Torrential Downpour

They’d been excited. Who wouldn’t be? It wasn’t everyday that they were able to rent a small country house for six whole weeks, all to themselves for the summer. It’d costed them all a small fortune, but the four friends were sure that it would all be worth it.

They’d spent the whole drive down discussing what they’d do. Talking about hiking, picnics, enjoying the cool, refreshing water of a nearby stream, maybe a bonfire or two. It felt like the very world was at their fingertips!

It was dark when they arrived, the sky faded into twilight, with only the faintest remnants of sunlight left to light their way. The four of them brought their luggage into the house and were quick to go to bed. Tomorrow, their get away would begin. Tomorrow, they could start all the things they’d planned.

Which is why they were positive that somewhere, some god was laughing at them.

The odds were astronomical. Seemingly impossible, and yet somehow, it happened.

Somewhere in Indonesia, there was a violent volcanic eruption, spewing smoke and ash high into the air, so pervasive that it seemed to try and blanket the earth. And while they were far enough away from Indonesia that the spewing magma wasn’t an issue, the smoke and ash was.

They’d woken up to see the skies dark and rain pouring down, almost like sheets, pounding against the windows and the roof.

“Well, it may not be the most ideal start, but it could be worse,” Ravi said, his hands upon his hips as he pursed his lips at the rain. “It’ll probably only last a couple of days at most.”

But it didn’t.

It kept raining, raining, raining.

Sometimes the rain would peter out, giving the group hope that maybe they might be able to spend more than a few minutes outside. But there was no warmth to be found, no brilliant blue sky.

The pervasive cloud cover never let up, and the sun rarely made an appearance for any longer than a few fleeting moments, just long enough to give one just a hint of warmth before the clouds closed it off once more.

And to make things worse...

“A-nd the power’s out again,” Suri said with a sigh, the sound of the flicking light-switch almost deafening despite the rain. “Great.”

“That’s the third time this week!” Horus cried.

“To be fair, that eruption really threw everything into disarray,” Eliana replied, slumping into the couch cushions. “I’d been checking the news and it’s been like this pretty much everywhere that’s within a certain radius of Indonesia. There’s maybe a handful of places that aren’t affected by this.”

“What does that have to do with all these blackouts?”

“Apparently,” Ravi interjected. “Systems are having some real issues, and there’s a lot of people going crazy right now. Freaking out over everything. Turns out, when it’s raining pretty much nonstop for seemingly no reason, people get panicky and do stupid shit.”

“You could’ve said people are crazy and left it at that. Would’ve been much faster, dude.”

“You’re not wrong.”

“Be that as it may, how long do you think this’ll last?” Suri asked, wrapping a blanket around herself to try and hold off the ever present chill that seemed to settle over the house.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Doesn’t help that the power keeps failing, otherwise I might be able to find out what experts are saying,” dropping her phone onto the couch with a sigh, Eliana continued. “Could be another few days, could be a week, could be a month. We’ll just have to wait.”

“So much for our plans, huh?”

“Hey, there’s still a chance.”

Horuss was the first to get sick.

He hadn’t been outside for very long. A few minutes at most, running into town to pick up supplies for the house. But those few minutes were enough for him to be soaked to the bone and a chill to sink in.

Needless to say, he was miserable.

“Here, sit up and drink this,” Suri said, resting a hand on his back to help him sit up.

“But it tastes gross.”

“And it’ll help you feel better. Suck it up and drink your medicine.”

Horus took the little measuring cup of cough syrup from her hand, giving a soft whine before knocking it back like the most viscous shot ever poured, shuddering as he swallowed.

“Please tell me you have something to get rid of the taste,” he whined, shuddering as he spoke. The taste was lingering.

“I have a mug of peppermint tea here for you,” Ravi said, pressing the warm mug into Horus’ hands. “Drink slowly, or you’ll burn your tongue.”

“Who decided that cough syrup had to be thick?” Horus muttered, taking a long sip of his tea and swishing it around his mouth to try and get rid of the lingering taste and residue.

“Not all cough syrup is thick, but we don’t have that kind right now,” Suri said with a sigh. “But at least it’s been helping so far.”

“Not sure how much it helps when it makes me want to throw up.”

“Let’s just try and avoid that, shall we?”

Suri was the next to get sick.

She laid opposite to Horus on the couch, both of them swaddled in blankets, their noses raw from how often they were having to blow them.

“Well, this wasn’t how we were expecting this trip to go,” Eliana said as she handed each of them steaming mugs of tea. “But at least I’m getting good at cooking with a fireplace!”

“Never thought I’d be glad that a house had an old cooking set up like this,” Horus croaked, his voice barely above a whisper. “God I hate the rain.”

“I know. Just... just take an easy, alright? Not much else we can do.”

“Whoever decided that bonding meant we all get sick, juts know that I hate you,” Ravi muttered, blowing his noes loudly into a tissue before burrowing back into his blankets.

“Not my idea of a fun time either,” Horus croaked. “I just wish it would warm up a little.”

“Would help if we could get more than a few minutes of sunlight a day,” Suri muttered before coughing into her elbow. “The rain wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t also have these stupid blackouts!”

“I’d tolerate the blackouts more if this place had better books to read,” Eliana groaned from beneath her blankets. “They’re so dry.”

“Funny, cause it’s not dry here.”

“Shut the fuck up, Ravi.”

“Didn’t Mary Shelly write Frankenstein because of weather like this?”

“Do any of us look like Mary Shelly? Or Byron?”

“God, I’d better not look like Byron.”

“Why are we even still here?”

“Because we paid an arm and a leg for this place! And I’m not losing my fucking deposit!”

“Fair enough.”

Their time up, and everyone mostly recovered from their summertime colds, they packed their things up and took them to the car, hurrying to try and avoid the rain as much as was possible. So far, they’d managed to avoid getting soaked to the bone, and they were eager to keep it that way.

“Well, this vacation was a bust,” Ravi muttered as he slammed the trunk shut.

God really must’ve had a shitty sense of humour, because just as soon as he’d closed the trunk, the rain petered out and the sun began to peek from behind the seemingly endless wall of clouds.

The four of them stared up at the sky, slack jawed and wide eyed, rain water dripping from their well used rain coats.

“Goddamn it!”