Flash Flood
Avery Sam
Flash Flood
by Avery Sam
Copyright Information
Flash Flood
by Avery Sam
© 2025 Avery Sam
All rights reserved.
Author: Avery Sam
Contact details: averysam.parachute371@passinbox.com
Book cover, illustration: Avery Sam
Editing, proofreading: Avery Sam
This e-book, including its portions, is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced, resold, or redistributed without the permission of the author.
If you liked the e-book, recommend that your friends buy a personal copy. A big thank you for respecting the author's work!
The Warbler
Roger was supposed to be looking for a Black-throated Green Warbler, but instead, his binoculars kept drifting over to where Kiki and her friends were horsing around, giggling and laughing while filming TikTok videos.
The birdwatching app that Roger used had sent out an alert that a flock of Black-throated Green Warblers had been spotted a few miles west on their annual spring pilgrimage through the Midwest, which is what had gotten Roger to log off his computer and rush down to Sloane Park.
With its vibrant olive-green back, bright yellow face, and distinct black throat, the Warbler would've been an outstanding addition to his personal tally, but it was precisely its green coloring that made it so hard to spot through the foliage. That, plus the irresistible urge to keep looking over to see what Kiki and her friends were doing.
Roger knew it was wrong to spy on someone, but even an intellectual like himself found it hard to fight the biological instinct that all teenage boys have to look at a pretty girl. And Kiki Roberts wasn't just pretty - she was the most beautiful girl in school with a thin, petite build and long, straight hair that rippled as she walked down the hallway.
Of course, he wasn't the only one who felt that way - every girl wanted to be her friend, and every guy wanted to date her. Roger had never even spoken to her, but he'd watched her from afar many times, mesmerized by her confidence and grace.
Unlike a lot of the popular girls, Kiki wasn't stuck up at all. In fact, she was so cool that she had declined joining the cheer squad and yet was still the unofficial queen of Westmoreland High.
Who else could get away with that but Kiki Roberts? Yet it was precisely her popularity and beauty that made her totally out of his league. That's why he was standing deep in the shadows of the treeline, watching through binoculars rather than taking advantage of the serendipitous fact that they were both in the same place at the same time to go and talk to her.
Just then, a hard gust of wind hit him, and Roger thumbed over to his weather app, which was now warning that there was a 50% chance of a thunderstorm in the next hour. Heavy rains weren't unusual at that time of year, but a glance up at the sky revealed no ominous storm clouds, so Roger decided to give spotting the Warbler another chance before packing it up and heading home.
Using his binoculars, he began scanning through the uppermost branches one by one, looking for that telltale flash of yellow, but all he saw were a couple of robins and ordinary sparrows. For a quick second, he thought he saw something colorful way up high near the crown, but when he zoomed in, he saw it was just a plastic bag that had been carried there by the currents.
Disappointed, Roger felt his body begin to swivel, and the next thing he knew, he was watching Kiki and her friends again. They were gathered near the gazebo, Kiki out in front of course, doing some kind of coordinated dance to music that he couldn't hear. She looked absolutely fabulous in a pair of jean shorts and a bandeau top that showed off her exquisite physique.
A shudder ran through him as he wished he was filming this instead of looking at her through his binoculars. That would be a step too far, but that didn't stop him from imagining how much he'd love to watch that video over and over in the comfort of his bedroom. Everything about her turned him on so much, and he began to seethe with frustration that he would never have a chance to go out with her.
Roger's father had repeatedly assured him that the old days when only jocks got the good-looking girls were over, but it simply wasn't true. The cool guys at Westmoreland were either football players, basketball players, musicians in a band, or had rich parents who would let you host parties on the weekend. And what did Roger have? Nothing that girls wanted, that's for sure.
He had his comic books, his love of chess, and his hobbies like birdwatching and encyclopedic knowledge of obscure historical facts, which didn't count for jack squat amongst his peers.
Even Sean Grady, who was pretty nerdy himself, could do magic tricks and tell funny jokes to impress girls. All Roger had was a perennial case of shyness, which is probably why he was wandering around in the park looking for a bird instead of hanging out with friends like normal people did.
As he sat down to get a more comfortable position to continue watching Kiki, he began to muse about which friend of hers was going to be the lucky one chosen to post the video on TikTok.
Kiki was so cool that she didn't even use social media, saying it was "harmful for her mental health," but that certainly didn't stop her friends from taking every opportunity possible to get a selfie with her or do a dance with her for their feeds.
Roger inwardly cringed as he realized that he was going to go home soon and then spend the next hour searching through every one of her friend's Tiktok channels until he found the video they were recording. Or maybe they'd post it on Instagram or Snapchat or whatever other app was cool at the moment, meaning he'd have to spend hours just to get another glimpse at her, which was pretty darn pathetic.
But Kiki was just so pretty and so energetic, her smile enlarged in the view screen of his binoculars making his heart pound in his chest. He'd probably die if she ever looked at him like that in real life. Even her teeth seemed to gleam as she grinned and waved her arms around to the rhythm of the song.
But his idle musings were interrupted when another powerful gust of wind shook the trees. Roger glanced down and saw that the chances of a thunderstorm had been upgraded to 80%, and the county had put out a flash flood warning for low-lying areas. Looking up, he saw that the sky to the west had turned black.
Logically, he knew it was time to head back home. But how could he give up this unique opportunity to watch Kiki up close like that? It wasn't like he'd probably ever get another chance.
She was always mobbed by friends and hangers-on at school, and he'd never crossed paths with her in public before except the one time he'd seen her at the grocery store shopping with her mother and two younger sisters.
And so Roger stayed right where he was, accepting the fact that he was a pathetic little pervert. But Kiki was in a public place, and he wasn't recording her, so it was just going to have to be something he'd live with.
And if nothing else, the scene before him would provide some lively inspiration for his imagination during those lonely Friday nights when everyone else was out having fun instead of playing chess online against 60-year-old alcoholics from the former Soviet Union.
It was only when the first hard drops of rain began to fall, causing Kiki and her friends to shriek and scatter, that Roger realized he'd stayed too long.
The storm was upon them, and it turned out to be far more destructive than he ever could've imagined.
Glimmer of Interest
As the downpour began in earnest, Roger ran toward where he'd locked up his bike at the edge of the parking lot.
The rain was falling so hard that he could scarcely see in front of him, but just as he got to the edge of the tree line, he heard a female scream coming from the direction of the gazebo, exactly where he'd last seen Kiki and her friends.
Roger froze in his tracks, his mind racing as he tried to decide what to do. Should he continue on toward his bicycle and go home before the roads got washed out? Or should he investigate the source of that female scream? It was almost impossible to choose, especially since he didn't even know if it was Kiki who had shouted or one of her friends.
Eventually, his hormonal curiosity settled the matter and so he made a sharp left and went running toward the gazebo. At this point, the winds were swirling so hard and the rain falling so hard that the drops felt like needles stinging his skin.
It was easily the most intense storm he'd ever been out in, and he began to worry whether it might also spawn a tornado.
With one giant leap over the puddle at the base of the stairs, Roger made his way under the roof of the gazebo. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, gulping in huge lungfuls of air.
Here under the roof, the rain looked like a solid curtain of water, almost as if they were a car in one of those automated car washes.
It was certainly a fascinating sight, but not nearly as interesting as the fact that none other than Kiki Roberts was standing just a few feet away on the other side of the gazebo. She'd gotten soaked from head to toe, and Roger silently marveled at how beautiful she looked with wet hair.
But he dared not stare at her too long for fear of being rude, so he kept his eyes fixed ahead, only occasionally taking a quick glance at her out of the corner of his eyes.
For several long minutes, the two of them stood there as the heavens opened up and unleashed a mighty deluge onto Sloane Park. Visibility was reduced to just a few feet, so all there was to look at was an endless expanse of gray and the water as it fell down in great gusting sheets.
Soaked to the bone himself, Roger shivered, both from the chill in the air and at the majesty of the raw power of nature. Being in that gazebo was like standing underneath a waterfall, and he almost wanted to reach out and touch the curtain of water as it fell.
But then he glanced over and saw that Kiki was trembling. Dressed only in a pair of shorts and a bandeau top, she was probably freezing.
Roger instinctively wanted to peel off his zip-up sweatshirt and offer it to her, but his terminal shyness kept him rooted to the spot. She probably had no idea who he was and would take his offer of generosity as the actions of a creep. Therefore, he just stood there and continued to watch the rain even though she knew he was suffering.
Eventually, though, it became too much to bear. Even if she rejected him, he had to at least try and offer her his jacket.
"Um, hey," said Roger, a huge knot in his throat.
But Kiki either didn't hear him over the roar of the water or else had chosen to ignore him, so he stood there for another few minutes and watched her shiver out of the corner of her eyes.
Even in the dim light, he could tell she was freezing and her lips were turning an unhealthy shade of purplish-blue.
Finally, his inherent chivalry won out over his social awkwardness and he walked directly over to her. At first, she looked at him with alarm, her eyes wide. But when he peeled off his zip-up sweatshirt and handed it to her, she took it.
It was damp from his run through the rain, but it was better than nothing, and she gave him a little nod of gratitude as she zipped it up as far as it would go.
Now that he was standing right next to her, Roger felt a sense of giddiness come over him. For years, he'd dreamed of approaching Kiki to talk to her, and now she was wearing his sweatshirt! It was truly a fantasy come true, even if it was only due to the unusual circumstances of them both getting caught in the storm.
For a long time, neither of them said anything, but inwardly, Roger was kicking himself for not taking the opportunity to strike up a conversation. After all, what was she going to do? She'd already accepted his jacket. A few words of casual conversation weren't going to make her turn around and flee into the pouring rain, probably.
"You go to Westmoreland, right?" said Roger after a long internal debate about what to say.
"Huh?" said Kiki, scowling as she turned to look at him, her hands stuffed into the pockets of the jacket.
"I said you go to Westmoreland High School, right?" said Roger, praying that she wouldn't notice the flush of heat he could feel rising to his cheeks.
"Yeah, I do," said Kiki, looking somewhat bemused before turning her attention back to the rain.
"Yeah, uh, me too," said Roger, cringing inside at how lame his reply sounded out loud.
"Cool," said Kiki, looking bored as she shifted her legs up and down in place to keep warm.
"Never seen it rain quite like this before," said Roger, forcing himself to chuckle as if this were all just a casual conversation instead of him finally getting the chance to talk to the most beautiful girl in school.
"Yeah, me neither," said Kiki. "Fucking crazy!"
"Yeah," said Roger, fumbling his end of the chat once again with his dumb brain that never worked right when he was talking to a girl.
"Do you know which way the parking lot is?" said Kiki after a few moments, causing a spark of hope alight in Roger's chest.
"Um, it's that way," said Roger, pointing.
"My friends are probably waiting for me in the car," said Kiki. "I think I'm gonna make a run for it."
"Oh, I wouldn't do that," said Roger.
"Why not?" said Kiki, turning to look at him with the first glimmer of interest since they'd started talking.
Out of Nowhere
“Well, look there,” said Roger, pointing to the base of the stairs of the gazebo where the grass had transformed into a swift-moving stream. “My weather app warned of flash floods. They can be really dangerous.”
“Really?” said Kiki, raising one eyebrow. “In a park?”
“Yeah, they can happen in any low-lying area,” said Roger, his inner nerd rising to the surface. “Be a lot safer to wait for the rain to die down and visibility to improve.”
“But my friends are probably really worried,” said Kiki. “And I left my phone in the car, so I can’t call them.”
“Actually, we’re a lot safer here than they are,” said Roger. “The parking lot is at the bottom of a gradient. Their car is probably getting washed away as we speak if they haven’t left already.”
“Really?” said Kiki. “How do you know all this stuff?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I just do,” said Roger, feeling incredibly sheepish. Still, though, it felt great to bask in her attention.
“Well how long is it gonna rain?” said Kiki. “I can’t just hang out here all day. I’ve got things to do.”
“Well, the more powerful the storm, the more quickly it usually blows through,” said Roger with a chuckle. “Maybe ten minutes or so? Won’t be too long, I don’t suspect.”
“Fuck,” said Kiki, continuing to jog in place. “I guess I’ll stay here and wait then.”
“Yeah, cool,” said Roger, immediately kicking himself for saying such a dumb thing.
A few more minutes went by in silence as Roger tried and failed to come up with some kind of gambit to keep the conversation going. But what could he say of interest to Kiki?
She certainly didn’t want to hear one of his historical facts, and he highly doubted she cared about chess. He truly was at an impasse.
“Hey, did you say you go to Westmoreland?” said Kiki, jolting Roger out of his self-imposed funk.
“Yeah,” said Roger, smiling. “In fact, we’re in the same grade.”
“Huh,” said Kiki, really looking at him for the first time. “I don’t remember seeing you.”
“Actually, we were in Miss Lawson’s English class together junior year,” said Roger, talking way too fast in his excitement. “But I was seated way up front while you were in the back, so you probably didn’t notice me.”
“Interesting,” said Kiki. “Yeah, sorry, your face just doesn’t look familiar. I thought I knew everyone in our grade.”
“Eh, it’s all right,” said Roger. “I know you’re busy with all your friends and stuff.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” said Kiki, letting out a little sigh that mystified Roger.
She was the most popular girl in school, so why did it seem like she had gotten sad when he’d mention her friends?
“Anyway, my name is Roger,” said Roger, extending one hand.
“Kiki,” said Kiki, briefly slipping her hand out of the pocket of her jacket to shake his, her hand tiny and cold in his.
After that, though, they both spent the next few minutes staring out at the rain, which showed no sign of slackening. Roger knew that she was eager to get back to her friends and her life, but inwardly, he began praying for the storm to last as long as possible.
“Damnit, the weather was so nice earlier!” shouted Kiki, stamping her foot, startling Roger. “What the hell?”
“Yeah, the storm really came out of nowhere,” said Roger, desperately wishing he could think of something more engaging to say.
“I mean it was sunny and warm. It was perfect!” said Kiki, scowling as she stared down the curtain of rain.
“Yeah, I saw you dancing,” said Roger, realizing too late that he’d made a fatal error.
“You what?” said Kiki, whirling to face him, her eyes narrowed as she spied the binoculars around his neck.
“No, no, I just happened to see you and your friends, that’s all,” said Roger. “Doing a dance for Tiktok, right?”
“Wait a second, were you spying on me?” said Kiki.
“What? G-god no,” stuttered Roger. “I, uh, just noticed you, like all the other people in the park. I swear!”
“Oh,” said Kiki, her anger evaporating. “Yeah, we were doing a dance. Kinda dumb, if you want to know the truth.”
“Oh?” said Roger, his pulse thumping in his ears after surviving that close call.
“Yeah, fucking Melanie,” said Kiki. “She wanted to impress this boy by getting one of her videos to go viral. I told her it was stupid, but she insisted.”
“Fascinating,” muttered Roger, utterly entranced by her letting him into her secret world like this.
“I don’t know how doing a dumb dance video is gonna impress a boy but whatever,” said Kiki with a snort of derision. “Anyway, she kept insisting I had to be in it.”
“That makes sense,” said Roger, instantly regretting his words when she whirled to face him.
“What is that supposed to mean?” said Kiki.
“Well, um, you know,” said Roger, finding it hard to speak due to the frog in his throat. “Because you’re popular. Probably get more likes that way.”
“Sometimes, it feels like everyone just wants to use me,” said Kiki with a frown.
“Nah, I’m sure there are some people who like you for who you are,” said Roger in an effort to cheer her up.
“And what exactly do you know about my life anyway, Robert?” said Kiki, her eyes flashing with anger.
“I’m sorry, you’re right,” said Roger, his voice squeaking. “Forget I said anything.”
“You know, it’s not as easy as you think, being popular,” said Kiki. “Everyone wants something from you. And people can be so fake, smiling to your face while they stab you in the back.”
“Oh,” said Roger.
“Girls will say nice things when you’re around but turn into catty bitches the moment it benefits them to tear you down,” said Kiki. “And guys? They’re even worse. They’ll say anything to flatter you, but they just want to use you in their own way.”
“Right,” said Roger as he burned in the fire of intense embarrassment.
“I mean just yesterday, this guy started taking pictures of me as I was walking down the street!” said Kiki. “Can you believe that? When I confronted him, he started trying to sweet talk me, saying I could be a model.”
“Oh,” said Roger, frowning in sympathy although he truly believed she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.
“When you’re pretty and popular, everyone thinks your life is so successful and wonderful,” said Kik with a little sigh. “But most of the time, what I really feel is lonely.”
“I’m sorry,” said Roger.
“Yeah, me too,” said Kiki.
And then to his utter surprise, she leaned her head on his shoulder and began to cry.