Hidden Flame

A booming clap of thunder tore through the dark night sky as heavy rain lashed against the windows of a small orphanage. Most of the residents within the orphanage were fast asleep, exhausted after the day’s antics. Not even the noise of the thunder was enough to wake them, their dreams keeping them in a peaceful sleep and totally unaware of what was happening. A couple of the older children and a couple of the workers were sitting up in their rooms, watching as lightning bolts danced across the sky. Making intricate patterns in the air and no two strikes looking the same. After every lightning strike, they would count out how long it would take for the next rumble of thunder to follow, in an attempt to estimate how far away the storm was taking place.

However, there was one person in the orphanage who was terrified of the storm. A young man was hiding, curled up under his bed with a blanket wrapped tightly around him. His hands were covering his ears in an attempt to block out the noise. Andrew had been terrified of thunderstorms for as long as he could remember. Even though they didn’t happen very often, his fear of them never went away and they never got any easier for him to deal with. People had stopped coming to his side during thunderstorms years ago, instead just leaving him to deal with his fear totally alone. He’d learned over time that covering his ears and using a blanket to block out the blinding flash helped a little, but no matter how hard he tried a little bit of noise always came through. Even though he kept his phone on his bedside table to charge, he never remembered to grab it when a storm began so he had nothing to take his mind off of it. When everything fell silent for a while, Andrew could hear his T.V. playing quietly. The volume had to be kept quiet to ensure that he didn’t wake up the two children who slept in the room next to his. It was rare that Andrew was asleep before two in the morning and most of the children were asleep by nine O’clock, so he had to make sure that he was quiet with everything he did. He wasn’t sure how the thunder didn’t wake them up, but him having his T.V. just a notch too high was enough to send them screaming to the workers.

For a few minutes, it seemed like the storm had stopped which was a relief to Andrew who hadn’t moved from under his bed. Being unable to see the flashes of lightning worked against him though and just as he was starting to relax, the next loud rumble sounded. There were tears in his eyes and his entire body was shaking in fear. He was curled up in a ball, biting hard onto his lip hard enough to draw blood. With his hands clasped over his ears, there was no way for him to wipe away the tears that were streaming down his face. Andrew hated that he cried during the storms, it made him feel weak and pathetic. Though no matter how hard he tried, panic always set in and he couldn’t stop himself from crying in hopes that someone would come to his side. Taking his hands away from his ears and tugging the blanket down from over his face, Andrew dared to take a look out from his little cocoon. Almost instantly, a bright flash enveloped the room, followed quickly by an ear shattering clap of thunder that seemed like it was directly over the orphanage. A terrified scream tore itself from Andrew’s throat, his uncovered ears ringing from the intense strike. Yanking the blanket back over his head, Andrew sobbed against the soft fabric, his hands squeezing tightly over his ears once more.

His crying, combined with his hands over his ears prevented him from hearing when someone entered his room. From under the blanket, he couldn’t see anything which was exactly what he wanted. When a hand touched his arm, Andrew flinched but he couldn’t bring himself to come out. He felt safe under the bed and he didn’t want to compromise his safety by coming out whilst the storm was still raging on. The hand never left his arm, being a constant reassuring presence to him and helped him to slowly calm down.

“Lily...?” Andrew asked quietly when he had finally been able to stop crying. She was the only person who he believed would come to his side to comfort him. He felt the blanket being moved away from his face, and after a few moments he could see a familiar face with a worried expression. Reaching out slowly, Lily ran her fingers through Andrew’s long dark hair. She wasn’t the most petite person in the world, but she managed to squeeze herself under the bed and wrap her arms around him, holding him close to her. Slowly, Lily moved his hands away from his ears and put an earphone in each hand, coaxing him to put them in. Andrew didn’t hesitate to put them in and he heard some soothing music playing. He couldn’t place what it was, but he was far beyond caring. All he knew was that it was loud enough to prevent him from hearing anything else that was going on around him. For what seemed like hours, the two of them laid under the bed in silence. Lily gently rubbed Andrew’s back to reassure him and to keep him calm until long after the storm had passed. It was hard for him not to fall asleep, and he almost drifted off a couple of times. Though the music did a good job of waking him back up before he got into too deep of a sleep.

When Lily was certain that the storm had totally stopped and that there would be no more scares for Andrew that night, she carefully took the earphones out of his ears. His eyes had been closed, but as soon as he felt her tug them out he opened his eyes and looked up at her.

“It’s okay.” She said in a quiet voice. “The storm has passed. You’re safe.”

For a few minutes, Andrew didn’t move. Just listening out for anything that even resembled a clap of thunder. To his relief, he couldn’t hear anything other than the loud music that was still playing through the earphones, the T.V. that was still on, and Lily’s gentle breathing.

“Thank you… For coming to be with me…” Andrew said quietly, giving Lily a soft smile. “No-one comes anymore.”

Lily squeezed him gently and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead before slowly retreating out from under the bed. Untangling himself from his blanket, Andrew pushed it out from under the bed before squirming out and getting to his feet.

“I knew that after that thunderclap that struck overhead I couldn’t leave you alone. You needed someone with you.” Lily brushed a lock of hair gently away from his face and tucked it behind his ear out of the way. She had always acted like a mother towards Andrew, since his very first moments in the orphanage. Lily had always been the one who Andrew knew he could turn to with any problem and he trusted her with his life.

Taking a small step forwards, Andrew wrapped his arms around Lily and hugged her close. He was so thankful for her being there and she had helped him through so much in his life.

It had been Lily who had explained to him, when he had been old enough to understand, that he had been left on the doorstep of the orphanage when he had been only three months old. Andrew had been left in a small wicker basket, swaddled in a waterlogged blanket when he had been discovered in the middle of the night by Lily and one of the other workers. Lily had explained that she hadn’t known how long he’d been out on the front doorstep, wailing and screaming in fear as a thunderstorm raged on overhead, and also in pain from the cold rain that had seeped through his blanket and even though his onesie. After getting him safely inside and out of the cold, Lily had removed the blanket from him and peeled off his drenched onesie before wrapping him in a soft towel to dry him off. It had taken her nearly an hour to warm him up enough to stop him from shivering, but it had taken a lot longer to stop him from crying. Lily tried everything, from getting him a bottle of formula, to turning on the T.V. and putting on a children’s programme for him to watch. Eventually, she had laid down with him on her chest and rubbed his back, whilst singing whatever song had come into her head at the time. Only when he had finally worn himself out and fallen asleep did he finally stop crying, which had been a relief to both Lily and everyone else in the orphanage.

When Andrew didn’t break the hug after a few minutes, Lily looked up at him and reached up to caress his cheek.

“Hey, are you okay? You seem distracted.” Lily’s soft hand brushed against his skin and brought him quickly out of his thoughts, but instead of moving away from her, he only hugged her tighter to him.

“I just want to say thank you. For everything. Not just for tonight.” Andrew said softly against her hair. He stood a lot taller than Lily so it was easy for him to rest his chin on the top of her head.

Lily had a smile plastered on her face as she hugged him back before she stood up on her tiptoes to place a soft kiss on his cheek. “You know you don’t need to thank me Drew. I’ve always been here, and will always be here for you.”

Finally breaking the hug, Andrew stepped back and sat on his bed, bringing his legs up and crossing them under him so he was comfy. The mattress was soft and sank slightly under his weight, but it only made it more comfortable for him to sit and sleep on. Laid on his pillow was a sketch pad that was open on a half-completed picture of a horse, drawn against a hilly backdrop with a stream running through a grassy plain.

“That’s a nice picture Drew. I wish you’d draw more often. The other kids and I love it.” Lily picked up his sketch pad and looked through a few of his previous drawings. Most of them were unfinished because he’d ended up getting bored of them, or had to go out to do some chores and had never come back to whatever piece he had been working on at the time. He wasn’t sure whether or not he’d finish the horse. It was a piece that he liked, which was rare because he believed that most of his work belonged in the bin or as fuel for a fire, so there was a good chance of him finishing it off, or at least working on it a little more.

“I was working on it before the storm hit. There was nothing on T.V. and there isn’t exactly a lot I can do when the rest of the kids are asleep.” He shrugged, watching as Lily studied one of his older pieces. Her soft brown eyes taking in every minute detail that the fine pencil lines had to offer. Her slightly chubby face was glowing with happiness and wonder.

“You can always try sleeping at a reasonable time, instead of being up until all hours of the morning.” Lily teased as she closed the sketchbook and dropped it back down onto his pillow, making the pencil bounce slightly and roll off the pillow and onto the floor.

“But I can’t sleep early. You know that. I haven’t been able to for years.” Andrew said as he lay himself flat on his bed and reached down to retrieve the pencil, and also pulling his blanket up onto the bed. Andrew moved the sketchpad off of his pillow and set it down on his bedside table along with his pencil.

Taking hold of the edges of the blanket, Lily lifted it and let it settle down over Andrew. It made him feel as if he was a child again, being tucked in to bed before having a story read to him so he could settle down and go to sleep. He had a story read to him every night without fail until he was seven, when he decided he could read well enough by himself and told Lily that the younger children needed her attention. It didn’t stop her from going to his room to tuck him in and kiss him goodnight though. Even now at the age of eighteen, Lily still occasionally came into his room to wish him a good night, and even though he never said it; Andrew appreciated it to know that she still cared about him enough to check that he was okay.

“Well try turning the T.V. and the light off a bit earlier, closing your eyes, and settling down. If you want I can make you a glass of warm milk and some cookies.” Lily smiled as she teased him, reaching down and ruffling his dark brown shoulder length hair.

“I’m not a child Lily,” Andrew said with a smile. “though that does sound pretty good.”

Leaning down, Lily hugged Andrew close and placed a soft kiss on his head. When she stood back up, she had a soft smile on her face. “Goodnight Andrew. Try to get to sleep soon.”

With a reluctant nod, Andrew rolled onto his side and watched as Lily left the room, quietly closing the door behind her. For a while he could hear her footsteps in the hallway and going up and down the stairs before everything finally went quiet.