Dark gray clouds covered the sky, and rain splattered against the kitchen windows. Somewhere in the distance, the sky rumbled. It was way too early in the year to have a thunderstorm, but still they had one, apparently thanks to some air currents in the Atlantic and the unusual warmth they had been able to enjoy in the past week.

Stella shoveled porridge in her mouth with great determination. The weather wouldn’t hold her back. She would go to town, and she would have a great time. She studied the weather map on her phone while eating. The area around her town was marked red for heavy rainfall and little crosses of lightning sightings dotted the map. A terrible day to even think about going out.

“Stella, are you sure about this?” her mother asked.

“Yes. I’ll be fine. We need to make progress in the lounge.”

“You could wait until tomorrow at least.”

“But I made all the plans for today. And all the shops might not be open tomorrow. I’ll be inside most of the time. It doesn’t matter if it rains.”

“Do you want me to take you to the mall, so you won’t get soaked in the rain?”

Stella downed a glass of milk and shook her head.

“You need to relax and enjoy your day off.”

She put her dishes in the dishwasher and hurried to get dressed. Marisa sighed. There was no stopping that girl when she had decided something.

Fifteen minutes later Stella was shivering at the bus stop. She gripped the handle of her umbrella that threatened to fly away in the wind. The rain came down sideways, pushed by the wind, and Stella’s clothes got wet anyway. Maybe she should’ve let mom drive her.

The bus appeared from around the corner, rolling through a deep puddle and raising a wave that washed the sidewalk. Stella jumped in excitement, waving at it to make sure it’d stop. She hurried in and scanned her bus pass.

The drive to the mall didn’t last long, and soon Stella dashed through the rain inside the building. It had started to rain harder during the bus ride, and Stella had seen flashes of lightning. But it didn’t matter now. She was inside, so now it could be raining literal cats and dogs and she wouldn’t care.

Many other people seemed to share Stella’s sentiment. She was surprised to see other people at the mall. The place was only a little emptier than on a usual weekend day. 

Stella directed her steps towards Mrs Willis’s home decor shop, a treasure trove tucked in the farthest corner of the third floor. Mrs Willis sold a wide variety of items from rugs to pillows and from wall decorations to lamps. The section for second-hand decor also interested Stella. The recycled items had their own charm, and they were cheap.

She checked the windows of clothes shops she passed on the way in case something interesting was on sale. Anything rarely caught her eye, since she had all the most interesting clothes from the newest lines already. But she could do with another pair of shoes...

Before Stella could stray too far from her original plan, she arrived at her destination at Mrs Willis’s store. Stella’s mother visited the place so often that Mrs Willis was basically a family friend, and she greeted Stella warmly when the girl walked inside.

“Stella, what brings you here on such an awful day?” Mrs Willis asked.

“I need stuff for our school’s new student lounge,” Stella explained, “pillows, posters, things like that.”

“Hmm, let’s see. Do you have anything specific in mind?”

“I’m going for a relaxing and home-y vibe, but with a dash of urban coffee shops. For the posters I was thinking of pictures that have coffee cups or coffee beans.”

“I’m not sure if I have any coffee posters, but I have some with inspirational quotes if you’d be interested,” Mrs Willis said and she perused the collection of posters she had.

“I could take a look at some for sure.”

As long as the quotes weren’t too tacky. Those would probably create more eye-rolling than inspiration. No ‘hang in there’ cat posters please.

“I like this one,” Stella said and pulled one poster for a closer inspection. “‘Every expert was once a beginner’. This one’s good.”

They went through the surprisingly big collection of motivational posters, and Stella settled with two more. One said ‘Be the reason for someone’s smile today’ and the another one said ‘You only fail when you stop trying’. They sounded motivating enough without being too fake.

Stella also picked a few decorative pillows, but they took up so much space that she couldn’t buy as many as she wanted, or she wouldn’t be able to carry them home.

“Do you have any ideas on what else I could buy for the space?” Stella asked as she was paying.

“I assume the furniture is already sorted out.”

“Yes, we’re using the old couches from our house. The shelves, tables, cupboards and bean bag chairs should come this week. I’ve picked most of them. I’m going to buy some board games after this.”

“Do you have plants?”

“No. But we definitely should have some.”

“Maybe some books or comics as well.”

Stella pulled out her phone and wrote a quick note for herself. Comics had been on the wishlist, but they hadn’t settled on anything yet. A reminder was in order. She needed to bring up the suggestion for plants to the student council before any purchases, but she was optimistic they would like the idea.

“I think it’s best to set up everything you have and see how the room looks. It’s usually easier to notice what you’re lacking that way.”

“True. We’ll do that. Thank you so much for the help.”

“It was my pleasure. Tell your mother I said hi. I’ll call her if I find any coffee art.”

“I will. Thanks again. And bye.”

“Bye.”

Stella gathered her bags and headed outside. The storm didn’t seem to be letting up,  on the contrary. Whenever a lightning flashed the rumbling followed immediately after. The storm was directly above them and it was easy to see through the skylights. Young kids clung to their parents or cried out from the loud noises, but most of the customers didn’t seem to care.

Stella headed towards the elevator. She needed to go to the bookstore next. They sold plenty of different board games. She stepped in the elevator and pressed the button.

“Wait! Hold the doors!” someone yelled and a few seconds later nearly crashed into the elevator.

“Oh, hi Quinn,” Stella said after recognizing the person.

“Stella. You’re here too,” he replied, panting slightly. Quinn was holding a bag from the video game store with a couple of games inside.

“Yeah, I’m buying some stuff for the lounge,” Stella said and raised her shopping bags, one stuffed full of pillows.

At the same moment, thunder boomed so loud that Stella jumped. The whole building trembled. Stella staggered and leaned against the wall for support. The elevator jerked to a stop, but instead of the doors opening, the lights flickered out and a small red light turned on.