Serenade

It took a true storm over the island to keep Jeremy inside. There was a spot during the fall months when the weather became particularly turbulent and the waves would crest too high to take any boat out. Just a handful of days but that meant, on those particularly stormy ones, he was relegated to house chores. He didn’t know anyone in the little town and there was no cause to go visiting even if he did. The storm rumbled and flashed overhead, pouring heavily on the old house he’d claimed for himself.
Sebastian has braved the weather to spend some time at one of his friend’s place. Ezekiel or Miranda’s, Jeremy couldn’t say. Leave it to his younger brother to make friends within the first weeks of having arrived while Jeremy knew most of the names of the people… But that was it… and he’d been living there almost a year. High Shore had all the small town quiet but none of the closeness. So many of them kept to themselves, offering tight-lipped smiles when Jeremy’s eyes met their at the small grocery store.
Honestly, he was fine with it.
He leaned against the front doorway and continued to sip his coffee while he watched the storm, like one might watch a show. Tracking the drift of the dark clouds, the waves of rain that danced across the black street in front of his house, and the way the branches twisted with the occasional strong gust. It wasn’t the rain so much that kept him in but the winds that would be too much for his little shipping boat.
Rain sounded like rain, no matter where he lived. A storm was a storm. Some things were a constant. He had wanted something different when he moved to High Shore. While the cold and dreary weather was, the sound of it.. It lacked the cars, the traffic, the general noise of a much larger city. But the rain still sounded like rain.
As he lift the plain mug for another sip of coffee, a pitch in the wind sounded like something more. A held note to some ethereal song he couldn’t quite hear. Something played under the pattering of the rain on the porch roof over head. Only when the rain gust was the sound carried again. A beautiful note, a part of song he missed, that he had no name for but pulled at him none the less. Jeremy hadn’t realized he’d stepped forward until another gust had the rain hitting him, the chill shocking him from his overwhelming curiosity.
Before he could actually consider wandering out into the rain to see if there was someone out there singing, a measured patter and shape resolved itself in the storm. The oversized raincoat was familiar. Alto stopped at the bottom of the porch steps – two steps down and he was so short. So small. The new comer smiled up at Jeremy despite the rain, the porch light casting his pale face in pretty shadows. “What are you doing out here?”
Jeremy took a step back, half smiling while he tilted his head in welcome. “I should ask you the same.”
Alto bounced up the couple of steps and brushed past Jeremy. A full head shorter. He shrugged out of the old raincoat as he crossed the threshold of the house before he glanced over his shoulder in Jeremy’s direction. “I thought I would keep you company during the storm. It’s boring having to sit inside all day, isn’t it?”
Jeremy glanced back out at the storm. Waited a moment for another gust but this time, it was just the wind. Just the rain. With a self-depreciating smile, he turned to join Alto inside.
“What’s so funny?” Alto asked, stepping out of his rain boots.
“Thought I heard someone singing in the rain.” Jeremy wandered into the small kitchen attached to the living room. Already the house felt warmer with someone else in it. When had he become used to company? When Sebastian had moved in? Or was it having Alto over every day?
Alto scoffed as he leaned against the counter next to Jeremy, peering up at him with a little smile. “Was it a good song?”
Figuring Alto was humoring him, Jeremy glanced down at him and answered, “I only heard it on the wind… Not quite sure what the song was.”
Alto’s smile remained small while he took the coffee Jeremy made for him, looking down at the cup. Almost… shy? “Must be hearing things. No one would be singing in a storm like this.”
Jeremy turned so he was leaning back on the counter, unable to help but huff a quiet laugh. “Just like no one would be running down the street for a visit?”

Jeremy

Jeremy Warren A silly human listening to a storm.

Alto

A silly siren singing in the rain on his way to visit said silly human.