Rain pelted the tin roof and thunder shook the hardwood floors, waking her in the middle of the night. Thunderstorms were her favorite weather, and she loved to hear the rain crashing against the cold metal of the roof. It was going to be a good day. Thunder and lightning melded together as a family, along with the rain and wind. The downpour was shaping up to be a perfect storm.

She watched out the window as the wind slowly picked up. The leaves started to swirl, and the wind chimes on the suburban porches were audible from what seemed like miles away. Dogs, terrified by the crash of thunder, squealed and ran for cover. Porch swings flew around and crashed into the white railing. The sky darkened, and it seemed like dusk- all the way from dawn to sunset.

As the wind blew harder, thunder roared intensely in the distance. The storm slowly moved closer and seemed like it would never come. The summer thunder was a volcano threatening to erupt at any moment. Everything was still for a moment, and all that could be heard was the wind and thunder claps. For a long while, the thunder boomed and shook the earth violently. Suddenly, the sky illuminated in a brilliant flash of white and then settled back to the same dusky darkness.

The rain started to drizzle slowly. It picked up to a constant downfall, and then abruptly stopped. It was almost as if the raindrops were teasing. It sprinkled again, just long enough to polka-dot the sidewalk, and then trickled back down to a raindrop every minute or so. The rain continued like this for what would seem like a lifetime. The storm hushed: finally, the rain flowed steadily, no longer taunting the world beneath.