After the Storm and Other Stories

By Alex Porter

Three very different stories of love ~ 'After The Storm' depicts an emotional journey from heartbreak to true love ~ 'Breathe' highlights one man's struggle to overturn the status quo in his love life ~ 'The Community' is an often brutal tale of love's ability to prevail even in the most difficult of situations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781291322743

Alex Porter

Alex Porter is engineering development manager at Entela, where he supervises testing and validation programs at five different locations. His managerial responsibilities include testing and validation software development, design of testing methods and procedures, and analysis of test results. He holds three patents for testing methods and has written articles for such magazines as Compliance Engineering and has given technical seminars in testing and validation methods for the Society of Automotive Engineers.

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After the Storm and Other Stories

After the Storm and Other Stories

Copyright © Alex Porter, 2013

ISBN 978 1 291 32274 3

All rights reserved

This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the publisher

except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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After The Storm

One ~ After The Storm

As a child, Lindsey was always afraid of storms.  As the thunder clapped and the lightening flashed outside of her bedroom window at night, she would pull the covers high over her head, curling herself into a ball, covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut tight to block out the horrors that lay outside the protection of the house.  She would remain like this until the storm had passed.  Only then would she relax, physically and mentally, and allow herself to enter the realms of sleep.

Now, she looked into the mirror with tears streaming down her face.  Her make-up had run and her eyes were bloodshot.  This was the first time since those storms when she was younger that she had wanted to once more curl into a ball and isolate herself from the rest of the world.

She wiped away the latest tear to fall from her emerald green eyes and took a deep breath.

It wasn’t meant to be like this, she muttered to herself, still gazing at her own, downtrodden reflection.  A picture of elegance and beauty, soiled by recent events.

She had grown up with the same stories of love and happiness that every other girl did.  But, though she was still young at just twenty three, Lindsey couldn’t help but feel that love was not the all-conquering emotion that it had been built up to be.  How could it be when it could break her heart like this?

When she had first met him, Rhys had seemed like the perfect gentleman.  It was the simple things more than anything else that made her feel the way she did about him.  The way he would put his arm around her for no reason or the way he would hold her gaze as he smiled at her.  It was like she was the only girl in the world.  How could any girl have resisted that?

For two wonderful years, it was near perfect.  Their first date had been a picnic in the middle of an expansive meadow where they were perfectly alone.  Just the two of them and the beauty of the sun.  Two months into their romance they had met each other’s parents and after seven months they went on their first holiday to a cottage on the coast where they spent a week wandering the cliffs overlooking the sea, relaxing on the beach and enjoying the feeling of being with the one person you trust most in the world.  This certainly lived up to all the stories that she had listened to or read when she was younger.

It would not be exaggerating to say that other people were jealous of Lindsey and Rhys.  They were the couple that everyone was talking about.  Speculating about when, not if, they would get married.  Conversation never even hinted that the two of them would ever be apart.  It was unthinkable to everyone, including the two of them.

So as she sat on the edge of her bed, with her head on the shoulder of her best friend, Tamsin, she could not piece together the events that had bridged the gap between that idyllic, fairy tale romance and the feeling of betrayal and emptiness that now engulfed her.  Her mind was racing, all the memories inside it mixed up by emotions.  Anger was tearing them apart and sadness blurring them.

It will get better, Tamsin reassured her.

Lindsey couldn’t even manage any words.  She maintained her blank stare, her inflamed eyes fixed on nothing in particular.  Although she didn’t say anything, she was grateful that Tamsin was there.  And Tamsin knew she was.  It was comforting to know that someone was there for her and she had never been let down by her best friend.

Shall I make you something to eat? enquired Tamsin.

Lindsey lifted her head and nodded, still unable to force out a word.  She felt so energy deficient that, even in the state she was in, she knew she was in need of food.  Tamsin stood up and turned to face her, smiling at her.

I’ll be back in a minute, she said.

She leant over to her friend and gave her a reassuring kiss on the forehead.  With that, she turned to head out of Lindsey’s bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen.

As soon as Tamsin left the room, Lindsey was overcome by a sense of being alone.  She looked out of the window ahead of her but could see nothing.  The fields stretched out in front of her window towards the village, but it was pitch black outside and nothing was visible.  Night always follows the day, even when time seems to stand still.

Lindsey stood up and surveyed her surroundings but didn’t know what she was looking for.  She once again caught sight of herself in her mirror, but this time from further away.  The dress she was wearing flowed down to her knees, floating elegantly over her body, giving a hint, but nothing more, of what lay beneath.

The same dress she was wearing when she had found out.

As quickly as she could manage, Lindsey reached behind and unzipped the dress, slipping the straps off her shoulder and allowing it to fall in a crumpled heap at her feet.  She kicked the outfit into the corner of the room, with more than a hint of anger and frustration.  She then crossed the room to her drawers and pulled out a vest top and some shorts to sleep in.  It felt better to be rid of the clothes but, more importantly, the memories that went with them.

She stood again in her room, alone with nothing but her own thoughts.  She desperately looked for something to do.  When she thought about things, she got upset, but had no more tears left to cry.  The last tears still stained her peaches-and-cream cheeks.

Luckily, just in time, Tamsin arrived upstairs with a sandwich and two mugs of hot chocolate.  She placed the mugs on the bedside table and motioned to Lindsey to get into her bed.  She obliged, slipping under the covers and rearranging the pillows to support her back.

We’ll have these and then I’ll head off, OK? said Tamsin.

Stay, please? proposed Lindsey, the thought of being alone all night giving her the necessary desire to speak.  I want you to stay with me.  Plus, it’s dark outside and not safe.

Tamsin had driven to her house tonight and so she knew the part about it not being safe was irrelevant. 

Lindsey lived on a farm with her parents a few miles outside of the nearest village, where Tamsin lived.  She had lived there all her life and could never imagine leaving the farm.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  Such a contrast to how she felt inside at this moment in time.

OK, I’ll stay.  Can I borrow something to sleep in please? replied Tamsin, detecting the desperation in her best friend’s question.

Of course.  Help yourself.

Tamsin obliged and then joined Lindsey in her double bed.  As Lindsey took more and more bites of her sandwich, she could feel the energy beginning to regenerate.  She had never felt so drained in her whole life and the new energy coming from within felt good.  A warmth that emanated from the pit of her stomach.

The girls continued to chat whilst lying in the bed.  Tamsin tried, and mostly succeeded, in keeping conversation light and, crucially, away from anything Rhys-related.  After a couple of hours, both girls finally drifted off to sleep.

Two ~ Morning

As a young girl, Lindsey would always walk down to the banks of the river running through their farm after a storm the previous night.  The ground was inevitably muddy and the air misty, but the water of the river was so soothing as it babbled along that it was worth it.

Though there had been no physical storm last night, the air was still misty.  As she sat cross-legged, her legs still covered by nothing but the shorts she slept in and some mud stains, Lindsey stared deep into the water in front of her, letting it flow through her fingers as she dangled her hand in the clear, blue river.

It was cold this morning but she did not mind.  She had grabbed a jumper as she left her bedroom leaving Tamsin fast asleep on the other side of the bed but it was not enough to keep out the chill.  Rather than being uncomfortable, it was invigorating and refreshing as the cool, breeze brushed over her naked legs and through the loose weave of the jumper, inviting goose bumps all over her skin.

To her right, Lindsey spotted a lone daisy growing.  She leaned over and plucked it from the ground.  Studying the flower she couldn’t help but think of the sun emitting its rays.  Her eyes began to water gently as she thought of how the sun’s rays had been shining so brightly on her first date with Rhys, the person who had taken her to her happiest and left her at her saddest.

She took a deep breath in and placed the daisy on