The sky is dark and rumbling thunder can be heard. The creaking sound of the radio still announced good news before power ran out.
"The weather station...zzzzt...forecast tells us...zzzzt...the storm will push through the night...zzzzt...and we should wake up to the clear...zzzzt...sky by tomorrow."
A big man with moustache all over his face threw his rolled tobacco on the floor and cursed louder than the thunder.
"That darn storm! It won't even wait until the race is started! Where would I buy replacement batteries at this time? How would I know if my horse won?" He had a grumpy look in his face as the power went out from the whole town and so does the battery from his radio.
An older lady lit a candle and sat beside him as she lay the table with their simple meal of vegetable soup and rice. She smiled and passed the big man a plate and spoon.
"Just eat won't you. You've never won the race anyway. And stop wasting your money on that horse race." She nagged. The big guy grunted as he scooped some soup and started eating.
Few blocks away, a small room is lit in a big house. A middle aged man took off his rain coat as he entered the house. There was an expectant look on two children's eyes as he sat down.
"This would last us for the night. Glad I saved that battery for this storm. Let's eat." The two little children clumsily held their plates and began to eat take out food brought by the middle aged man.
Outside, people are rushing to their homes as the rains started to get heavier and weigh on their clothes. Shaking their drenched umbrellas and changing into dry and warmer clothes, they shut their doors closed.
In another house, a young woman lit a candle, picked up her ragged raincoat and went behind her shabby house. There's a small storage shack behind her rundown house that is in no better condition than her home. She lightly opened the door and went inside.
'Clank'
'Tang'
'Click'
'Clank'
One can hear the tinkering sounds from the storage shack if they pass by the shabby house. After a few more tinkering sounds, the young woman went out of the shack. With grease all over her face, one can't make out what she looks like but her clear, ash-grey eyes looked very bright. She went back to her shabby house and light exploded from within. Inside, papers with lines and doodles are neatly arranged on the side while weirdly shaped drawings can be seen around the walls. The young woman did not bother cleaning up and after wiping the grease off of her hands, she sat back down next to a table where more drawings and writings can be seen. As one looks carefully, the writings looks more like unknown shaped scribbles which one can't read. Still, she continued to write down and scribble on a small note. Due to the heavy downpour, one would not notice that only her house is fully lit in this dark, blacked out town.
A hundred or more meters from this town, a small forest is also affected by the storm. The animals have hidden in their own homes and only the swinging trees and swooshing leaves can be heard. There are occasional howls and screeches from the bothered animals but overall, peace is at large. The storm has big lightnings and loud, roaring thunder but it consists mainly of light to moderate rain that drenched the whole forest wet.
Some light footsteps could be heard somewhere outside the forest. Heavy steps from hooves can also be heard approaching the small forest but no other sound is heard. Lone animals who aren't afraid of this rain would still go out in the storm to look for a prey that got stranded due to the storm. These light footsteps approaching the edge of the forest sounded like music to their ears.
A lone wolf crouched behind the bushes as the footsteps draw closer to where it's been hiding. Scars riddled its face and body, proof of its unyielding character and strength. Relying on its instinct, it carefully listened to each step as they draw near it. Happy of the unexpected prey, the wolf readied its fangs to let out a roar as it pounced on its prey.
'Howl?'
A long, agonizing howl is heard instead of a victorious roar before a shadow of the wolf can be seen furiously running away from its previous location. Never turning back, it hastened it's footsteps. Looking back to where the cowardly wolf had been, an immaculate young man is seen standing under the rain. His hair is gray like his sharp eyes and is carefully braided on the side. His eyes are smiling like a friendly old guy in the neighborhood as he spoke.
"I forgot to say hello." He placed his one hand on his chin as he pouted, making his face look like an adorable child. Behind him, a well-tanned lady in a dress smirked, her ginger hair swaying with the wind as she walked proudly towards the front and scanned the surroundings.
"Let's get going." Locking her gaze where the cowardly wolf had ran off to, she asked behind her.
"Do we have enough for tonight?"
A sigh could be heard behind her and a teenage boy with shoulder length jet black hair wriggled his arms. He tied his hair in a pony showing his handsome young face and a boyish grin.
"Tala is too lazy to move and Huan is still young. I guess I'll have to figure something out." He shrugged before he ran off a distance and disappeared like a shadow. The rest of the group looked at the young Huan who is cuddling a golden snake on his arms. He toddled with his two short legs as he tried to match the speed of the older ones.
"Sorry," he briefly said before he turned to his right. "There should be a river to this side." He said. The well-tanned lady in a dress halted in her footsteps while the gray haired man glanced at the young Huan. Without any more questions asked, the group turned right.
In a few minutes, a tent is erected near a riverbank and the group stayed inside to keep warm as they waited for the rain to stop. The teenage boy with jet black hair came back with fruits and a dead rabbit on another hand. He received a couple sets of glare as he shrunk in reply.
"I stepped on it," he said guiltily. The well-tanned lady gave him a stern look before she managed to sound gentle.
"It's fine, Zari. Get in." She gestured for the teenage boy to come. Two long legs approached him as he entered the tent, a teenage girl with wavy strawberry hair and pale face walked up to him.
"I'll cook." She said and took the raw foods away from him. Zari slouched on the floor when he got inside not minding the dripping water from his hair. He watched as the rain continued to fall, the lightning and thunder still loud as could be as he nibbled on a stalk of grass. The well-tanned woman offered him a small towel which he readily accepted.
"Father," he called out as he dried himself up. They looked up the white-haired guy. He looked young to be this teenage guy's father but he responded in kind.
"What's up?"
"I heard some folks along the way say that it's because it's Friday the thirteenth that there's a storm. Do you have any idea what that is?" Zari gave him a curious look. Huan looked up to him while Tala, who is busy cooking, seemed to listen in to their conversation as well. Father cleared his throat and spoke, his voice calming their nerves amidst the storm.
"People say something bloody happened on this day in history while others just say it's a day of pure bad luck, 13 being unlucky, Friday being unlucky. People have lots of belief." he explained.
"Huh? It's just our luck then." The teenage boy called Zari shrugged and wrung the wet towel off the water he wiped from his hair.
"Indeed it is." Father responded and moved his gaze to little Huan.
"What do you think?" he asked. Little Huan wore his cute glasses and started giving a serious gaze like a little boss. He nudged his little chin as he pondered before he placed his little glasses down and responded.
"The weather station forecast tells us the storm will push through the night and we should wake up to the clear sky by tomorrow." He relayed the last news the town heard before power went out. Father fell silent for a little while before he spoke again.
"It is indeed our luck," he smiled mysteriously then glanced at his family members.