The band of thunderstorms swept through the area, each set more vicious that the one preceding it. Bright lightning split the darkness and making night into day at a rapid, irregular pace not even my frightened heart could hope to follow. the heavens poured down incessant rain as though a leak had sprung in the sky.
Thunder rumbled furious and loud, its high-pitched start rolling over into a deep rumble, racing across one side of the expanse to the next within heartbeats, going on for miles–the sound of a metal board of siding wrestling with the wind– followed by the slightest tremors of the earth. It was as though nature’s fury was trying to shake the heavens and earth from their celestial foundations, waking all those who had dared find peace in this otherwise restless night.
The coming of dawn became something blessed to all those who trembled, like me, as they huddled together in their pittyful shelters–man and beast alike–none daring to brave the fury of the storm; praying for release with a yearning as powerful as a hungry man craves food. Who could sleep when the end was certainly at hand?
And then, as sudden as it had started, it was over. Beginning with a slight change in the wind, barely noticeable, yet still real… decreasing to a faint, barely discernible rumble. Then, moving elsewhere.
Slowly the noises of the night came back to bring normalcy into the previous chaos: crickets chirping their indignation, birds twittering nervously… as though each being wanted to relay its excitement at having survived such horror.
Only the occasional faint rumble of thunder in the far off distance would remind of the fury that was now past…
