Sunny Days (closed)

It had been almost a month since Owen had started at the academy. In those few weeks, the weather had steadily declined, the sunshine replaced by cloudy gray skies and occasionally a drizzly day. It was different from what Owen liked, and he had spent more days in the past week bundled up than he would have liked. Out of frustration, he'd kept to his dorm room mainly, avoiding seeing the clouds outside.

The first sunny day that week dawned earlier than the other days had. Owen woke to a feeble ray of light trailing in through his blinds and across his sheets, something that caused him to wake up much quicker than the other sluggish days of the overcast week. Eagerly, he sat up, grabbing the blankets and throwing them back in order to stand and cross to the window. Pulling up the blinds, he became excited, thrilled to see sunlight filtering through wispy clouds and spotting the grounds of the school.

His mind was made up. He was going out to enjoy the sunlight while he still could. It was the weekend, after all, and he had little homework. In a flurry, Owen moved around the bedroom, grabbing whatever clean clothing he could find and throwing it on. He wore only a thin jacket over his t-shirt, thinking optimistically about the temperature outside. Energy flowed through him as he left his bedroom, crossed the empty shared space of his dorm, and left the room for the hallway outside. Once there, he walked quickly, hardly sparing anything a glance as he left the Summer dorms altogether.

A brisk breeze swept through his hair as he stepped outside. He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes as he took in the smell of sun-warmed grass and leaves. Even though it was just a regular Saturday morning, he felt as though he were living the fall dream, taking in everything that he could. It was absolutely beautiful.

Owen began to walk across the grounds, his hands tucked into his pockets and his long legs settling into a leisurely stroll. The sun kept disappearing behind the clouds, but the moments it peaked out and warmed his shoulders were enough. As he neared the entrance to the school, Owen paused, watching the sun come out again, and he extended his hand into a ray that was in front of him. He pulled it back, his hand now glowing with the soft light of the weak morning sunlight. He smiled slightly to himself, appreciating the golden beam.

To notice Owen in a large crowd, all you had to do was wait for a bright light to appear out of nowhere. Madison had learned that the hard way a month ago, when she fell into a fountain for being absolutely stupid. Yes, to notice Owen is to notice a bright, peculiar light, and that is what she saw that morning. 'Human Flashlight' were the first words that came to mind. She watched him draw closer to the school building, where she watched him from a nearby window, laptop under her arm, until she realized her dazed wonder and drew back. Hopefully he didn't see her. She didn't want him to see her.

Out of the corner of his eye, Owen saw something move. He looked over, sure that it had come from the window that was nearest him, but he couldn't see much. He extinguished the light in his hand and moved closer to the window, peering inside. Despite having been at the school for a month, Owen hadn't met many new people. He was somewhat eager to see if he could befriend whomever this was.

As he got a better angle, he was surprised to see a somewhat familiar head of hair, apparently attempting to press itself flat against the wall inside the building. It was Madison! A grin broke across his face, and he lifted a hand, waving to get her attention.

Shit. He saw her. With a nervous grin she waved back, and immediately spun on her heel, down the hallway to the lounge, or dorm, or anywhere where she could escape. It wasn't that she didn't like Owen; in fact, she liked him a lot, and she felt she handled herself well for having fallen in a fucking fountain in front of him. She didn't want to tarnish it. However, she found the crowd in front of her rather slow, and her timid feigning of nonchalance was making it hard for her to walk down the hall with any speed. She didn't seem to be going anywhere.

Owen watched her, his eyes widening in surprise. Maybe she was coming to meet him outside. After a few moments, however, it became clear to him that Madison wasn't coming to meet him. His brow furrowed slightly. He hesitated a moment before jogging around to the doors that were nearby, determined to at least ask how she was doing. He walked as quickly as he could throw the halls without running.
"Madison! Hey, Madison!" he called out, raising a hand above the crowd, although it was hardly necessary.

It was too late. With a wince, she spun again, eyelashes fluttering as if she hadn't seen him. The blush on her face conveyed her guilt, however. "Hi!" Her voice was a strange, high pitch. "I was just going...um, to the...to my...place...my dorm, my dorm." As she said that, there was the low rumble of thunder outside. What? It was nice and sunny a second ago! She looked outside the window to see the looming threat of clouds, in juxtaposition to the sunny brightness it was consuming.

The sound of thunder distracted Owen for a brief moment. His heart sank at the sound; it had been sunny just five seconds ago.
"I'll come with you," he offered. "I don't know if you heard, but I was Placed in the Summer house! We're basically neighbors." He grinned at her, obviously expecting her to share in his glee. He had been waiting a while to tell her, but he hadn't seen her for longer than a second the past few weeks, and it was always at the most inopportune moments.

"Oh..?" Madison pretended that this was new information, but in reality, she had seen him a few doors down, every once in a while checking his mailbox or whatnot. The horrors of talking to a boy she knew, however...

Well, she was doing it now.

The girl brushed hair further up her bangs, staying silent for a moment, and when the first inkling of a conversation starter popped into her mind, she took it, maybe a little too enthusiastically. "Have you ever been to the stables? I, um, have never, I've never seen them take out those horses. N-not that I am suggesting they're malnourished, or not taken care of or anything, but...I haven't...been there before." It had popped into her mind as her eyes wandered over the courtyard, to the old wooden building. Why did she mention that?

The stables? In confusion, Owen glanced over his shoulder at the window. Through it, he could see the long building that was meant to be the stables. He also noticed that the sunshine he had enjoyed so briefly was rapidly being replaced with dark clouds, a visual response to the thunder that had boomed earlier.

"I haven't been there either," he said lightly, a question in his voice as he turned back to Madison. "We could go there now. I mean, if you aren't busy." Owen was giving her an easy way out of this conversation. He was beginning to believe that the way she spoke was just her personality; the first time they'd met, he thought it was because of what he had accidentally done to her. Now was different. He hadn't done anything but come and say hi to her.

"Sure!" Why did she sound so enthusiastic? She looked up at the clouds, not too gray, a soft monochrome to their pallid, and she decided it was all right to gamble with. Sure, they could go to the stables for a while. Horses were all right...

So, she went through the first door they encountered, walking out into the suddenly-empty courtyard of the school, and she made a quick pace to the stables. The quicker the pace, the less conversation needed. Of course, if she didn't want conversation, she should not have brought up a detour...

She approached the door to the stables, a rather modern door for the rest of the building, but when she opened it, she paused. The sound and pungent smell of horses came from inside, but the inside was also really dark. Was that a horse or a monster? Her new mother was somewhere in there.

The pace Madison set was easy for Owen to keep, his height providing one of its many advantages. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes as they crossed the short span of grounds to the stable building. It reminded him of home, except it was one of the few things he hadn't liked very much.

When Madison paused, Owen found himself leaning forward cautiously, as though he were waiting for something on the other side of the door. All he saw was darkness, however. Raising a hand, Owen spread his fingers, palm up, and pulled what little light there was in the area towards his hand. It glowed faintly, but enough to light the entrance to the stable. He glanced at Madison with a smile.

Whooa. She had been calling him the Human Flashlight in her mind for a while, but now he was really being useless. She glanced over at him too, letting drop an embarrassed grin, and carefully made her way into the stables. She almost didn't trust it, at first, but became a little freer with her motions. So long as she was within the scope of his light, of course.

The horses seemed irritated. Madison felt bad for intruding on their space, thinking the poor little guys expected to be alone at the break of a rainstorm. One looked straight at her, or at least she though it did, it's nose leaning over its gate, glassy eyes glinting lifelessly in the light Owen provided. She kind of wanted to pet it. Would it bite off her hand?

Was it even real?

When they entered the stable and his light was too dim, Owen spread his fingers more, brightening the light so that it reached several feet ahead of and around the pair. He could see a long line of horses with their heads peeking over the wooden gates at their stable front. They looked over out of curiosity, and Owen could see their eyes twinkling slightly in the light.

He inched around Madison, who was looking at the horse closest to the two of them. Taking a couple of steps forward, Owen stretched his free hand forward, keeping his other hand behind him so that it continued to give light, but it wasn't blinding the horse. Carefully, slowly, he lowered his hand to the horse's long nose. The animal twitched away at the initial touch and Owen froze, continuing to watch its eyes, but keeping his hand where it was. The horse hesitated, but finally put its nose back to Owen's hand, allowing him to touch it.

Relaxing visibly, the boy gently rubbed the middle of the horse's face, petting it in the direction of its fur.
"Did you want to pet it?" he asked Madison, turning to look at her.

Could he read her mind? She blushed invisibly in the dark room. "N-no, I, um, was just looking at it, I..." She gave it a hard stare, biting her lip as she and the horse locked gazes. After a moment's silence, she shrugged. "Maybe, I...um..." She walked up to it, its snout clearing the gate with ease. Damn, horses were bigger in real life. There weren't many in Spokane to see; this was kind of her first horse sighting. A dainty, pale hand reached up to its snout, recoiled slightly when it wriggled its head with impatience, and began coming closer again...

Suddenly, a crash sounded. Madison jumped back in alarm as lightning crackled, the muffled barrage of rainfall sounding against the old wood above. She backed up all the way to Owen, who she pressed into with alarm.

The crash surprised Owen, and he started, gazing around as the stable flashed with the spark of lightning outside, coming in through the door they had left cracked open. He relaxed when he realized what it was, however. It was partly due to Madison's reaction that he had reacted the way he had. The room had been so quiet and it was a shocking return to reality for him.

Madison backed into him, and he wasn't entirely sure how to react at first.
"It's just thunder," he finally said. Instinctively, he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly with a quick smile. Looking back at the strip of the outside he could see through the door, Owen saw the rain as he listened to it pouring on the thin wood of the stable. "We might be stuck out here if it keeps raining like this, though." He chuckeld to himself.