The Storm

Casey looked outside and noticed the sky was becoming a bit ominous looking. She shrugged and paid it little mind, other than to make a mental note to bring her sheets in off the line before it rained. She was actually looking forward to a nice rainstorm. There was nothing like it...the way it washed the air, making it smell fresh and clean...much like her sheets hanging on the line.

She opened the screen door and ran for the clothesline, noticing a few sprinkles already beginning to fall. Quickly she unpinned the sheets and took them inside to fold. She held them up to her nose and breathed in deeply, reveling in the fresh clean scent. It always brought back memories of her mother as she hung her clothes out on the line. It seemed like there was always that fresh clean scent throughout her mother's house.

Casey's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the screen door opening and slamming  shut. She jumped up and went to latch it since it was becoming a bit windy. But when Casey looked out of the door, her heart stopped beating for a moment. A huge funnel cloud was barreling down on her house.

She was both mesmerized and terrified by it. It had her in some kind of hypnotic trance and it took a moment for her to break out of it....and realize that she must get to a safe spot. She quickly grabbed a flashlight off of the pantry shelf and headed for the basement door. But the kitchen window suddenly blew out, taking her by surprise.  Glass covered the floor and bits of glass were in her hair as she continued on toward the door to the basement.

She opened the door and ran down the steps, her flashlight guiding her way.  She could hear the wind howling with the sound of a train barreling down on the house.  The sound was a scary one, and Casey covered her ears.  Her adrenaline was pumping through her veins.  This was her first tornado.  The noise was so loud that she was unable to hear what was happening to her house. She said a prayer for God to keep her safe and spare her house.

After what seemed like hours, the noise died down and Casey realized it was safe to go back upstairs.  She carefully opened the door, and walked up the steps.  Her house was gone.  She just stood there in total shock, unable to believe it. All that was left of her house was a pile of wood.  She felt numb and scared.

 And then she saw it. Her clothesline was intact.  It was leaning a bit....but it was still there.  She blinked to make sure she was seeing correctly.  And she was.  Tears welled up in Casey's eyes as she found a glimmer of hope amidst the devastation.

She knew now that everything was going to be okay.