Shattered

The cat burned her lip on the scalding hot cup of tea that Ethel had handed to her; the witch, who was sat beside her, grimaced slightly as she could see her friend’s pain. The bunny stood looking out of the window.

“What awful weather” she said, to nobody in particular.

Ethel returned to the living room, after settling Gerald.

“Jean should be here soon, girls” she said, with a slight tone of concern in her voice. Jean was already half an hour late, and the girls were now late for their party.

No sooner had she said it, they all heard a key turning the lock on the door, and a second later a bedraggled Jean walked into the living room. Dripping wet, she stood looking at the four people in front of her, and felt very sorry for herself. At least she was now warm. Almost.

“Let me get you a cuppa, love…” Ethel said, making a dash to the kitchen, but she was stopped in her tracks by a tremendous crashing sound which came from the room where Gerald was.

Everyone dashed to the room, their eyes instantly being drawn to the broken window. Shards of glass were scattered all over the room, and, they noticed, all over the sleeping baby Gerald.

Beside Gerald was the culprit for the broken window: a piece of rock the size of a football.

Jean dashed forward and grabbed the baby, who still didn’t wake up, while Ethel tried to lift the heavy piece of rock. She couldn’t.

The cat and the witch tried to help, but they could only move it slightly. They then noticed how warm it was.

“Nobody could have thrown that…” Ethel said to herself more than anyone else. She looked out of the window, and to the roadway that was two floors down. “And I can’t see it being carried on the wind, although it is quite strong. It’s Armageddon out there tonight… just look at that lightning!”

“No, mother, it isn’t Armageddon, it’s a storm!” Jean tried her best to calm the situation.

“Look at this…” the cat said. She was kneeling next to the rock. “There’s part of a face on this rock… look.”

She pointed out an eye, and parts of a nose, ear and mouth. The remainder was broken rock… or granite… or marble.

“I’ve heard it rain cats and dogs,” Ethel said, “but never parts of statues. This is no ordinary storm, Jean. You mark my words!”

Another clap of thunder sounded, directly overhead, and the broken window made it sound even louder, and caused the five ladies to all almost jump out of their skins. Heavy rain was pouring in through the broken window.

“We’ll have to get that covered before anything else…” Ethel said, and then noticed the baby, still fast asleep, in Jeans arms. “We’ll put him in my room… he’ll sleep through anything that one! Then, we’ll sort out that window”

The cat, the witch and the bunny decided amongst themselves to leave for their party, but made sure that they apologised to Ethel and Jean for not helping with the clearing up – but they didn’t mind. They both knew they were in for a very long night, and just wanted to get started… Gerald, on the other hand was completely oblivious to the night’s events. He was sound asleep after a busy day babying, and was now dreaming a baby’s dream of a magical place far, far away…

This is the next part of my Legendary Circles storyline. The previous part can be found here. Or, you can read the whole tale from the beginning by following the links in the Storylines menu option (or you can click here to get there as well!)