Surviving the Storm

I shone my powerful flashlight into the blackest night I've ever known. The darkness absorbed the light as if it weren't even there. What little I could see, I caught in strobe-flashes of lightning. The winds were howling and screaming as the 140+ mph winds snapped the trees as easily as snapping beans. My face was pale and my heart was racing as I thought, this has to be the worst storm I've seen since Freddy. I was excited and scared at the same time. Adrenaline rushed through my veins. It was 1:00 a.m. and it was bad outside, but would get worse as the storm was expected to last until noon the next day.

The darkness kept shocking us with bluish-green bright lightning that filled the whole sky. It was followed closely by a hiss, zap and loud echo of a boom, as another transformer blew. The transformers were blowing faster than we could count. We watched as different parts of the surrounding neighborhoods went black; house and streetlights flickered out. We still had electricity, but we knew it would be our turn soon. As the sky lit up with the eerie green light, we heard another hiss and boom that left us in the darkness. Now, there was no light anywhere. We were in total obscurity.

Electricity filled the sky. I could hear the angry Gulf of Mexico roaring about eight miles from my home. The radio announced that a 57-foot wave had been seen out in the ocean. God only knows how big it would be by the time it made landfall. The once beautiful, serene beaches wouldn't have a chance. Their tranquil visage was already being slammed with waves and sand. In the morning, the storm will still be raging on, but the beaches would have long since lost their battle.