My heart was pounding uncontrollably. The hot scent of fog on the steaming grass clouded my throat and choked me as I gasped for breath. The dark clouds hung like bad omens above our heads. I ducked as though I'd hit one as we ran over the open hill. My hair was wet, even though it hadn't started raining yet. The sweat leaked from my body like a car leaked fuel. The wind began and seemed to almost pick me up and sweep me over the crest of the hill.

He yelled back to me, "Come on, we've got to catch them," as his lanky body clumsily ran down another hill, chasing after lightning. Suddenly, the sky unleashed all of its frustration and stress. It began to weep. It cried an ominous song of the future with its lethargic raindrops. The cool rain lightened everything as it did battle with the fog, resulting in a booming battle of thunder. The splatter sound of the gigantic raindrops on the plush grass gave a syncopation to the orchestration of the contention. An incredible amount of water collapsing from the sky made the ground seem to slide away under my unsteady gait.

I felt like a drowning rat. Trying desperately to catch my friend, I collapsed down the hill he had just flown over. My cheek hit the mud and I could hear my brain hit my skull. I lay there rolling in the eternally glopy mess. My body was tired and happy to rest. As the rain flooded my muddy pool, he came back. My head was throbbing. I could taste the metallic glory of blood trickling down to my mouth. Reality began to close in my mind. I managed to lift my heavy eyelids to look up at his flushed face. The rain dripped from his flaxen hair down his nose. He panted for breath as I managed to spit out, "You All never catch the storm."

Then I saw darkness. 1