him, the breath on his chest soothing him and giving him strength.  His fingers ran idly through her long hair, calming both of them.

 

Suddenly the sky exploded with light, shining through the shivering walls of the tent, and a limb from one of the trees fell from its perch and crashed to the floor of the forest.  She held him tightly as he looked through the window.  His words could not keep a few tears from slipping down her cheeks.  He lifted her closer and kissed her lightly.  Her arms moved under his shoulders and squeezed him with all her strength.  Every time the thunder clapped around them they would kiss; as the wind became stronger so did their grip on each other.  And as the storm grew, so did their need for one another.  Something was also strengthening inside the tent, something stronger than any storm, a heat neither the wind nor the rain could take away, and a passion in these two lovers hearts no fear or discomfort could ever snatch away.

 

The wind outside howled in frustration, ripping through the trunks and branches of the forest.  Lightning tore across the sky, shattering the darkness into pieces like it knew it would be swallowed by the night unless it kept it at bay.  The rain soaked the earth, and the ground swelled, the water overflowing the banks of the stream.  Then suddenly, for a brief moment the entire sky, all the universe, burst with light, and a deafening boom of thunder shook the world, its tremors being felt deep in the ground, the sky finally finding a way to talk to the mountains, and its words echoing in the night.

 

The winds calmed, and the rains slowed to a drizzle.  The clouds exited their stage to make way for the coming dawn.  And as the sun peeked over the edge of the horizon, the trees seemed to stretch towards the heavens, uncurling, waving to their bright and warm friend.  The creek washed the forest floor clean, and soon calmed to carry on its babbling conversations.

 

And inside the tiny tent, the two occupants did not even know the storm was over, nor would they have cared.  They slept deeply, their souls at peace, as intertwined as the sky and forest and earth that surrounded their small, fragile tent.