Thunder growled a deep rumbling warning. Lisa pulled a curtain back to examine the sky. Early May was still tornado season in northwest Arkansas, but this storm was forecasted to be only a flash flood threat. In the hilly city of Fayetteville, that was a threat during any heavy rain. Hopefully her family would be in the restaurant now - safe from any flooding on the highway.
She stared into the early darkness of a thick cloud cover. In those last moments when it was too late, she had decided to go with them. Dad was in a hurry to beat the storm, so she had said nothing as the car backed out of the drive. Only Nick noticed her standing in the door. His bright smile with the two missing front teeth faded as he realized they were leaving without her. He pressed his face against the window and managed a forlorn goodbye wave. It was a moment that lay in her stomach like a week-long hunger, regardless of the fact that they had been gone only minutes. A long train whistle sounded several times, adding to the dark mood of the evening.
Lightning stabbed a single brilliant gnarled finger at the earth. A moment later, veins of light threaded through dark low clouds. The first raindrop slammed into the window so hard that she instinctively recoiled. Releasing the curtain, she turned away from the window. A newspaper with Allen's picture on it lay opened on the coffee table. Two weeks was hardly long enough for the media to forget the arrest of a prominent doctor's son for selling drugs. She folded the newspaper to shut the accusing eyes. In spite of what Allen thought, no incriminating words had crossed her lips. To an extent she had even been an accomplice. Allen's frequent exchange of books with other students might not have been noticed by others, but for a person with journalistic ambitions, it was intrigue. To her imaginative and inexperienced mind, it was obvious that he was doing their homework. He was the Robin Hood of Literature, stealing from the education paid for by the rich and giving to the poor who lacked the skills and resources to complete their homework. It was wrong, but somehow noble. Allen was good looking, popular and exciting - at first. Even his ability to find alcohol for a party was adventurous. Sure, they were minors, but if they were old enough to sign up to fight in Iraq, they should be old enough to make their own choice about alcohol.
Gradually the reality of his antics sank in. He wasn't doing it for anyone but Allen. What was once noble morphed into irresponsible rebellion. The clever journalist shriveled into the recesses of her mind. Even so, she had never suspected the truth - the drugs. Two weeks before the arrest, she dissolved the remainder of their relationship. Allen couldn't be rejected, so he belittled her intelligence, the close relationship with her family and accused her of cheating on him. Emotional hurt wasn't satisfying enough. His fist was aimed at her stomach, but she managed to dodge and catch it on her rib cage. Even so, it left a large bruise and sore ribs for a few weeks.