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All Percy wanted to do was go to a water park with his baby sister. Was that too much to ask?
Apparently, yes.
His sister, Estelle, bounced up and down in excitement the whole car ride to the park, singing about all the fun things she was going to do. Percy really didn’t think anything could go wrong during their trip, which was the wrong thing to hope for, knowing his rotten luck. He was jinxing the whole thing by saying that, really, which meant the world would be out to ruin his day by that point. After all, it was all bright and sunny just twenty minutes beforehand, back when he first arrived at the water park. Really, it was. There wasn’t even a dark cloud in the sky. He had time to put his bags down on one of the lounge beach chairs and everything.
Tucking his phone into one of his bag’s inner pockets, he reached over and scooped up his baby sister into his arms, laughing as she let out the most adorable giggles. He ignored how their shadows darken, assuming it didn’t mean much.
A mistake on his part.
A drop of water dripped down, hitting the top of his head, right at his hairline.
“What the…” he muttered to himself, confused by the weird sensation that touched his head. He paused, his whole body going still, as realization crept upon him. Slowly, he tilted his head slightly to glance up at the darkening sky, watching as gray storm clouds inched their way over his head.
“Oh,” he mumbled to himself, shifting his sister higher into his arms. “That’s not a good sign.”
His baby sister pouted. “Can we go into the water now?” She whined, pointing at the pool that was only a few feet away from them.
Percy opened his mouth to reply, only to get cut off by a flash of lightning. “... I don’t think so,” he answered, quickly turning back to their lounge chair and plopping his sister back to the ground. He moved at a rapid-fire pace, shoving everything they brought back into his bag, not bothering to care about the haphazardness of it all. He winced as he heard a rumble of thunder roar in his ears. “I think it might be time to go now, actually.”
Estelle gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief. “But we just got here!” She complained, knocking her chubby little hands into his legs.
“We did, but that's a storm cloud over there, ‘Stell,” he said, pointing at the dark gray spot that lingered above the wave pool. “Lightning and water don’t mix, remember?”
She sighed dramatically before nodding her head sagely in a way that only a 4-year-old could get away with. “Mm, yeah, I remember.”
Percy grinned, pressing a quick kiss to the top of Estelle’s head. “We’ll go out to ice cream after this, ‘kay?”
She brightened at that, and Percy couldn't hide his amused chuckles. He hoisted his sister up into his arms, placing her against his hip as he grabbed his bag and slung it over his free shoulder. Making sure both his belongings and his sister were secure, he made his way towards the exit, following the crowd. He hoped that they could make it to his car before the rain picked up too much, but he was sorely mistaken. Percy quickly moved under an open awning, just in time for the sky to fully open up.
Under their temporary canopy of safety, he stared out into the empty walkways of the waterpark, feeling the warm rainwater tickling his toes as it passed by. People had quickly filtered out after the rain hit, either scurrying under another awning as he did or out of the park entirely. From where he stood, he could see a pair of (what he only assumed were) siblings across from him, taking shelter as well. The girl was blonde, though there was a red streak in her hair, and she was probably a few years younger than him. The boy had much darker skin than his sister, with dark brown curls on the top of his head. Despite their contrasting looks, they held themselves in a way that gave Percy the impression that they were related. Maybe it was the look in their eyes, or perhaps it was their matching beach towels, both of which were in bright obnoxious colors, and had the word “Kane” embroidered onto the edges of them.
Who knew what tipped him off.
The girl shivered. She was soaked to the bone, trembling as she pulled her towel closer around herself.
“Don’t worry,” her brother said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder as he shook his head. “Rain never lasts very long in Florida.”
Estelle looked up at the sky in fear. While Percy knew that the boy’s words were true, he couldn’t help but feel that the storm they were under might have been an exemption to that fact.
Ten minutes passed as the different patrons of the park waited for the sky to give an inch.
It didn’t.
Estelle shivered, a miserable expression on her face as she tucked her head into his shoulder. “Can we go now, Percy?”
Percy pursed his lips together, taking out a mostly dry towel from his bag and draped it over his sister’s head. “We’re making a run for it, okay?”
She nodded, and Percy stepped out into the downpour. The siblings across from him did the same, seeming like it was their time to leave as well.
They all walk out of the park together, only parting ways while in the parking lot. Percy knew they weren’t really walking as a group, seeing as they didn’t know each other, but he felt a sense of understanding pass between them all, having a common goal in mind. They all wished to exit the park, and the only way to do so was to step through the cruel rainstorm that soaked them all to the bone.
Percy managed to get his sister buckled up in the backseat with only mild complaining; the young girl was wet, but thankfully was not freezing cold. He slipped himself into the driver's seat, tossing the extremely damp bag into the passenger’s seat.
“So,” he started, twisting his head to look back at his sister. “How does ice cream sound?”
The only reply he got was a loud cheer, which he took as a confirmation. Smiling to himself, Percy rotated back in his seat and turned on the ignition.
It didn’t stop raining for the rest of the day, but that only seemed to make the ice cream taste sweeter.