Bang! The sound of thunder erupted through a storm-covered canyon. Clasping the bolt, I focused on the energy in it to heave it away from a meager farm house. Crashing down on a muddy road, the lightning disappeared in an instant. As I floated back up to a cloud, I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew that some person in that house was safe from lightning for now. The storm was over.

Later that night, I sat chatting with my best friend, Sam. She works by my side to help keep people on Earth from being injured by storms.

“I loathe this job. All we do is save people. What do we get in return? Nothing. Not even a thank you!”

“Aw, Max. Cheer up! You’re always so gloomy!”

“Maybe that’s because I live on storm clouds,” I grumbled sarcastically.

“Ha. Ha,” she replied as she rolled her eyes and headed for a soft area on our cloud to go to sleep.

“I just wish I could get a thank you once in a while. To be the hero for once…”

“I know, Max, I know. But you can’t. It’d be breaking all HoiHack rules if you told a human your job!”

“Just go to sleep, Sam,” I growled in an annoyed reply.

She chuckled as I trotted to the opposite side of the cloud she was on. I loved Sam, but sometimes I just wanted to leaver her and never come back. Of course, I bet she felt the same way about me considering how unlikable, sarcastic, and pessimistic I can be. Grumbling irritably, I lie down and fell asleep while beginning to consider how much I hated admitting my flaws.

Before I knew it, I was awake again, “Max! Get up! Get up!” My eyes fluttered open as I leaped to my feet, ready for action.

“A storm! It’s in the south! This is big, Max,” Sam yelled over roaring winds. I suddenly felt the pelting rain on my numb skin. Wrapping my midnight black cloak tighter around myself, I bounced off the cloud we had been slumbering on just seconds ago.

Soon, I could feel the stony wind on my face and through my long, pitch black hair aw we fluttered down to a gray cloud. Raindrops beat our pale faces as we jumped below the cloud to see how harmful the storm was.

“It’s sure raining cats and dogs!” Sam hooted as she attempted to thrust the cloud away from the city that it was slowly destroying. Then I felt it, a bright, neon zap of energy that bounded through the bones in my body. It signaled me that a lighting bolt was about to zip down, pummeling everything in its path. Zooming to the left, I braced myself for the power I would soon experience. Within a second, it broke through the cloud. I wrestled with it to keep it from smashing a tiny person who was sprinting through the rain, trying to avoid getting too wet. The electrifying intensity was in my fingertips as I pointed it into an empty field. I don’t know why I was expecting to be praised by the man, but it was an immense disappointment when he kept scuttling along like nothing had happened. In the moment, all I could feel was anger. Everything was blurred as I flew through the storm, getting soaked along the way. Though I could hear a faint question from Sam, I kept leaping from cloud to cloud to get away from the storm and to be alone. Soon, I was in the middle of blue skies. Sitting on an extra fluffy cloud, I rested my head in my icy, hard hands and my angry thoughts slowly began to fade until I was in a fitful sleep.

Before I knew it, I was woken up with a start, “Max! That little stunt you pulled back there was NOT funny! Why would you leave in the middle of a storm? You’ve never done that before! Guess where the next lightning bolt hit! A forest, setting almost the whole city on fire!”

“Leave me alone, Sam.”

“You are so annoying! You’re always so stuck up and angry! I’m SO sick of it! SO SICK, Max!”

I scrambled to my numb feet, “Sam! I’m done with being a HoiHack! I can’t do this anymore! All this saving with nothing in return is making me feel rotten.”

“Get a grip, Max. If they knew you, they would be so thankful! But they don’t. The people that you are saving can’t be thankful for something they don’t know exists!”

I stumbled towards her, putting a pale hand on her bony shoulder. Staring into her dark blue eyes, I couldn’t help but love her.

“Sam, I know. I don’t know what I was thinking. People got hurt, and maybe even died because of me.”

Her soft, blonde hair whipped around her face as my black eyes began to fill with horrified tears.

I could feel her eyes peer into my miserable heart as I fell to my knees.

“Max, are you lonely? Maybe I should bring some more storm HoiHacks to help us. I could leave, too, if you really wanted.”

I flew back to my feet, laying my frozen fingers on her pale cheek, “No, Sam, it’s just hard…and you know how I am…”

“Okay. But, don’t do that ever again. You have to promise.”

“I promise. Never again,” I smiled happily, “I don’t want any more people to die on my account,” I added solemnly.

As the spring sun began to set in an explosion of beautiful reds, purples, oranges, and pinks, we held hands and pondered the exquisite future we had ahead of us. Looking on the horizon for storms, I wished for this moment to never end.