Friday, January 28, 2011

The Silent Storm

It was a Thursday night in early October. Just a couple days earlier it was 70 degrees and sunny. We were now in the car late at night trying to make our way home. The snow was falling all around us. Every once in a while there was a loud clap of thunder and a flash of light. We finally made it close to home only to be stopped dead in the middle of the road. There are a few cars in front of us, all over the road. A large truck is turning around.

We look at each other wondering what happened up there. An accident? A tree in the road? We finally start moving to see power lines in the road. He follows the other cars and drives under them on the wrong side of the road. We’re finally moving again. As we keep getting closer to home all you can see are large flashes of green and orange lighting up the night sky.

He slowly turns on to our road. We are almost home. I start to relax. We have almost made it home. And then we see the tree lying across the road. We have to go that way. He looks at me and tells me to stay in the car as he gets out to see what he can do. I sit in the silent car watching him, watching the flashes of green and orange. We are so close to home. Two neighbors come out and the three of them start moving branches. Finally there is a space for us to get through. We’re going to make it home. We can make it.

We keep going till we can no longer go any further. There are power lines that we can not go under or around. We will have to walk to rest of the way. We get out of the car and grab anything we will need. It's pitch black and dead silent. All you can see is the white falling in front of you. All you can hear is the creaking and cracking of the trees around you. Creaking from the trees that you are under. You can hear the branches come crashing down around you. And every so often you hear a pop and the black sky is lit green and orange again.

We are watching every step we take. All while listening to the crunching of the snow under our feet. Looking for down power lines so we don’t step on them. We see our house. We are home. We walk into a dark cold house when we he looks at me. He is going back out. We left the car under a tree. We simply can not leave it there. He has to move it some where. He is gone.

I gather blankets and light candles. It's all I can do. And then I sit and wait. Pacing back and forth, checking the window. Just as I start to panic that he is not home yet he walks in the door. The car is safe two streets over. We are home safe. We made it.

I grabbed the blankets and we head to bed. I lie in bed watching the shadow of the large tree on our wall. Listening to it creak and crack. If it comes down it will land on the house. It will land above us. It will come crashing down on us.

The last thing I heard was the creaking and cracking of branches.


I wrote this for The Red Dress Club. Although this is not a fictional story. This is a storm The Hubs and I lived through back in 2006. This is my first time writting for The Red Dress Club.

5 comments:

  1. Good job! Did the tree crash down? Until I read that this was non-fiction, I thought that maybe it had and that was the last sound she heard.

    Visiting from TRDC.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Visiting from TRDC - my first time as well! Great job! I could completely feel the longing for home.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This was my first time attempting as well, you did a great job explaining, how scary for you guys!

    ReplyDelete
  4. So glad you joined us! And even more glad you all made it safely home. I have walked home several times at night after skidding off the road (back when i was a teenager). Scary!

    One tip: you switch your tenses from past to present back to past again. Try to stay in the same one through the whole thing. It's tough to do - believe me!

    ReplyDelete

Leave me some comment love!!! I love hearing what you have to say!