Before the Storm, Erin House [best novels to read TXT] 📗

She stood. For a while, she ran, but now she just stood. Circumstances forced her to. Raised poor, she lived poor. Abandoned, she stayed alone. The tears coursing down her face spoke her emotions with more clarity than the world's most skilled poet. And she stood; alone; tired. Giving up, she turned to face the storm. Her bare feet gripped the cold ground. Her bare arms gripped her cold body. No place to go, no money with which to purchase shelter. The luxury of solitude and a silent tear were all she had. Lightning flashed, and the wind swathed her face, a kissing betrayal, as it threatened to send its own insulting wet to replace her bitter tears. No longer could she run; weary and lost, she never had been capable of outrunning the gale. She could see it. The foreboding clouds formed a stark line across the sky, moving toward her. Dirt was thrown in her eyes, and again she cried. Thunder rolled, manifesting its impending domination of the lost maiden. Thunder, like the hoof beats of a thousand horsemen. And she was moved. She herself, rooted by circumstances with no escape; and she moved. Was it delusion? Was it the last desperate attempt of a feeble spirit to refuse defeat? She moved, and the thunderous sound of a thousand hoof beats moved with her. She collapsed to the ground in submissive surrender to the elements, and the ground never came. She felt a strength external to her own. It was wrapped around her frail self with a might beyond her capacity to understand. It wasn't cold, compassionless, and forceful. It was gentle, compassionate, and guiding. And a thousand hoof beats went with her. The storm sent its frightening messenger to deliver fear to her, but words with depth greater than the mighty peals of thunder commanded peace and assurance. Turning, in weakness and fear, she beheld the face of her rescuer. Strength, ability, skill, concern, loss, lessons learned, and an unfathomable depth of character smiled back at her. Immediately, she knew something she had never known before: love. And the thunderous sound of a thousand hoof beats went with her.

Publication Date: 07-19-2010

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