Thunder Rex

Milo was terrified of thunderstorms. Most kids his age were, that in itself was not unusual, what was unusual was what he feared about the thunderstorms. It wasn’t the thunder, the lightning, the darkness, or the howling winds. No it was something else entirely.

“It’s just a thunderstorm twerp.” Melissa, his older sister scolded him. 

Rabert shook his head, “No… it’s not the storm that scares me. It’s what comes with the storm that scares me!” 

His father and mother shared a glance before his father spoke, “Why don’t you tell us one more time.” 

“Oh, geeze.” Melissa sighed.

“Quiet dear.” their mother shushed her. 

Milo looked around the room, his eyes going to the windows outside where clouds had begun to turn ominously dark and forbidding, where the tree branches were beginning to shake violently with the winds. His star was like a man twice his age who’d served in frontline combat. Then he spoke. 

“Thunderstorms bring T-Rexes.” 

“Why did you guys let him watch Jurassic Park?” Melisa asked with an eyeroll. 

For the record his parents hadn’t let him, he just happened to sneak into the room when they were watching it and no one noticed the boy transfixed by the lifelike dinosaurs, until he screamed during the T-Rex attack. 

His father took a breath, “Buddy, dinosaurs are extinct. Have been for a very long time.”

“How can you be sure?” Milo questioned. 

His mother smiled sweetly, “Because they’re too big not to be noticed.” She thanked the powers that were Milo hadn’t made it to the raptor scenes. 

“They’re all rock now.” his father added. 

Milo stared at the window and chewed his lip. 

Melissa decided to add her two cents, “If a dinosaur showed up the army would blow it up.” 

Milo stared on as if he was still unsure despite the logic of his older family members being sound, something deep within him told him they were wrong. To one of his age, belief and imagination were far more powerful than facts and reason. 

Soon it was his bedtime and as he settled into his bed the storm had broken upon them. The room lit up with bright flashes of lightning and the thunder rumbled his very bones as the rain pelted against the house, the wind moaned like the ghost decoration they would put out on Halloween. 

Milo thought about going to his parents room, but he didn’t want to hear the lectures about there not being something to fear. They didn’t understand. Thunderstorms brought T-Rexes. The T part wasn’t for tyrant whatever that was, it meant thunder-rex. His friend told him that fact and he said it confidently so it had to be true. Just as he knew deep down that thunderstorms were the harbingers of the large terrible beasts.  

So to combat the threat Milo snuggled under the blankets, keeping them over his head despite how hot and uncomfortable they got. His plastic sword clutched to his chest like a talisman, if a T-Rex attacked he hoped it would turn into a real sword, they worked on dragons, surely they would work on dinosaurs too? 

Boom. A low rumble outside, a distinctly different pitch than the thunder.  

Boom! The windows rattled. 

BOOM! 

Those were footsteps, the tread of a predator. 

Thud. Something brushed against the house, and he felt the room shiver. Milo was breathing fast as he forced himself to swallow his own saliva. 

He dared to peek out the window, and as a lightning bolt split the sky he saw it. A T-Rex sniffing the mailbox across the street, one golden eye gleaming in the night like a distant flame. Milo swallowed and fell to the floor where he crawled under the bed with the dust bunnies, and spare toys. He held his breath and shivered as the storm raged on. 

Something was snuffling outside his window, he didn’t dare look, he only quivered. 

Snuff. Snuffle. Snuff. 

A loud peel of thunder and a car alarm began to wail, the heavy footsteps drawn to the new source of noise, receding into the cacophony of nature’s fury. Milo did not move, not for a long time, not until the storm was but a bit of sprinkling on the window pane did he dare return to the top of the bed and fall into sleep.

Morning came with the pleasant sound of birds singing their praise, as if nothing had happened the previous night. Milo stumbled downstairs, eyes gritty, hair pointing in twelve directions, he had to tell his parents what he had seen.  

“You had a nightmare buddy,” his dad waved the sighting off. “That’s all.” 

His sister shook her head as she headed outside to meet with some friends, she made it halfway down the drive before she screamed. The rest of the family hurried outside to see what had shocked her. 

Pressed deep into the soft earth were footprints. Three-toed. Each one bigger than Milo’s entire torso. They marched across the grass, over the sidewalk, and disappeared down the street.

His sister slowly lowered her phone. His dad cleared his throat. His mom blinked several times.

Milo folded his arms with the calm dignity of someone who had been extremely correct.

“Told you,” he said.

Other neighbors were gawking at their yards, and overhead was the whirr of helicopter blades, Milo looked up to see helicopters he had only seen in toy form flying overhead. Melissa snapped a few more pics with her phone capturing the footprints. 

“Think this will be on the news?” Melissa asked. 

“Think they’ll cover it up?” mom asked. 

“Let’s go inside before the news crews show up.” 

They hurried toward the house. Milo lingered behind staring at the footprints. He had been right the whole time. No one believed him but he was right. Fear gripped him, if he had been right about T-Rexes in thunderstorms, what else had he been right about that he was told wasn’t true? 

He shuddered at the implications, as for the first time in his short life he experienced an existential dread for the first time. Things lurking beneath the bed and the shadows of his closet. He was going to keep the toy sword close for the rest of his life.