Downpour

  Downpour

  By Madison Daniel

  Downpour

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Original Copyright 2009 by Madison Daniel

  Text Copyright © 2012 Madison Daniel

  All rights reserved

  Published by

  Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.

  Algonquin, IL 60102

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  Edited by: Annette M. Guerriero

  For Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing

  Cover Art Copyright 2011 by Madison Daniel

  Formatting by: Jason G. Anderson

  ~LITERARY SOUNDTRACK~

  Downpour is a living, breathing work of entertainment. It is meant to be enjoyed and consumed with a musical playlist. Each chapter is bookended by a song that resonates with the story and its characters. I have enclosed that musical playlist. Feel free to follow my lead or download your own playlist. Please do not illegally download. Support and embrace your favorite artists.

  Look, listen and fade away…

  “For my angel and my king.

  I burn for you.”

  M.

  ~Chapters and Playlist~

  Prologue - ANGELS “LIGHTNING CRASHES” - Live

  NO MORE TEARS - 01 “SAFE AND SOUND” - Sheryl Crow

  HUSH - 02 “CLIMBING UP THE WALLS” - Chris Cornell

  GHOSTS - 03 “LITTLE TOY GUN” - honeyhoney

  EDEN - 04 “CONFIDE IN ME” - Kylie Minogue

  DARK ROMANCE - 05 “UNDISCLOSED DESIRES” - Muse

  “THE WIND BLOWS” - The All-American Rejects

  MASQUERADE - 06 “GIVE IN TO ME” - Michael Jackson

  WARNING SIGNS - 07 “ERASE/REWIND” - The Cardigans

  BREAKING - 08 “INTERFACE” - Extreme

  “SLOW DANCING IN A BURNING ROOM” - John Mayer

  HOMECOMING - 09 “LANDSLIDE” - Fleetwood Mac

  THORNS - 10 “BARE HANDS” - Delta Goodrem

  POISON APPLES - 11 “THE REASON” - Hoobastank

  SKELETONS - 12 “YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT” - The Rolling Stones

  HEAVY CROWN - 13 “SANTERIA” - Sublime

  “BELIEVE” - The Bravery

  ESCAPE - 14 “ALL FALL DOWN” - OneRepublic

  “PANIC SWITCH” - Silversun Pickups

  BROTHERS - 15 “SWEET EMOTION” - Aerosmith

  BLACKOUT - 16 “CRASH INTO ME” - Dave Matthews Band

  UNINVITED - 17 “BUILDING A MYSTERY” - Sarah McLachlan

  CASTAWAY - 18 “A BEAUTIFUL MESS” - Jason Mraz

  SLEEPWALKING - 19 “SLEEPWALK” - Santo & Johnny

  “WHY CAN’T WE BE FRIENDS” - War

  PEACEMAKER - 20 “STAND BY ME” - Ben E. King

  HIDE AND SEEK - 21 “THE LITTLE THINGS” - Colbie Caillat

  PHANTOMS - 22 “UNDER PRESSURE” - Queen & David Bowie

  “YOU COULD BE MINE” - Guns N’ Roses

  JUMP - 23 “WISH YOU WERE HERE” - Incubus

  WHITE FLAG - 24 “LOVE SONG” - 311

  “TO BE WITH YOU” - Mr. Big

  FEARLESS - 25 “FEARLESS” - Bryan Adams

  “HYSTERIA” - Def Leppard

  SINNER - 26 “WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO” - Stabbing Westward

  UNDERTOW - 27 “WHEN IT RAINS” - Paramore

  INNOCENT - 28 “INNOCENT” - Fuel

  ABSOLUTION - 29 “SING FOR ABSOLUTION” - Muse

  SCARS - 30 “LETTING THE CABLES SLEEP” - Bush

  REST IN PIECES -31 “I CAN’T MAKE YOU LOVE ME” - Bonnie Raitt

  AWAKENING - 32 “BULLETPROOF” - Kerli

  RECKONING - 33 “HEY MAN NICE SHOT” - Filter

  SACRIFICE - 34 “HERON BLUE” - Sun Kil Moon

  SHADOWS - 35 “BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY” - The Verve

  DOWNPOUR - 00 “FRAGILE” - Sting

  Prologue: Angels

  ~Lightning Crashes: Live~

  “Hold on.”

  “Don’t be scared. Just push one more time.”

  How am I supposed to keep her calm when I am so scared? Come on big guy, you need to focus. Don’t let her see the fear on your old face. She screams again as the storm outside the hospital window howls, and my head begins to feel fuzzy.

  “I can’t do this! It hurts too much!” she wails.

  “Yes, you can dear.”

  “I hate this! I hate him!” she curses. Monitors beep furiously all around the room as her contractions build. She looks so frightened.

  “No you don’t.” I cough and notice the taste of blood in my throat.

  “Yes I do! I hate him! I hate that he isn’t here!” Her tiny voice cracks. I cough again and this time blood finds its way to my sweat soaked handkerchief. I try my best to hide it from her but she stops crying long enough to shoot a worried glance at me and then to her doctor.

  “That’s not true.” I say as I begin to lose color in my face. Hold on old man…just a little longer. She’s almost ready. The baby’s almost here.

  “It’s time for you to push one last time sweetheart,” the doctor says impatiently. She cuts into him with a cold glare for calling her sweetheart before surrendering to the next wave of pain. Lightning paints the windows and I hold onto the side of her bed as my legs start to give out on me. What the hell’s wrong with me?

  “Ahhhhhh…” she grits through her teeth. Her body tightens on the bed. The room fills with heat. This is it. This will change everything. Hold on old man…stay awake. Blackness pushes at the back of my thoughts, making it hard to remember where I was or what I was doing. The darkness was coming for me and I couldn’t fight it off much longer.

  “Uncle…” she calls to me with winded breath. Her little hand squeezing mine tightly. So dizzy now…room is spinning. And just before the comfort of sleep grabs me I hear the most amazing sound. The sound of a baby crying. The sound focuses my eyes for a short second. Just long enough to see the worried and tired grimace on her face and the falling rain against the window.

  “You did it dear…” I stutter out with more blood in my throat.

  “Uncle Frank!” she calls out to me but it’s too late. My eyes have gone completely dark now. In that darkness I can only see one thing…a single flame.

  “Max,” I gasp. I fall to the floor as a tiny angel cries her first breaths.

  Blackness.

  “Love can be beautiful. I read that somewhere. Maybe in a book, maybe inside a sappy card or poem. I wish love was that simple. Love can be beautiful. It can also be cold, messy, humbling, infuriating, devastating, and an endless nightmare. Call me crazy but I can’t get enough of it.” - Max Valentine.

  No More Tears - 01

  ~Safe And Sound: Sheryl Crow~

  Saturday sunset - 5:34 p.m. - May 13th.

  Mount Hope Cemetery - San Diego, California.

  “Something’s wrong,” I whispered as a swirling wind blew through the trees, sending the smell of the surrounding flower bouquets inside my head. I slipped my sunglasses from my face and put them into my back pocket, as the sun began to hide behind the haunting mountains, making the cemetery look almost beautiful.

  “Something’s missing now.” It had been a little over eight months since I had left my home, the island of Maui, I had spent most of those
days trying to avoid this place but for some reason I couldn’t stay away. Not anymore though. Not today. Gently I leaned down to place the tiny bunch of daisies I had brought with me onto the green grass before me.

  “Daisies were always your favorite,” I smiled and ran my hand through my thick dark hair. It was much shorter now, and messy. I had cut it off in an unfortunate act of rebelling. It seemed that after my tiny miracle of resurrection months before, I needed a change. A fresh start. So, off went the hair…bye bye. It felt revitalizing at the time but I was beginning to miss my bangs.

  “Daisies,” I repeated to nobody. I’ve always heard people talk about their near death experiences, but I never thought I’d know the feeling first hand. Truthfully, there was nothing ‘near’ about my death. I had died. Dead. Worm food. I had grown up with this crazy knack for healing myself. A lucky side effect to my fire starting abilities. I guess you could call me a modern day super hero. But after I awoke in that Maui hospital bed with my gunshot wounds healed, things were different. Lately I wasn’t healing like I used too. I have watched every kind of scrape and wound heal from my secret powers, but I guess my nine lives were almost up. The idea of becoming breakable was refreshing, yet scary. A nervous smile escaped my lips.

  That wasn’t the only thing that had changed either. Since I left that island hospital, my fire starting abilities seemed to be growing stronger every time I used them. With all the trouble that power had caused me throughout my 19 years, you’d imagine I’d be worried about that too. I wasn’t. Deep down I liked it. That truth was making it harder to keep my flames under control.

  “I know, I know…the last thing you wanna hear is your big brother whining. Especially today…your day.” I could feel my chest tighten and my hands heated up slightly. The cool breeze felt sweet along my warming fingers.

  “Happy Birthday sis,” I smiled and reached out to touch the lines that were neatly carved into the stone. Slowly, my fingertips traced the letters of her first name and I stole a quick glance at the same three letters tattooed along my right wrist. M.I.A. flashed across my skin in black and red ink.

  “I’m sorry I’ve missed your other birthdays. I just don’t think I was ready.” One single tear pushed at my eye. I’m still not sure if I’m ready yet. Mia was the most important person in my world, and when she died I lost the most special thing in me…hope. I’ve felt so empty all these years since. I have been struggling to fill that hole everyday of my burning life.

  “So I guess you would have been 15 today…” I said blankly, lost in thoughts of her big brown eyes and long brown pigtails.

  “I’ve spent the last couple weeks agonizing over what to get you. I wanted to find the perfect gift,” I said trying to find a smile again. I missed my little sister so much still.

  “I hope this is okay?” I placed a small black picture frame with her and I smiling wildly within its glass, on top of her headstone. It was one of the few relics I had left Maui with. I left in a hurry, but I made sure to make room for it. Now, I didn’t need it anymore. I saw her face every day anyways. I still spent my nights haunted from the same nightmare of the day she fell from my burning hands.

  As the fading daylight reflected inside the frames shiny glass, I spent a moment silent.

  “I think about you every day Mia. That will never change, I promise. But I think it’s time for me to move forward.” My voice cracked a little. “I need to heal.”

  I slid my guitar from my back and softly strummed a chord. The sound carried along the blowing wind. It settled my growing uneasiness.

  “Someone once told me that I would always be a big brother. Someone special. She was right,” I said smiling again at the thought. Haunting advice I'd been avoiding for months now. I hadn’t seen Samantha Summers in over nine months, but her words were still with me. She had always made it so easy to feel better about myself, and after these lonely months of soul searching, those words were holding me up and shining the truth on me. She had told me my little sister’s accident was just that, an accident. Mia’s death was not my fault. I had to let go of the guilt and pain. I missed Samantha’s confidence. I missed her big green eyes even more.

  I sat down in front of Mia’s headstone and began to play a song for my little sister. Sam's face slowly faded and was replaced with a growing confidence. My little sister used to love when I sang for her, so it was the least I could do on her special day. When I was finished, I looked around to be sure I was still alone.

  “I love you Mia. I promise I won’t be a stranger anymore.” I reached for the left hand corner of the headstone as a bright blue flame flickered to life around my hand. It covered my skin all the way past my wrist just before I pushed it against the cold smooth surface. Smoke peeled away from it as I pushed the flames even harder, burning my handprint into the face of the stone. My eyes followed the spinning smoke as it twisted upward to the darkening sky. Slowly I removed my hand and admired my handy work.

  As the black handprint cooled in the blowing wind a flash of something from behind the stone startled me. I had been so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I hadn’t noticed it before now. A thin, blood-red ribbon made of silk slithered back and forth in the breeze, creeping its thin arm around the side of Mia’s grave. It was tightly tied around a scroll of some kind. It looked old and was covered in three symbols. They were Chinese, and I only recognized one of them, the symbol for fire. The same symbol Asia had tattooed along her shoulder.

  My mind raced at the thought of my island angel, Asia Lyn Michaels. Time froze as her dark brown hair and brilliant blue eyes filled my mind. Her undeniable beauty was seared into my memory. I hadn’t seen her in nine months either. She had seen me die, and then she ran away from her home. Our home…Maui. I swore I’d find her again one day but had been too scared to before I dealt with my inner demons. I hadn’t found her yet, and to be honest, I wasn’t trying as hard as I should.

  “Asia.” I was terrified of seeing her again. The sad fact that I was powerless to Asia’s touch and sapphire blue stare didn’t help things. My precious, moody, rainmaker. I was special in my abilities, and so was she. She was my inner infernos counterpart. My opposite. I looked up to the sky’s fading sunlight and wished one of her emotional storms were above me instead.

  “Where are you?” I asked a little winded. How much my fires yearned for her had become legendary. Now, staring down at the gift she had left for my sister, I could only think of one thing. I needed Asia. My flames would not be denied her any longer. It was time to find her. It was time to live again.

  “My kryptonite,” I said as I slid her gift next to the bundle of white daisies I had brought. Asia had been right here. Right where I was standing. My mind raced to the last time I had seen her and those all-consuming blue eyes. Standing in the rain, bleeding, those eyes watched me as I died. They cried for me.

  “See you little sis,” I smiled and walked away.

  Hush - 02

  ~Climbing Up The Walls: Chris Cornell~

  Friday afternoon - 2:31 p.m. - June 16th.

  I wasn’t expecting it to take this long to track Asia down, and now that this rickety old bus had almost reached its destination, I filled with hope. When money is no object, and you don’t want to be found, disappearing is quite easy. Asia and her family were loaded. As rich as it gets. She could have run away to the moon if she desired it.

  I almost gave up a week ago. I was growing doubtful I’d ever find her, as I made my way into the little town of Needles, California. I was sitting in my simple but quiet motel room watching the ceiling fan spin me into unconsciousness when the local weather channel gave me my first ray of hope. The smiling weather lady pointed out that the seasonal rains had been acting completely out of character down near the bottom of Mexico. She chalked it up to global warming, but I knew better. Asia was as special as I was. With her emotions, came the rain. Lots and lots of rain. She was what the local islanders referred to as, a rainmaker. If I was fire…she was my opposite. She
was water.

  So I used the last of the money I had left and headed for the border. Once I made it to the border the real detective work started. I only knew a handful of words in Spanish and found it extremely hard to find help. I had spent most of the day running in circles, but a young mother and her son helped me in the beautiful town of San Carlos, pointing me in the right direction.

  Apparently her family was from just outside the small-secluded town that seemed to be going through the early monsoons. Her father had told her that the beaches of Punta Allen were dying, and that a broken heart had brought forth this curse.

  Punta Allen was a tiny town on the ocean, just outside of Tulum, Mexico that lived and breathed by its fishing, and business was fading. The new powerful storms had chased off all the fish.

  “Gracias,” I smiled to the driver as I stepped from the bus. He only glared at me and then up at the darkening skies. He was far from comfortable here. He probably thought this little town was cursed too. Hopefully I could help them with their new curse, even though I was also scared that my resurrection just might make this so called curse even worse. I had no idea how Asia would react to me, and that sobering thought had wreaked havoc on my mind and stomach.

  “Just breathe,” I whispered as the air filled my lungs. Music pumped inside my head through my mp3 players’ earphones. By habit, I ran my hand through my hair, messing up my bangs. They had grown out again in the past month of searching for Asia. I had missed the comfort they afforded me after I cut them off months before. I had another habit of hiding behind them when I was nervous.

  “You can do this,” I encouraged myself. The air felt wet and heavy with hardly any sun above. Slowly, I made my way to the middle of the town. There were only a few people scattered around the streets. Not a single one of them looked happy to see me. The little cursed town was dead quiet. Not much more than the grumbling thunder overhead could be heard. I started to doubt my decision to come here.