The Storm (Story) -- Tommi

A fictitious dramatization of what is happening inside.

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One by one, the leaves fall from the tree branches and crinkle underfoot as I walk toward the bluff. Looking to the sky, I see the storm coming, the violent Autumn storm. It will be here within hours, yet I do not move to prepare my home. This storm is well-known for it's destructive power, yet I cannot convince myself to make things ready. It is as though the darkening clouds and raging winds have taken me captive and movement is utterly forbidden.

A cry rises up from my home far behind me. It is a frightened child, my child, and she too senses the coming storm. It has been just her and I for so long now. I long for contact with others, preferably older and maybe wiser than I. But in this deserted place, it is only our two souls against this storm. My child's cry rises again releasing me from captivity.

The wind hurls itself at my body, raging against my freedom. I hurry inside to secure the windows and doors. My child looks mournfully up at me as to say, "I thought you had left me as the others have." once again I am a captive, but now it is to her soundless words. I pick her up to hold her fragile body against my own tryig not to make any promises; for they are trecherous and unreliable.

We do not know why the others in our family left us so long ago. They left behind their memories and fear, inadvertently demanding us to take their places; remembering and fearing in their stead. In this way, the two of us have become burdened, making it even harder to stay in this lonesome home as we ought. What memories and fears have they left behind? We do not understand them, otherwise we would know why they left. But this storm grows closer, and the wind batters at this home seeking it's inhabitants. We can feel it coming... It is upon us.