Start with: The hurricane neared…
The hurricane neared and I was at the house all alone. Both of my parents were at their respective jobs, my older sister was at her boyfriend’s house, and my little brother was at his friend’s house. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I didn’t want to be alone, but there was nothing I could do about it.
The news on the TV was telling everyone to stay inside no matter where they were. Both my parents worked third shift, so they weren’t due home until the morning, anyway. By then the hurricane would (hopefully) be over. My sister called and told me that she was just going to sleep over her boyfriend’s house because she didn’t want to drive in the rain. I asked her to try to come home since her boyfriend didn’t live far away and the rain was not yet bad enough for her to stay off the road. Of course, she told me no because mom and dad would never let her sleep over her boyfriend’s house. This was the perfect excuse to spend the night with him.
I called my little brother to make sure that he was still at his friend’s house or if his friend’s mother was going to try to drive him home. He too was going to spend the night with his friend because they were too afraid to go out in the rain. That was okay with me. He wouldn’t have been able to comfort me if I got nervous with the storm, anyway. As long as I knew where he was and who he was with, that was fine by me.
Now what was I going to do?
A flash of lightning shone through the blinds and a clap of thunder roared immediately after. I pulled back the curtain and gazed out the window. The rain was beating hard against the window pane. It was hard to see out the window with the water droplets covered the glass and the rain was coming down so heavy that it looked foggy outside. However, I was able to tell that the street was beginning to flood. As a pick-up truck drove by, he caused a large tidal wave into my yard and the house across the street; and he couldn’t have been driving more than two miles an hour.
I closed the blinds and draped the curtains closed in every window in the house as I turned on all the lights in the house. It was only six o’clock in the evening in the middle of July. Usually it looked as though it was only two in the afternoon, but between the rain and the dark clouds rolling overhead, it looked as though it was nine o’clock at night.
I sat on the floor in the middle of the living room next to my golden retriever. I brought my two cats into the room with us and they lay next to me and the dog. All three of them slept as I sat up staring at the windows. I could still see bits of lightning coming through the windows and I could hear the thunder and rain pouring down as thought it was right above my head inside the house.
I heard a sudden crack and the lights in the house turned off. The animals didn’t stir, but I jumped from freight. I took another peek out the window and noticed that it wasn’t just my house that lost power, but the entire street. Everything was dark; the houses, the streetlights, and all. I closed the curtain yet again, turning on the flashlight app on my phone.
I rummaged through some drawers in the cabinet in the living room. I grabbed all the candles I had in the house and lit them all. I placed three in the bathroom, a few in all the other rooms in the house, and about ten in the living room along with the flashlight on my phone.
With the dim candlelight in the house and the mixed scents of Christmas Cookie, Wedding Day, Autumn Leaves, and more, I sat back down in the middle of the floor in between my still sleeping pets and twiddled my thumbs. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t want to use any electronics since I wouldn’t be able to charge them again. There wasn’t enough light to read a book. I was just going to have to sit it out. It would all be over by the morning.
Hopefully.
Words: 758
Modified from “The Write-Brain Workbook” by Bonnie Neubauer
