Rii-iiii-iing!!
Applejack awoke with a startle as her alarm clock buzzed loudly. The vibration caused it to move toward the edge of the nightstand and AJ hit the button on top before it fell over. The little windup clock ceased its ruckus and resumed a soft ticking sound.
AJ sat up and caught her breath from the fright. It was morning, her bedroom window was open and let in a gentle breeze, and the birds were happily chirping from the white-washed fence in the yard. She thought she had slept through the evening, but upon a second look at her clock, the day displayed on the face read ‘Thursday’.
Furthermore, AJ’s bandages were gone and there were no signs of injury upon her. She saw that her Stetson hat hung quietly from the bed’s headboard post, where it wasn’t there the night before… or would that be tomorrow night?
This was weirdness on a Pinkie Pie level.
The sound of AJ’s grandmother rang clear from downstairs in the kitchen. “Applejack!” Granny Smith shouted. “Get your lazy legs up and down here for breakfast!”
AJ got out of bed and noticed no soreness in her body. Was everything from the past several hours just a bad dream? She looked herself in the mirror, but AJ only saw the familiar face she was born with. Even the cut on her cheek was not there. She smiled at her reflection. It was all just a dream!
AJ donned her hat over her messy mane and walked out the door. Apple Bloom raced by her and slid down the stair railing.
“Morning, sis!” Bloom shouted.
“Uh, morning,” AJ replied slowly. She followed her little sister into the dining room.
Big McIntosh was already at the table with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast. Applejack sat down as Granny Smith put down another plate in front of the orange pony. There was no burnt-orange mare or green-yellow stallion in sight, just granny, her big brother, and her little sis.
“Thank you kindly, granny,” AJ said with a warm smile. She embraced the familiarity around her.
“Don’t mention it,” Granny Smith replied with a smile. “I figure you youngins should get one last good meal out of me before I skedaddle out to visit Apple Strudel on my vacation.”
Applejack nearly tipped over the carafe of apple juice. “Wait, vacation?” she asked.
“Don’t you remember, sis?” Apple Bloom said as she received her own plate of eggs. “Granny and Strudel have a big, week-long vacation they been planning all winter. We’re taking granny out to the train station today.”
AJ’s mind suddenly recalled the vacation plans her grandmother had made. This was the first time AJ’s memory filled in the blank spot with accurate recollection. She was very thankful for it.
“That’s right!” Applejack exclaimed happily. “Granny’s off to have fun while we three have to rough it on our own.” AJ put on a sarcastic smile to punctuate her joke as she poured a glass of apple juice for herself.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac said in between bites.
Applejack took a deep swing of her drink. She felt at ease again and her memory was now solid. Her family acted in the exact way she remembered them. She saw the reflection of a tiny fairy wave at her from the bottom of the glass.
Applejack spat out her juice all over her scrambled eggs.
“You know, I usually just put ketchup on mine,” an oblivious Granny Smith stated.
AJ looked over her shoulder, and then she looked into her glass. There was no sign of the fairy or its reflection. Was it just some stray jitters from her strange dream?
“Is something the matter?” Apple Bloom asked her sister.
AJ turned to the little yellow filly. “Uh, I think there was a… an apple seed in my drink. I’ll just get another glass.” She got up and walked into the kitchen with the drinking glass.
A strange feeling came over AJ that she had seen that fairy before, but where? She put the glass in the sink and retrieved a wooden mug from the cabinet. Wood didn’t give off reflections. Applejack returned to the table and fished out the dry parts of her breakfast.
“Now then,” Granny Smith said, “Applejack is in charge while I’m gone, but no charging through the living room. I think you three will be just fine for the week. Maybe Big Mac will even learn how to cook something more than oat flakes when he’s on his own, eh?”
“And maybe Applejack will become the next alicorn,” Apple Bloom teased.
Big Mac blushed, but took the joke in stride as everyone else laughed. AJ enjoyed the company of her family so much that she nearly failed to see a shadow walk by the dining room window. She did a double take at the window and scanned the yard for the shadow.
Applejack saw nothing unusual outside her home. However, she felt a chill run down her back that told her it was still there, and it was waiting for her.
~ ~ ~
The train station clock rang four times in the distance behind the siblings. Doubt had reared its ugly head in Applejack’s mind as she walked home from the station with her siblings. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but she still felt the presence of the shadow that watched her this morning. It agitated her all day to the point that she was unable to concentrate on any of her chores.
AJ regained her memories, but now she was losing her sanity.
Apple Bloom’s question snapped AJ out of her thought. “Hey sis! Since you’re in charge, can I go spend the night at Sweetie Belle’s house? She’s having a sleepover with Scootaloo and they’re going to plan out some activities that’ll sure get us our cutie marks!”
AJ gave her little sister a disapproving look. There was some kind of danger in the back of her mind and she wanted to keep her little sister safe from it. Then again, maybe AJ was just being paranoid? She turned to her older brother for his opinion, but the stoic stallion looked away.
AJ shook her head. “No, you can’t go runnin’ off with your friends, Apple Bloom,” she explained. “With granny gone a week, I need you to pick up the slack with her farm chores.”
“But there aren’t any chores to do,” Apple Bloom countered. “Granny doesn’t do any of the heavy lifting or harvesting, and she cleaned up the house yesterday.”
“I can use your help with the cookin’,” AJ said. “It’ll be dinner time soon and I reckon we don’t want to eat PB n’ Js all week long for every meal.” She glanced at her older brother accusingly.
“Come on, sis, please?” Apple Bloom implored. “I don’t want to miss any chances to earn my cutie mark!”
“Granny put me in charge for the week,” AJ stated. “I don’t want any problems while she’s gone, so the answer is no. I’m sorry, but I want you with me so that I can keep you safe.”
“Safe from what?” Bloom questioned.
“I don’t know, timberwolves or something,” AJ grumbled. Her memory of the vicious injuries she had with the timberwolf sprang up in her mind. What if that dream was a warning of some kind? If there was a danger lurking near, AJ wished to keep her little sister safe from it.
She looked down and saw Apple Bloom was wearing a sad pout. AJ looked away with a sigh. She hated to argue with her little sister, but whenever Bloom brought out the pouty face, that just made AJ feel worse inside.
Big McIntosh didn’t help the situation either. The older brother never joined any sibling argument that didn’t directly involve him. Though if it did, he was always short on words and shrugged more often than a hovering pegasus flapped its wings.
AJ was tired of taking the role of the bad pony in these arguments and her mind was already shaky as it was with strange visions that weren’t real.
The siblings passed the outskirts of Ponyville on their way home. The townsfolk busied themselves with their afternoon chores and preparations for the evening. The weather was gentle and the scent of baked apple pie was unmistakable in AJ’s nostrils. The aroma made her think of home.
As the Apples turned up the road toward their farm, AJ noticed the town's school teacher, Cheerilee, trotted down their way from the farmhouse. AJ wondered why she came out to their home.
“Big Mac!” Cheerilee shouted as she trotted up to the crimson red stallion.
Applejack glanced at her older brother. She swore that he blushed deep at hearing the teacher’s sweet voice call his name. Cheerilee was quick to meet up with the siblings.
“Good afternoon Big Mac, Applejack, and Apple Bloom,” Cheerilee politely said.
“Afternoon,” AJ replied with a half-hearted smile.
“Hey, Miss Cheerilee,” Apple Bloom said with renewed vigor, “What brings you to our place?”
“I just wanted to ask your brother if he would like to join me for dinner,” the teacher answered. “What do you say, Big Mac? It’ll be a nice evening and I’m cooking a nice eggplant casserole.”
The stallion glanced away for a moment. “Err, nope. Sorry, but I got apples to buck all day.”
AJ poked her brother in the ribs. “That’s just a bunch of pony feathers,” she chided him. “You ain’t goin’ to get much work done before the sun goes down. Besides, Apple Bloom won’t set the north field on fire again while you’re gone.”
“For the record,” Apple Bloom interrupted, “That was Sweetie Belle’s fault and it was only one tree.”
“Nope, I got things to do,” Big Mac said firmly. “Sorry, but not today.”
Cheerilee nodded. “It’s alright then,” she said. “Perhaps we’ll get together some other time. Take care, you three!”
The teacher happily walked down the road into town. AJ watched Cheerilee disappear among the townsfolk before she poked her bother again. This time, she put more force behind it.
“You really ought to talk to her more often,” AJ scolded. “You know that she takes a shine to you.”
“Hey!” Apple Bloom angrily interjected. “Why are you encouraging him to go run off, but you won’t let me hang out with my friends? It ain’t fair!”
“AB, don’t start this again,” Applejack warned her.
“Well I have a valid point!” Apple Bloom countered.
AJ snorted. “But you’re just a youngin’. You have a lot of growin’ up to do before you can make your own decisions. Until then, I want you safe at home helpin’ me cook dinner.”
“Can we hang out after dinner, then?” Bloom asked. “We could play cards or something.”
“I have to wash out the baskets for tomorrow’s harvest,” AJ explained. “I don’t want them to get all full of bugs.”
Apple Bloom saw her brother open his mouth to say something, but she cut him off. “If you’re going to take Applejack’s side,” Bloom said, “Then you can just forget it!”
Big Mac closed him mouth and looked away.
“What is your problem, missy?” AJ sternly asked her little sister.
Apple Bloom growled. “Well I guess it’s you, sis! We got a whole week together and you want to spend it working on chores instead of spending time together or letting me hang out with my friends!”
“You know, I hate feeling like I'm the donkey-downer around here,” AJ angrily stated. “Sometimes I wish our mama were around to explain a thing or two to you about responsibility instead of me arguin’ with you!”
“Then why don’t you stop acting like my mom and act more like my sister?!” Bloom snapped back.
“Because our mama is dead!!” AJ screamed.
Big Mac went wide-eyed at his sister’s statement. Applejack’s mouth hung open. Her blood grew cold as the words that left her lips cut deep into Apple Bloom’s heart. The little filly stared back in shock as her eyes watered. AJ lowered her hat over her mouth. She felt tears well up as well and she couldn’t stop them.
“Oh sis,” AJ whispered as her little sister began to cry,” I-I didn’t mean to say that.”
Apple Bloom broke into a wailing sob and ran toward the house. AJ tried to say something, but no comforting words came out of her lips. Her mouth went completely dry. Applejack threw her hat on the ground in frustration as a tear streaked down her left cheek.
“Why did I just yell out that our mama was dead?” she asked her brother.
Big Mac rubbed his sister’s back to comfort her. “Because it’s true?”
“Well, yeah, but,” AJ stuttered. “I mean, I have never yelled at AB like that before.” She looked down at her hat on the ground. It was her father’s hat, given to her the night before he… well, he was gone, wasn’t he?
“Big Mac,” AJ said weakly. “I-I think I’m going crazy.”
“AJ, I reckon you’re just stressing over our little sis growing up,” Big Mac said. “Do you remember when you was Apple Bloom’s age? When you had wanderlust and decided to spend that summer with Aunt and Uncle Orange in Manehattan? We had a whale of a fight the night before you left.”
“Yeah, I guess,” AJ admitted. “I recall we were both in tears all night from that argument. Granny still let me go take that trip though.”
Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup. Granny let you go because you needed to find your own path and learn from your own choices. I weren’t your pa so I had no right to stop you. Apple Bloom is just growing up in the same way. You ain’t her ma, but you are her sister. That’s who you should be in her life and no pony else.”
Applejack wiped away another tear from her eye. “Confound it, Big Mac,” she said with a small smile, “How is it you got to be so smart?”
“I ain’t all that smart,” Big Mac said humbly. “I just have the most experience among the three of us.” He gestured to walk back to the farm house.
“Let’s get home and have dinner. I’ll cook and you apologize to Apple Bloom.”
Applejack nodded as she picked up her hat off the dusty road. She walked home with her brother, but kept her mind blank. Thinking was emotionally painful lately.
A few clouds drifted over to the farm from the nearby Everfree forest. Applejack saw two grayish-blue pegasi corral the errant clouds together and push them back over the forest. AJ wished she was able to do the same with her own mental storm clouds.
~ ~ ~
Applejack took a small bite of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was the silliest dinner she remembered eating, but this was the extent of her brother’s ‘cooking’ skills. To AJ’s right, Big Mac was scarfing down his sandwich hungrily as if nothing was wrong.
Apple Bloom finally came down the stairs from her own room. AJ had earlier apologized to her profusely through Bloom’s bedroom door, but the youngest sibling locked herself in the room for a good fifteen minutes. Apple Bloom sat quietly across from AJ and stared at her own untouched meal.
Applejack chased her food down with a gulp of milk. “Hey sis,” AJ said softly. “Again, I’m sorry for snappin’ at you earlier. You’re right. I know you always help me out around the farm, and lately I’ve been neglectin’ to spend some time with you as a sister. Therefore, I’ll leave the baskets for tomorrow and we can do whatever you like tonight.”
Apple Bloom took her first bite of the sandwich and quickly swallowed it. However, the little filly did not respond to her sister. AJ sighed and chewed on another bite of her sandwich.
“How about we play charades?” AJ asked. “You like that game, don’t you?”
Bloom continued to quietly eat her sandwich, but she finally gave a non-committal shrug to Applejack. Big Mac finished his dinner and gave both his sisters a wide grin. AJ and Bloom gave him inquisitive looks. The eldest sibling nonchalantly walked over to the grandfather clock in the living room.
It was a six-foot tall clock with a beautiful stained oak case and thick glass door. Big Mac stepped to the side and reached behind the old clock. The stallion pulled out a small cardboard box labeled ‘nothing’.
“Uh, tell me that there box is mislabeled,” AJ stated.
Big Mac happily smiled as he opened the lid and showed the contents to his sisters. The box contained a batch of Filly Scout cookies.
Apple Bloom perked up. “Are those… thin mints?”
“Eeyup!” Big Mac replied. “Got them just the other day.”
“Well wallop my withers!” AJ said excitedly. “I’m amazed that granny didn’t sniff out your stash and gobble them all down herself. We never get to enjoy a batch to ourselves.”
Big McIntosh pranced back towards the dining room, but his work horse collar caught the edge of the grandfather clock and pulled it off balance. Big Mac instinctively covered the box of cookies to protect them as the big clock tipped forward and fell.
It hit the ground with a resounding ‘clang!’, but miraculously the glass face and door did not shatter.
Applejack got up and scurried into the living room. “Are you alright, Big Mac?”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac replied hesitantly, “Don’t know about the old clock though. Granny is going to be mighty upset if I broke it.”
“You know,” AJ said as her mind recalled an old memory, “I reckon that old clock originally belonged to our papa.”
Apple Bloom took interest in her sister’s comment. “Really? How come granny never mentioned that before?” she asked.
AJ scratched her head. “I don’t know, maybe she doesn’t remember? I seem to recall pa always took interest in keeping this old thing running.” Applejack hoisted the broken clock upright and inspected it for damage. It survived the fall, but AJ noticed that four gears and a clock hand had popped loose and fell down to the base of the clock’s casing. AJ looked at the clock face, but both the hour and minute hands were still there.
“Huh, that’s mighty odd,” AJ muttered. “There was a spare hand in there.”
Apple Bloom shoved the remainder of her sandwich into her mouth. She pushed an ottoman up to the tall clock and opened the glass door. The little filly jumped on the ottoman and reached up to poke at the clock’s inner working.
“Maybe you shouldn’t mess with that,” AJ said apprehensively.
Apple Boom swallowed her food hard. “You said we could do something together, right? So why don’t we fix this here old clock? It looks like this is a 'seconds' hand and it might make Granny happy to get that piece working again.”
“I don’t know,” AJ said thoughtfully. “Granny never wanted us to touch this clock, and I don’t have steady hooves for this kind of work anyway.”
“I do,” Bloom countered. “Big Mac, could you get me a screwdriver from the junk drawer?”
The elder brother came out of the kitchen with a small screwdriver. He handed it to Apple Bloom and the little filly used it to snap the fallen gears back into place. AJ carefully removed the glass cover to the clock face and Bloom set the third hand into position. She removed a bent spring and asked AJ to flatten it back into shape. Big Mac held the clock steady as Apple Bloom replaced the spring back.
Applejack lifted the glass face covering up to put it back on the clock, but it slipped in her unsteady hooves. AJ fumbled and caught the glass plate along its edge, with her face. She pulled the plate away and felt a hot stinging pain across her left cheek. She wiped at it and AJ saw her own blood smeared across the back of her hoof.
“Sis, are you okay?!” Apple Bloom shouted.
AJ nodded. “Yeah, I’m alright. It only smarts a bit.” She handed the glass to her brother and went into the kitchen to wash her face. The cut stung under the cold water. Applejack applied pressure to the wound until the bleeding stopped. She returned to see that Apple Bloom had just finished winding up the clock.
Big Mac closed the glass door and the siblings stood back with bated breaths.
Tick, tick, tick, tick…
The ‘seconds’ hand on the clock moved clockwise by one notch, then another, and then another after that. The ticking noise was steady as the gears moved in their slow, circular motions. The clock was complete and working once more.
Apple Bloom glanced down at her blank hip. “Darn, no cutie mark in clock repair,” she mumbled.
AJ smiled at her. “That was still a pretty good show of skill though,” she said. “However, this is the first time I recall a grandfather clock with all three hands.”
“Maybe it’s a rare collectable?” Big Mac suggested.
Applejack’s dog Winona began to bark angrily outside. AJ noticed through a window that the outdoor sky was gloomier than it should be. She went to the front door and opened it wide. AJ stepped out onto the porch carefully as a gust of wind nearly took her Stetson hat away. The sky was dark with storm clouds and the breeze that blew across the farm was strong and unusually cold.
The strange storm came from the direction of the Everfree Forest.
“Heavens to Betsy!” AJ shouted. “What are the pegasi doin’ up there?”
AJ stepped out to find her dog. She heard Winona’s barking from the forest. The orange pony broke out into a gallop for the tree line. Big Mac and Apple Bloom were quick to follow her.
“Winona!” Applejack shouted. “Where are you, girl?”
“Why is she barking at the forest?” Bloom asked. “You reckon she spotted something?”
“I don’t honestly know,” AJ responded. She led her siblings to the Everfree Forest as she searched for their beloved pet. Several paces into the woods, AJ saw Winona. Her dog barked madly at something unseen.
“Winona, get your little furry behind over here!” AJ shouted.
As the siblings approached, Winona began to whine at whatever it was she barked at only moments earlier. The dog nervously skittered behind AJ for shelter. The three young ponies looked at each other with confused expressions.
“I don’t get it,” Apple Bloom said. “What did Winona see in there?”
AJ looked deep into the forest. The wind slowly rustled the trees, but there were no creatures in sight. AJ took a step closer and focused on her ears. She began to hear ominous whispers among the trees. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, but it felt like they were talking amongst themselves. The sound caused a familiar chill to run down AJ’s spine. It was that same sense of fear the shadows instilled earlier.
“Gang, I reckon we outta get back inside,” AJ said.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac acknowledged with concern.
The siblings trotted back to the house with their dog. AJ went behind the house to ensure the storm cellar doors were locked. She saw a group of pegasi fly away from the forest and their expressions appeared to be panicky. Concerned, AJ called out to them.
“Hey, what’s goin’ on with this here storm?” she shouted. Her question went unanswered, but AJ stubbornly tried to get their attention.
“Hey, I’m askin’ y’all a question!”
The wind changed directions and grabbed AJ’s hat. It carried it back towards the Everfree Forest. AJ raced after her personal effect as it fluttered toward the trees. She leaped into the air and snatched her hat back with her teeth. AJ firmly placed her hat back on her head.
Sinister voices whispered from within the forest.
AJ took a step back. She couldn’t see anything within the forest, but she felt a presence there. The whispers continued and AJ got a sense that she had felt this presence before. As she slowly stepped back, the dark murmurs died down and a lone child-like voice spoke out a single, clear word into her ears.
“Run.”
Applejack bolted back for the house. The presence from the forest burst out between the trees and chased her. AJ galloped as fast as she could. The unseen presence gained on her and displaced leaves in its wake. The air around AJ felt colder the closer the invisible entity got. AJ stumbled over the front porch as she grabbed the door handle. She jumped inside the house and slammed the door shut.
Something large hit the door with a hard crash. Applejack let out a yelp of fright as she propped herself against the door and locked it. The invisible force pounded on the door several times with immense strength. AJ pushed hard against the unseen presence. The door began to warp and buckle from the force outside.
“Quit it!!” Applejack shouted.
The presence smashed against the house with enough force to crack the wooden door… and then it stopped. AJ remained propped against the door. Her heart raced in her chest as she tried to listen for the whispers. Only the gentle howl of the storm’s wind and the panting of her breath met her ears.
A warm trickle of blood slowly oozed out of her cheek’s wound.
Her siblings raced down the stairs from the second floor. They galloped to Applejack with looks of fearful concern upon their faces.
“Sis, what happened?” Apple Bloom asked worriedly. “What was all that banging and screaming?”
AJ slowly stepped away from the door. She was still shaking from the fear in her nerves. “I-I saw somethin’ out there. Well, I didn’t see it so… I reckon more like I felt somethin’?” Words failed AJ to describe the experience she just had.
Apple Bloom and Big Mac gave her skeptical looks. The stoic brother went to the kitchen while Bloom walked AJ to a chair and had her sister sit down. Big Mac returned with a wet cloth and an adhesive bandage for AJ’s bleeding wound.
“You sure you didn’t just get chased by a timberwolf?” Apple Bloom asked as she pressed the wet cloth hard against her sister’s cheek.
“Ouch! No this critter was… bigger,” AJ said slowly. She started to feel stupid that she couldn’t describe what it was that chased her inside the house. AJ changed the subject abruptly.
“I saw a few Pegasi flee from the forest. Somethin’ in the weather spooked them.”
Apple Bloom patted her sister’s cheek dry. “The Ponyville weather team got spooked by their own storm?” she asked curiously.
AJ slowly shook her head. “I reckon this isn’t one of theirs. It’s comin’ out of the forest so it might be a wayward storm.”
“Aww, Winona!” Big McIntosh shouted angrily.
Apple Bloom was startled be her brother’s shout and stuck the bandage lopsided on her sister’s cheek. AJ and Bloom saw Big Mac move the couch. Winona huddled underneath it. The dog whimpered with so much fear that she peed on the floor. Applejack got up and picked Winona off the floor.
“Oh girl, what’s the matter?” AJ asked her dog. She patted Winona on the head calmly, but the dog only continued to whine.
AJ took her pet upstairs to the bathroom while her brother fetched the mop. Applejack sat Winona on the bathroom rug. She moistened a facecloth under the sink and wiped the dog down. AJ wrapped her pet in a towel afterwards, but kept the dog on the rug. Winona continued to lie there, but she seemed much calmer now. AJ tossed the cloth in the sink and then noticed how her bandaged cut looked in the mirror.
Just like from her dream. That is… if it was a dream.
Apple Bloom walked to the bathroom doorway. “Is she going to be alright?”
“Yeah, just spooked is all,” AJ assured her sister. “Go fetch Winona’s water dish. It’ll be best that she waits out the storm here in case she has another accident.”
Apple Bloom left to retrieve Winona’s dish while AJ returned downstairs to the kitchen. Big Mac already cleaned the floor under the couch and was working on the dinner dishes. AJ watched him work as she leaned against the kitchen counter. She heard the rain come down heavily against the house.
“Not even one day and I’m already fallin’ off my rocker,” AJ said to her brother.
Big Mac let off a non-committed shrug.
“I snapped at Apple Bloom, my imagination got the better of me, and I ain’t sure what exactly spooked Winona,” AJ explained. She nudged a tin of saltines away from the splattering dish soap.
“Honestly, had Winona ever been that frightened before?”
Big Mac shrugged again.
“Well, I wish I had your problem,” AJ said. “I reckon the jitters over a pretty face are quite trivial compared to what’s been going on in my head today.”
Another shrug.
Applejack was bothered by the one-sidedness of the conversation. “You want I invite Cheerilee over for breakfast tomorrow?”
Shrug.
Applejack sighed. “You’re less responsive than a bucket of potatoes, you know that?” she said, “At least the potatoes have the gumption to look me in the eye.” She left the kitchen in frustration. AJ wanted a wise pony to talk to about her problems, but it seemed that Big Mac’s one rare moment earlier was it for the day.
Her only remaining choices were either her inexperienced little sister or her unintelligible dog. The orange pony decided to just turn in early and sleep through the storm.
AJ ascended the wooden stairs and entered her darkened room on the right side of the hallway. The rain continued to rattle softly off the roof as she tossed her hat in the direction of her dresser, but it hit the floor with a soft thump. AJ walked over to her bed and dropped down over the covers like a stone.
The rain’s patter on the roof lulled the orange pony to sleep. Her mind let go of all the strange thoughts of shadows, whispers, and eerie storms. Her mind slowed down to just the one thought of the rain until her eyes grew too heavy to keep open. AJ rolled to her side and finally succumbed to the exhaustion.