Rain

• Chloe Baker, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2015

The rain started pouring down harder than before, hail coming down with it. Tom and I rushed inside, hoping we’d be safe in our house. Water started coming in under the doors and I put some towels there in hope it would soak up all the water. I looked out the window and saw the car being harshly dented by the golf ball sized hail. Looks like we’ll need a new car. Tom asked me, “Is the rain ever going to stop, mum?” I didn’t know how to exactly reply so I just said, “Let’s hope, Tom, let’s hope.” It kept raining overnight, making it hard for us to get to sleep. I rang Jack, my husband, hoping he would be able to reassure me about everything being okay. He said that I shouldn’t be worrying about our belongings getting broken or waterlogged; as long as Tom and I were safe, everything precious is safe. I hung up after thanking him. In the morning I was very tired because I didn’t get enough sleep. Tom ran out of his room into mine and suddenly asked me, “Can I have a friend over?” I explained to him he couldn’t because nobody else would want to drive in this rain and hail (which was now tennis ball sized) and that I couldn’t take him because our car’s broken. He stomped down the hall to his room, sulking. I felt a bit sorry for him, so I suggested we play a game together. He wanted to play charades but I wanted to play cards. He had a better argument than me though, so charades won over. When Tom was being a snake, suddenly the hail started coming down diagonally, breaking through our windows and into our house. I grabbed the closest thing I could find, which was a blanket, and tried to cover up the window with it. I was unsuccessful and there was nothing else around that would work so I decided we would have to go into a safe room. I decided the bathroom, because there was only one small window, which was covered in a thick layer of glass and had bars to stop robbers getting in. I beckoned for Tom to follow me, but instead he ran over to the window. I yelled out, “Tom, come here, you’ll get hurt!” over and over again but it did nothing. He picked up a piece of hail, supposedly wanting to keep it, and was hit by a big piece of hail flying through the window. It hit him right on the head and he started bleeding a little. I rang an ambulance and they said they would come straight away. They got here in less than two minutes flat and took Tom to the hospital, with me in the ambulance comforting him. I guess everything turned out okay, except the car and windows were broken and Tom was now being taken to hospital. And that’s when the rain suddenly stopped.