Thunder In Paradise. (Chapter 4)
The airport was packed for a morning in March, some people hugging and crying as one left and others running to reunite with loved ones again. Today, Thunder would be one of those who cried. She sat in her chair quietly, holding her paws together with a drooped expression. Bryan came out of the restroom, wiping his paws on his pants and walking back over to Thunder. Judy, Bryan's mother and his little brother Manny were at the vending machine, picking a fight with it for a candy bar. Bryan sat down close to Thunder and wrapped his arm over her shoulders, pulling her against him,"Don't be too sad.." Thunder just sat quietly, her face pressed against his chest in his hug. He pulled back from the hug and lifted her chin up to him,"C'mon.. I hate seeing you like this.." he stopped and thought for a moment, then smiled at her and crossed his eyes. Thunder tried not to smile but couldn't help but let it slip across her face,"You are such a dork." He grinned in success, pulling her in a giving her a soft kiss. Thunder kissed back softly as she blushed, her pulling back and growling at the warmth on her cheeks. Bryan chuckled and licked her cheek as Judy and Manny came back, Manny with a frustrated look on his face. "What's up, bud?" Bryan asked as to his expression,"The stupid candy machine wouldn't take my dollar." He pouted down at his dollar that looked like it'd been in his pocket for weeks. "Well, maaaybe this'll help." Bryan smiled and took the dollar from him, holding it out and rubbing it against the side of his suitcase, getting out the wrinkles. He looked at it and nodded in approval, walking over to the vending machine and feeding it the dollar, the machine sucking it in smoothly. Manny stood there, first his maw hanging open slightly then it turned to frustration again as he crossed his arms and pressed the button for his candy bar. "You could've just told me." He grumbled and Bryan chuckled, messing up his headfur,"You're such a smart little boy."
It was about 5:30 in the afternoon now, the airport clearing out slowly. The family sat at the benches, Manny trying to find something to cure his boredom and his mother helping him while Thunder was asleep with her head in Bryan's lap. Finally, the intercom said,"Flight 23 to Denver, Colorado taking flight in twenty minutes." Bryan sighed quietly, looking down to Thunder and moving a few strands of hair from her eyes, smiling softly. Her eyes fluttered open slightly, turning and smiling at him lazily. Bryan wasn't smiling now, though. Thunder layed her ears down, now knowing it was time and sat up next to him. Bryan hesitated then stood up, pulling her up with him and giving her a tight hug. Thunder hugged back, gripping handfuls of his shirt on his back, tears forming again so easily. Bryan himself started to get worked up, pressing his nose into Thunder's hair and closing his eyes. Thunder sobbed quietly into his chest, trying to keep it together but it slipping,"I'm going to miss you so much.." He squeezed her tightly, letting out a sigh against her hair. The announcer called five more minutes until their flight, Bryan pulling Thunder close and exchanging a deep, longing kiss between them until their five minutes was up. Bryan and his family gathered their belongings, Bryan giving Thunder one last kiss and whispering into her ear,"I love you and always will." Then he turned, walking backwards to the exit then boarded his plane. Thunder stood silently in the middle of the lobby floor, tears slowly rolling down her gray-furred cheeks, whispering,"I love you too.."
It's been two weeks since Bryan left, no one has seen much of Thunder, she goes to school then leaves as soon as possible. No one knows where she goes to eat her lunch, but they know it's not at the usual place. No one has spent time with her over the weekend, though they've tried but she's been locked up in her room for days. The other day Leo and Henry caught her at the bathrooms, trying to make conversation, but she just smiled and left quickly. The girls and Lucas asked Maria if Thunder could go to the mall with them, but Maria just said it wasn't a good time. Even Spencer tried to get her to go dirtbike racing with him and a few friends, but she rejected the offer, too. He couldn't take it anymore. He marched out of the door, down the sidewalk and to the Bravo's front door. He knocked a few times and waited. Maria opened the door, at first with a blank face then a warm smile grew. "Hello Viktor." "Afternoon. Is Thunder here?" She frowned again,"She is, but I'm not sure she wants any visitors.." Viktor grumbled to himself then smiled,"Okay, thank you." He nodded politely then walked back down the sidewalk, looking around quickly before dashing into the grass between his and the Bravo's house. He looked up at Thunder's window then at his surroundings, trying to plan things out. Then he shrugged and leaped for the wall of the house, using his feline claws to climb up the two floors. Viktor grunted hard as he got a hold of the railing on Thunder's bedroom window, climbing the rest of the way to get his body up. The window wasn't open. Viktor cursed under his breath, picking at the window with a claw and opening it, one of the doors swinging open. He gasped and flailed his arms around quickly, trying to keep his balance but pounced into the room before he could fall. For a cat, he made quite a noisey landing. Also, not landing on his feet, instead skidding face first into the rug. Viktor flinched, thinking he'd get killed by Thunder, but nothing happened. Thunder was sound asleep, breathing a bit heavily all curled up under her blankets. He moved to a crawling position, crawling quietly over to the bed and looking at Thunder's face in her sleep, watching quietly.. "THUNDER." He called out, Thunder sitting straight up in her bed then falling backwards off the other side. Viktor winced, moving to see if she's okay before she suddenly hopped back up, baseball bat in hand,"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!" She took a wild swing, hitting him in the arm (not too hard, she's weak) and him holding it as he rolled on the ground,"Augh! I just wanted to see if you were okaay!" Viktor groaned out, then stopped as the end of the bat was against his nose, Thunder's face red with anger. "You can't just barge into my room like that!" "Aaactually, I climbed through the window." Thunder paused and looked to see her window wide open. She sighed and rolled her eyes, holding her paw out to help him up. Viktor hesitated, Thunder noticing and growling at him, then he grabbed her paw and got up.
After persuading and a bit of arguing, Thunder told Viktor everything. She had been lonely and depressed since Bryan left, she didn't feel like talking to anyone, afraid of them asking about him and her bursting out crying. Bryan hadn't called her since he left, no contact whatsoever and Thunder was terrified. She had been taking sleeping meds just to get some sleep and energy drinks to make it through the day. Viktor sat quietly and listened, shocked. The amount of pain she was supposedly feeling was nothing to what he thought it was. He reached out his arms and pulled her into a tight hug, soothing her nerves and telling her, "Everything will be okay." Thunder felt relieved that she could trust him, even though she'd known this all along, and that he went through a lot to help her. Maria let Viktor stay over night with Thunder, Thunder's meds from earlier kicking in as she fell asleep on Viktor's shoulder, still fully dressed, shoes and everything. Viktor was more than glad to help, being happy that he let her get everything out before she cracked and that she trusted him with that much.