Rain And Fire

• Tara Broughton, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2011

She stood there, with her hands on her hips hoping to look fierce against him. He only smirked at her and taunted her with his dark stare. She stared back with that same fierceness and didn’t want to seem weak. But, in her heart she knew that she couldn’t beat him, and in his heart he knew he could beat her. They were strangers, at least in this life and world they were. Their history goes back in the generations, back in the early eighteen hundreds. Now it’s two thousand and sixty seven and the fate of the world rests in the hands of Tamika Ryan and William Foster, Rain and Fire. Two hundred and thirty six years later and the blood feud rages on.

They circled each other, exchanging glares and taunts. It was like being in a death dance. Tamika unleashed her fury and attacked him. He blocked her hits and returned his attack harder. They went back and forth, both revealing their real powers. Tamika intended to drown him while he intended to incinerate her. Somehow, opposites seem to attract. William’s evil heart was about to be the death of him. Tamika fought him until she couldn’t even stand. She collapsed in a heap on the lush, wet lawn outside the presidential building, with no intentions of fighting him anymore. He taunted her over and over looking down on her. But, he didn’t know that she possessed the one thing that could end this feud and his life. Love. The feud was caused by hate. Hate between families, bloodlines.

Hate may seem stronger but in reality love always wins. She shot up, with sheer determination spread across her pale face. They were both immortal but she knew how to kill him and end everything. She attacked him again with all the strength she had left and put her anger and regret into every drop of water that left her. All that anger, regret that she blasted into him was overwhelmed by her gift of love. In the end, that love was what killed William Foster, the last of the Foster clan, the last of the six brothers killed by the Rain.

Tamika raised her arm in victory and let the water wash over her. She won, she finally ended the war. Her family was safe and the Fosters were done with. She started to walk away from William’s body and was on her way to the city. Suddenly, something seized her ankle. His hand held her ankle hostage in his stone grip and he didn’t let her go. If he was going down, she was going with him. Flames engulfed his hand and he pulled her down to him. He held onto her tightly and wrapped his fiery arms around her. Blistering flames consumed them both and Tamika went down with him. She was no longer victorious as she had assumed or hoped. The war was over and no-one could stand against the Rain.