Zoe

Ack!

Zoe woke up. She was dripping wet. Water had just soaked through her hoodie and hair and touched her skin.

Her first thought was that the tide had swallowed her. But she quickly felt the patter of rain. She looked up at the sky through squinty wet eyes, and then and only then did it start to pour.

Grey and white lightnings flashed in the distance, twin forks in the sky and in the lake's black mirror. The lake whorled and gurgled as it digested the shower. Thunder cracked hollowly through the howling wind, which Zoe heard faintly through her wet hoodie, as if she was underwater.

She was freezing cold. She ransacked her backpack for another layer, anything to ward off the wetness. But her clothes in her bag were soaked too. She felt like she was drowning.

How long had she slept?

She located her bike in the blackness. Lightning glinted off its wet metal handles. There was nothing to do now but to go home to shelter. She pulled her hoodie as tight as she could around her head, even though it didn't make a difference anymore, and began to walk towards her bike—