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On the fourth night of the aurora, it changes from dancing lights to a strange, swirling maelstrom. A cold wind picks up, swirling wildly. Near midnight, the wind is strong enough to topple lighter bushes and knock branches from trees. No major damage has been done, but it is still a storm no one wants to be out in. Suddenly, the colors in the sky seem to explode. A distant echo, like thunder, rolls through the town. The aurora is gone, and so is its strange spell. The only thing that lingers are the small, colorful beads that fall from the sky like hail. They sparkle in all colors of the aurora and are never any larger than a marble. Most of them seem safe, but if you hold too many at one time you are met with the same sleepless affliction the town was suffering under the aurora.
Siobhan wasn't exactly sure when she started getting up and walking around again. Everything she was doing, from moving her feet to touching her face felt automatic, almost robotic. Maybe this was what her textbooks back in school meant by "survival mode", when the brain starts to work as little as it can and switches to autopilot. Regardless, the world around her felt like she'd just stepped off of a tilt-o-whirl at a terrible carnival and she didn't like it.
The kitchen clock said 11:59 PM, but to her it felt like a million years had gone by. She rubbed her red, tired eyes and trailed her hand along the cold granite counter, the change of temperature stimulating her senses just enough for her to think. Window. She should check the window to see if the aurora was still there.
She shuffled slowly out from the kitchen and into the living room. The curtains were already drawn because no one had the energy to do it the night before and it took quite a lot of strength for her not to slam her face against the glass, but by the grace of God she'd managed to take a good look up at the sky. The damn aurora was still there, though it seemed far more furious than before. A sigh billowed out from within her. She, and her entire family for that matter, were going to lose their minds from sleep deprivation before the New Year started if this aurora stayed! When was this nightmare going to end?
As though on cue, a loud smashing sound sent Siobhan jumping back toward the dining room table. A branch had just come slamming down along with a frenzy of wind. Siobhan clutched the sides of her head impulsively, ducked down, and craned her head up. The aurora was spinning uncontrollably now, almost too rapidly too be seen. Then, as though they were fireworks, the aurora seemed to burst, a roll of thunder soon following. However, Siobhan had just enough time to process all of this before her legs gave out from under her and she fell into a deep slumber.
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Hours late, the following night, Siobhan woke up on the couch with a cool washcloth laid over her head. Everything about the previous few days felt like a dream, a very bad dream. But, as she stood and greeted her equally tired family, the headache radiating from her forehead told her a different story. The aurora had been real and she'd just woken from her first restful sleep in days.
But the aurora didn't need Siobhan's pain to prove that it had been real. Upon opening the front door to check the sky, the presence of tiny, rainbow colored beads laying among the snow was a enough of a reminder to everyone of what had happened. Temptation almost had her bending over to gather the remains, but fear kept her safely away. Instead, it would be back to bed for the entire Morte family, and hopefully a happy, uneventful, New Year ahead of them.
Word Count: 507