BANG. BANG. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Groggily, I am roused from my slumber to a myriad of noises. Rain, wind, and now some sort of banging coming from the door flood me into reality. What the...? I wonder to myself. What could be causing such banging from my door in the eye of a hurricane! The immediate chill in the air awakens me further as I disentagle myself from my bed and head towards my front door.
The banging hasn't let up and by the increase in sound and frequency, I realize that the only logical conclusion is that there is a person there. Feeling relatively safe with the chain lock still in place, I open up the door as much as possible.
"Ian!" I exclaim, quickly unlocking the deadbolt and letting my drenched boyfriend inside my home. "You're soaked! What are you doing here? In the middle of a hurricane? Are you crazy?"
"I was going crazy not hearing from you!" Ian responds while dripping what appears to be an entirely impossible amount of water all over my entryway.
"Yeah, well, the power is out and my phone died! What was I supposed to do? Send a carrier pigeon? You weren't responding to my calls on the walkie talkie." I respond with unexpected sarcastic defensiveness.
Your eyes narrow. My defensiveness suddenly evaporates (if only all the water you brought inside would too).
"Let me get you some towels...and some dry clothes." I head to the laundry and grab as many towels as possible. I'm thankful to find an extra pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt left from one of your visits.
I come back out and wrap a towel around you and hand you the rest. Your shoes are already off and you begin drying off.
Fifteen minutes later you're changed and are mostly dry. I have all your wet articles of clothing hanging off the shower curtain drying.
"I'm sorry I worried you." I respond as I snuggle up next to you on the couch, grateful to not have to be riding out this storm alone and without power and a dead cell phone.
"I was out of my mind not hearing from you for a whole day. I thought you were prepared for this hurricane!"
"I didn't think it would get this bad so fast and my cell phone was nearly dead before the power went out..then once it died I didn't think it would stay off so long...and I didn't want to unnecessarily worry you..." I trail off.
Guilt engulfs me. I knew you already felt bad enough not being able to ride out the hurricane with me due to needing to look after your grandparents as the only relative in town for the storm.
"Who's with your grandparents?" I ask.
"Their neighbors also stayed behind. When my grandparents saw how worried I was they asked them if they wanted to ride out the storm together and gave me their blessing to check in on you. To be honest with you they were almost as concerned as I was I think. That reminds me, let me give them a call and let them know you're ok."
During the phone call I pace anxiously around the living room. Guilt enveloping me. The relief and their well wishes, while heartwarming, only make me feel worse and worse about causing so much worry for everyone.
The phone conversation over, I settle back down on the opposite end of the couch, in my own personal corner of shame.
"C'mere," you say. I snuggle back in, your arms wrapped securely around me. "I'm just glad you're ok." I don't respond other than with a murmur of agreement.
We cuddle contendly for a while before I ask softly, "Can I see your phone?"
You hand it over to me and I find my name and type a message to myself:
I think you should punish me
