Brianna Klein
Rains of Wrath It was the middle of the night when it first happened. The sound of something large and heavy hitting the roof echoed throughout the small house. Brooke jumped at the sound, a much fainter thud sounding out as the remote she had been holding fell to the ground. She slowly stood, shakily placing her mug onto the coffee table, a few extra drops of tea splattering onto the sketches scattered around. A quick glance outside revealed almost nothing: lights flickering on in other houses as the neighborhood woke up, silhouettes much larger than raindrops falling to the ground, all to the sound of rain and unknown objects hitting roofs. Brooke walked over to the door and grabbed the large flashlight she kept next to the coat hanger. After a deep breath, she opened the door. The usual scent of rain was mixed with the scent of fish, metal, and what Brooke could only assume was something dead. Brooke almost gagged at the wide range of scents and turned the flashlight on, wishing to find what hit her house as quickly as possible so she could return to the plain scent of indoors. Hundreds of fish were lying on the grass and street, many still flopping around while others remained still. Confused, Brooke pointed her flashlight up to the roof of the house across the street, a nice angle to illuminate several new fish as they fell to the ground. A couple of her neighbors had left their houses, more handheld and phone flashlights illuminating the yards on their side of the street. Several empty and flattened water bottles were lying in the grass, almost invisible without the additional light. Brooke pointed her flashlight up once more, getting a quick glance of a jellyfish before it hit the sidewalk. Brooke didn’t want to see what had become of it. The rain had mostly returned to normal when two of Brooke’s neighbors, a young married couple, walked over to her and gestured to her backyard. Wordlessly, as if speaking would anger the rain itself, the three decided to find whatever had hit Brooke’s house. They began to walk around her house slowly, stepping over more fish, both 47
