A Terrible Storm

Lightning struck across the sky, forking off into different directions- seeming random. The current that it carried was so strong, that the drops of rain that fell from the burdened clouds evaporated in its wake. It painted the dark sky, which was a backdrop of absolute black.

So strong, even, that each follicle of hair stands up on your arm. You watch in awe, as the thunder that follows provides such a deep, echoing sound that the bass feels reverberated in your chest. The noise bounces within the storm above, the roiling storm clouds ominously sitting high above.

The wind runs alongside the grassland plains that you stand in, tousling it like so much hair. It presses you, trying to push you along with the current. Almost refusing to take no for an answer. You must lean into it, squinting as it throws the individual droplets of hard rain into your eyes.

The smell of oz0ne predominates your other senses, never letting you forget the presence of bodies of water all around you. The soil has been molded, grabbing at each step that you take. The rain has pooled where the ground is lowest, forcing you to step at the edges of ever-growing puddles.

Lanterns dotted the horizon, barely perceptible through the onslaught of the storm around you. You know what they mean, and it brings a mixed rush of emotion. The tall grass around you clings to your every step, further soaking your clothes as they pass the moisture that they’ve collected to you.

The beads of rain that stream down your face and collect at your chin occasionally veer into your eyes, stinging them slightly. You keep wiping it away. Every time that you do, the little beads of red-wavering light in the distance are produced into new clarity.

You’re sure that you are getting closer, but was it a good thing? Maybe. Maybe not. You visualize the heat that the lanterns could bring you, warming your hands and face which have become numb. You sniff, holding off the floodgates that your nose wants to release.

Bringing one hand up you feel your nose, which you wouldn’t know was there if you couldn’t see it. Pins and needles flow from the area that you touch, and you wipe it with your forearm.

A slight decline in one of the hills that you are traversing gives way just slightly, and your exhausted feet slide out from under you. Falling flat on your back, you are left to stare up at the sky in wonderment as life cascades around you.

Lilting forward, you find yourself on your feet once again, pushing against the wind. Your trek forward seems impossible, as though the storm was sentient. Perhaps it was, given what you now know.

Your brain is turning in different directions, a confused ensemble of messages all crowding forward, trying to burst out. You have to focus to push it all back, before you are overwhelmed.

An impending sense of panic begins to build. It starts low, then rises high into your chest. Breathing becomes difficult. Without being able to focus on anything else, you begin to run.

You stumble the first couple of steps, before you reach your stride. Coming up and over the top of the small hill in front of you, the lanterns become visible once again. And they are much closer.

With a sense of dread, you realize that they have been coming closer to you, just as you have been traveling to them. They must know that you are there. But it’s too late at this point to try and do anything different.

You don’t even try to stop the shambling run that you have put in motion. You would go until they stopped you.

So close now. The hundreds of red lights flare within your pupils, causing you to see the light in a stretched manner. You feel as though you can sense the heat emanating off of the gathered before you.

Finally. Some warmth. No matter what happened now, you would be subject to them. No matter the stakes.

Another flash of lightning strikes ahead of you, illuminating the land once again in its pale shadow. That was enough to make you stop. A new cold begins to flow through you, distinctly different from that of the storm. With wide eyes, you take in the scene before you…