Closed One Of Those Nights

[Dederick Cullen]

Dederick carried two cups of steaming hot cocoa with floating marshmallows toss below the brim. Underneath his arm, he held a packet of graham crackers. It's always served best with hot cocoa or the rare occasion of salty sea chips. Dederick preferred the sea chips when he was alone, tonight he wasn't. Dederick carried out the cups into the living room area, where he sat comfortably on the windowsill next to his oldest child. Dederick handed over a cup carefully, "Watch out, it's hot," he warns the young teen in case she took a sip. Dederick set the packet of graham crackers down between them and took a sip of the hot cocoa not giving it time to cool off. He can handle the heat, it didn't pain him much. "Does it look like it's slowing down?" Dederick would ask while he peers out from the living room window. Rain poured down from the evening skies, drops of rain pelted the window. It didn't seem like it was going to stop any time soon, he really didn't mind it. When it rains and it stops by morning, Dederick found it refreshing to wake up to. The boat will be flooded, and he'll be busy clearing it out for a few hours. It didn't bother him, it needed to rain. The earth needed a bath just like any other living thing on this planet, just like him.

 

[Willow Cullen]

lights, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six Seven, eight nine, ten...rumble Willow counted looking out of the window. Lights, one, two three four five six sev...rumble. she counted again as a light flashed through the sky. it may be summer but that didn't mean there wasn't storms. summer storms were more fun, more lightening less gloom and rain. She pulled the light blanket around her shoulders. It wasn't cold but there was something comforting about having a blanket around your shoulders. at the sound of movement behind her she turned around. to see her dad approaching two cups in his hands. she smiled a smile lit up be another flash of light. she started to count again but only got to five before the thunder drowned out her thoughts. "thank you Dad" she said taking the steaming mug from him and clutching it tightly in both hands. feeling its warmth and smelling its sweet chocolaty smell, he really made the best hot chocolate. part of her wanted to say she was more a coffee drinker. but really nothing beat a good hot chocolate. especially one with marshmellows. she took a sip it was hot but it tasted as good as it smelt. "It's not slowing down any time soon, that was five seconds and the one before was seven" she said shuffling across so she was next to dad and putting part of the blanket around his shoulders. She loved spending time with him and really missed him when she was at school. She took another sip of her drink and let a feeling of utter contentment fill her.

 

[Dederick Cullen]

Dederick nodded and smiles affinity over his daughter and the way she was keeping up with the lightning storm. "What exactly are you counting, how long the flashes last or how many are happening?" He wasn't sure so he had to ask. Dederick scooted close to the teen, who so kindly shared the covers with him. It wasn't a cold night, but it wasn't that warm inside their home. The blanket was comforting and provided a cozy balance. Dederick could sit here alone without it, but he did see the appeal and why his daughter brought it along to watch the storm together. Dederick grew quiet, he scanned the skies to see any shift of it changing. He should be better at knowing, sometimes he would make his observation but then the weather would go off in another direction. The weather was fickle like that, Dederick doesn't expect it to be always predictable. "I don't know how your mother and brother can sleep through this," he chuckles and sighs happily watching the storm. "How you think the boat's condition will be in the morning, a mess right? She been needing a bath anyway."

 

[Willow Cullen]

Willow smiled as her dad looked at her and asked what she was counting. a flash of light briefly lit up the room like a bulb from a camera "The time between the flash and rumble. every three seconds the storm is one k away" she said the thunder punctuating her statement. it was something they had been taught at the muggle primary school one day when they had had a stormy afternoon. it had been loud and some of the kids were scared the teachers had given up teaching and just let watch a movie or read or draw. willow had just spent it sitting half watching the movie, but mainly looking out of the window watching the storm rage. she chuckled as her dad said he didn't know how her mum and brother could sleep through it. "Lin can sleep through anything. but he is missing a good show" she said taking a mouthful of hot chocolate. she was glad they were missing it, it was nice spending time with just her dad. she thought about the boat as her dad asked how she thought it would be. she was glad she wasn't spending the night on it, she didn't usually get seasick but this wasn't usual weather."She will be fine. a few hours tomorrow and we will have her shipshape" she said. they were a team on the boat, and it was one of her favourite things in the holidays.

 

[Chante Harvelle-Ateara]

Ignore!

 

[Dederick Cullen]

The flash of light occurred and Dederick stayed anchored listening to Willow explain herself. It's nothing strange what she was doing, it sounded like a calming technique for those were afraid of thunderstorms. He smiles, the storm rage on outside. Willow wasn't one to be afraid, though he suddenly wonders what does scare her. What makes her shake with fear, he would like to know and then he wouldn't. Imagine if she was afraid of something that he couldn't shield her away from. Imagine if she was afraid of something having to do with him. That thought upset him and he quickly digresses from it. "He sure can, and he really is," the man took a large sip from the cocoa, it warming his chest once more. He was back to reality with her in silence, he fell to the storm outside. "I should've prepared her but it makes it fun when there work to do the next morning," he sips from his mug again, Dederick smirks. He glad to hear that she was eager to fix up the boat after the storm passes. Moments like this or time on the boat was always his favorite, he wished school didn't take her away for so long. If it was up to him, Willow would be home but he couldn't do that to her. It would be selfish of him to keep her home, and besides, she was better and well received at school. She is where she belongs.

 

[Willow Cullen]

Willow watched the window. she could hear a wind whipping around the house making a whistling sound. it may be a summer storm but they were just as vicious as the winter ones. She took a biscuit and dunked it into her hot chocolate. taking a bite of it just as it started to go soft. yum. there was a loud bang outside as something, maybe the bins, fell over. Willow jumped spilling a little bit of the drink on herself. "I really don't know how Lin can sleep through this" she said pulling the blanket closer to her. as dad said that he should have prepared her for the storm but he liked having the work to do she nodded. she understood that part of him. when he was working he seemed the most relaxed. sometimes he seemed tense like he was worrying about things. but when working hauling in fish or cleaning the boat he was relaxed that is hoe she felt when she had her guitar and was somewhere quiet. but she also knew that feeling of calm that came with the boat, knowing that the only thing that she needed to think about was the job at hand everything else was unnecessary, even though it mainly ran by magic most of the jobs were done by hand, only partially so as to not attract the attention of the muggles who kept their boats in the same harbour. there was another flash and rumble this time almost simultaneous meaning that the storm was right on top of them. "I am glad that you are home tonight" she said. she would be worried about him if he was out on the boat. She would have been even more worried if it was a full moon and he and mum were outside in this weather and she was at the atearas, but tonight if it had been visable through the heavy iminous clouds the moon would have been a been waxing crescent. just under two weeks until the full moon.

 

[Dederick Cullen]

Dederick felt the small hairs on his arms raise up at the wind, it was a chilling sound to heed to. Dederick sat his mug down in front of him and focuses on the noise outside, it was like an orchestra that goes manic every now and then. When the lightning strikes and the skies rumble, it would be like cymbals and drums rolling if played in near similarities to the storm. The loud bang occurred and Dederick pulls his arm around his daughter, a small chuckle leaves him. "You're not afraid, are you?" It was such a strange coincidence that he was thinking about her worries and fears, and then something happens. "Or your mother, I swear the world could be ending and they'll be dead asleep," Dederick teased, hugging his daughter close. He took a graham cracker from the packet, not really craving it, though he munches it and chases it down with the hot cocoa. "Hmmm, me too," Dederick smiles over at his daughter, squeezing her shoulder. "I couldn't miss being around you and your brother, work comes later," Dederick reminds her. He likes his job, it keeps him from destructive activities, like the ones before he met Briar. If Dederick hadn't purchased the boat and made a living off it, there no telling where he would be right now. He is afraid to know that alternative, perhaps not in sound mind. It's a scary thought, and yet not very shocking to him.

 

[Willow Cullen]

Willow shook her head as her dad asked if she was afraid. was she afraid? she didn't think so but she took after her mum in that front where she would never admit to being scared of anything, let alone to herself. when they had d the boggart in class last year she could tell her boggart had confused a lot of people as to why two wolves fighting would be her biggest fear but it was. "no it just made me jump" she said. brushing off her surprise. She smiled as her dad held her close. she spent so much time at school being independent and she forgot how comfortable it was to be sitting with him. how safe she felt. nothing could hurt her while she was with her dad. the fact that he was a werewolf didn't matter at all. he took the potion religiously every month. and she knew he would never bite anyone. "your work is good. but being out on a night like this cant be fun. even you must get seasick some time" she said. she took another mouthful of her drink as the thought about how rough the sea would be tonight. She lowered her cup and as she did she could feel a damp line across her lip aa mix of chocolate, marshmallow and cream. , she looked at her dad. "I have a big chocolate moustache don't I?" she said not wiping it away but instead trying to picture what it would look like.