Blizzard
" 1. A severe and blinding snowstorm.
2. A sharp blow or knock; a shot."
Zephyr sank down gratefully into the welcoming armchair as she listened patiently to the dial tone from Kai's phone. As she gazed out the window at the whirling snowstorm outside someone finally picked up.
'Hello?' Zephyr smiled happily.
'Hey Kai, Where are you?'
'Oh, hi Zephyr. I'm just at home. I was gonna go for a walk but, well you know, it's not the best idea to go out walking in the middle of a blizzard!' Zephyr laughed.
'I guess not. Uh, I was just about to have a shower but after that how about I come over to yours for a bit?'
'Zephyr you may not have noticed but, like I just said, there is actually a raging blizzard outside. It's not the easiest thing to go walking through, as I know you were going to do. You could very easily get lost.'
'I…I know Kai. It's just that I miss you. I haven't seen you since this weather started and…' On the other end of the line Kai smiled gently.
'I know Zeph, I miss you too. Look, I…' He was cut off by a sudden bang and the sound of smashing glass. There was a small groan from Kai and then silence.
'Kai?' asked Zephyr, trying to keep calm. 'Kai, what happened? KAI!' but there was no answer.
Standing up with shock and fear in her eyes, Zephyr stared in horror at the phone for a few seconds, wondering what to do. Thinking quickly she started moving again, striding towards the door she grabbed a coat and ran out into the blizzard, phone still in hand. The snow was blinding, driven by the wind, it swirled all around her, blocking out any sight of a path or anything. With hardly more than her memory to guide her, Zephyr began struggling through the cold wind, wrapping the coat tight around her. As soon as she reached the gate she looked down at her phone again, then with shivering fingers she dialled a new number.
'Hello?'
'R…Rei.' Gasped Zephyr, turning right in the direction that Kai's house lay, she placed one hand on the railings to keep her path steady.
'Zephyr? Is that you?'
'Yeah, Rei…K…Kai needs help.' Putting one foot in front of the other Zephyr made slow progress up the road, unable to see she didn't hardly even knew if she was going the right way.
'What do you mean? What's happened?' asked Rei, sensing the urgency of the situation.
'I…I was t…talking to him on the phone and…and…' She let out a desperate sob, 'I have to help him, h…he needs help Rei.' Although she was frozen she didn't stop moving, first one foot, then the next. Suddenly the railings ended and Zephyr knew she had reached the end of the road.
'What do you want me to do Zephyr?' asked Rei. Zephyr closed her eyes for a second, trying to think.
'An ambul…l…lance. '
'Okay.'
'And…and can you come to Kai's? You live nearer so…'
Of course. I'll be there as soon as possible.' With the railings behind her, Zephyr set out into the white without anything to guide her way. With a slight jump of surprise she knew she had stepped off the path. Hopefully no cars would be out in this weather. She continued on.
'Thanks Rei.' She whispered, before hanging up. Then she was alone again, alone in the empty swirling white.
All of a sudden she tripped, falling flat on her face in the freezing snow. Tears of frustration were running down her face now as she scrambled to her feet again, she had reached the curb at the other side of the road. Kai's house was only a block away. Just down the road, really. Stumbling forward she reached out and grabbed hold of the railings again. The frozen metal ached against her numb fingers, but she didn't let go, it was her only guide. With every bone in her body aching now with the cold, Zephyr continued onwards, one step at a time towards Kai. After a while she realised that the phone was no longer in her hand, it must have slipped from her freezing fingers. With her now free hand, Zephyr gripped her coat around herself even tighter, trying to keep out the driving wind and snow.
Squinting against the blinding white, Zephyr tried to keep an eye out for Kai's house, all she had to go on was the number and each house had it's number just beside the gate. Leaning closer to the rail, Zephyr realised that she was right beside one of these gates. She soon found the number and brushing some snow away from it, she was dismayed to find that she had already passed Kai's house and must have missed it in the storm. Turning around, she started back the way she had come, this time looking more closely so as not to miss the right gate.
Agonisingly slowly, she proceeded down the railing until, finally, she reached his house. Gratefully, she pushed the gate open and stumbled quickly down the path to the main door. Not thinking clearly, she tried to ring the doorbell before realising there would be no answer. Cursing at her foolishness, she stumbled away from the door along the wall of the house, searching for a new way in. Her searching eyes soon spotted the sitting room window with snow piling against it. Moving quickly she pushed through the snow till she could touch the glass. Only, there was no glass left. The window had been smashed leaving jagged edges and allowing the flurrying flakes of snow to make their way into the sitting room. Feeling more and more fearful by the second, Zephyr hoisted herself up onto the window-ledge, ignoring the blood, seeping across her fingers, where she had cut it on the sharp glass. Jumping quickly into the room, Zephyr saw Kai. With a shout she ran quickly to his side. He was unconscious, lying face down with his arm stretched towards the phone. With tears forming in her eyes, Zephyr took hold of his shoulders and pushed him onto his back. There was blood running down his face.
'Kai!' She looked around desperately wondering what to do. Suddenly she realised how cold the room was. With the wind and snow blowing in it was almost as bad as outside. Making a quick decision Zephyr started dragging Kai towards the door as fast as she could. She was halfway through the door when the doorbell rang and she rushed quickly to answer it.
It was Rei.
'Rei, Thank God. You have to help me, come on.' Together the two of them raced back to the living room where Kai was still out cold.
'What happened?' asked Rei when he saw Kai.
'I'm not sure.' Sobbed Zephyr, 'He needs help though, and fast.' Rei nodded,
'I called an ambulance, I don't know how they'll get here though. We'd better get him somewhere warmer while we're waiting.' Zephyr rubbed her sleeve across her eyes, dashing away her tears. She reached down and took hold of Kai's legs while Rei grabbed his torso. Together they picked him up and carefully manoeuvred him into the kitchen where they placed him on the table for want of anywhere better. Luckily the heating was on so the kitchen was nice and warm.
'What now?' asked Zephyr, still tearful with shock. Rei was examining the wound in Kai's head. It was still bleeding. Biting his lip fearfully, Rei took a scissors from the sideboard and started ripping apart the sleeves off of his baggy white top. Then with Zephyr holding Kai's head, he gently wrapped the makeshift bandages tight around the wound.
'It looks almost like he was shot.' Murmured Rei, disbelievingly. Zephyr looked across at Rei, thinking, she was starting to warm up slightly now.
'Why would anyone….why would they do that...' it wasn't really a question, they both knew that Kai had a dangerous past.
'Hey!' gasped Rei suddenly. Zephyr looked at him questioningly, her eyes seemed slightly dazed. 'Your hand, it's bleeding.' Zephyr looked down with confusion. He was right. She watched sleepily as the blood from her cuts, dripped softly down her hand, dripping slowly onto the floor.
'Uh…' She couldn't quite think properly, she was so tired. Suddenly Rei was beside her, calling her name.
'Zephyr, Zephyr? Shit, how long have you been bleeding?' Zephyr watched fuzzily as Rei started wrapping something around her hands. As he did so, red patches seemed to blossom through the white cloth. Zephyr sighed. When it had happened she hadn't even noticed the pain but now her hands were starting to ache.
'Hey…' Rei looked up at her, his face filled with worry. 'Rei…I'm tired…' Rei nodded, looking concerned.
'Just hang on Zephyr, The ambulance will get here soon. You'll both be okay.' He sighed. She was already unconscious. Standing up, Rei lifted her off the chair and put her down on the floor. Then he thought for a second before running off to find blankets.
Zephyr opened her eyes and looked around blearily as the room came into focus. There was the sound of movement behind her.
'Zephyr?' she looked around to find Rei staring down at her worriedly.
'What happened?' she asked, pushing herself up to rest against a table leg. They were still in the kitchen.
'Your hand was bleeding and you fainted. How do you feel?' She looked down at her hand. It was heavily bandaged and it still ached slightly but at least it wasn't bleeding anymore.
'I'm alright…' she suddenly remembered why they were there. 'Kai! Is he okay?' She tried to stand up but Rei pushed her down again.
'He's fine. He woke up for a little while earlier but he's sleeping now.' Zephyr looked up at the table where she could see Kai's shape silhouetted in the light of a candle.
'Rei?' he looked at her questioningly. 'What happened to the lights?' Rei smiled slightly.
'There was a blackout.' He looked away from her, out the window at the swirling movement of the flurrying snow. It was dark outside. 'I'm afraid the ambulance won't be here any time soon. I called again and they said just to sit tight. All we can do is wait for the storm to blow over because there's no way we can get any help in this.' Zephyr nodded slowly. Pulling the blanket Rei had given her, around her shoulders, Zephyr stood up. Ignoring Rei's worried look she made her way over to Kai. His eyes were lightly closed and somehow his face looked less harsh when he slept. He seemed more relaxed than any time when he was awake.
Behind her, Rei yawned. She turned to him frowning slightly.
'Rei? How long have you been awake?' Rei looked at his feet self-consciously. 'Rei!' Zephyr sighed. 'It's the middle of the night Rei, you should get some sleep before you fall over from exhaustion. I'll be fine, promise!' Rei looked at her as if to challenge the fact that he was tired but ruined it by yawning again even louder than before.
'I guess I am kind of sleepy.' He admitted. Rubbing his tired eyes, he stood up and made his way to the kitchen door. 'If you need me I'll be in the guest room.' With that he walked out of the room covering another massive yawn as he went!
Zephyr sighed lightly after he was gone and turned back to Kai. He was watching her through tired grey eyes.
'Kai!' she gasped with a relieved whisper. He smiled wearily. She reached out thankfully and took hold of his hand, her eyes becoming teary. Closing them to hold back the flow of tears, she felt his hand on her cheek, brushing away her sadness before letting it drop again. Zephyr opened her eyes at Kai's soft sigh. His eyes were closed again and he murmured something.
'Hmm?' asked Zephyr quietly, leaning closer.
'I can't seem to change it…' she looked at him with confusion. After a few seconds he opened his tired eyes and gazed up at her.
'No matter how many times I try…I can't stop making you cry…' As she stared down at him his body relaxed and he drifted off to sleep before she could ask any questions.
'Kai?' Zephyr smiled softly, she didn't know what he was talking about again. 'There's so much I don't know about you and you may make me cry but…it's okay Kai, because I love you.'
In the soft glow of candlelight, two forms were sleeping, and in their dreams and in reality, they were always together.
They fled
And the fears of ages past
Came upon them.
Yet still they fled
Through wastelands and
The darkest night.
Their silver tears fell
Upon the barren ground
And from them
Sprang rivers and streams
And the waters
Washed away the fear
And the darkest night
Became the light of dawn.
So they stopped
And together watched
As the land
Before them flourished
With natures bounty
And love of the world
Grew within them
And banished forever
The terror and fear
And it was perfect
For they were
Together.
~END~
