Hurricane Sandy
When I wake up it is my birthday. Mom and Dad aren’t there, but I hear their voices, so I walk down. They are standing at the front window. They don’t hear me. I look out the window. I feel like I got up too early. Nothing looks right. The cars are upside down. The tree in front of our garage is lying on the ground and everything is shiny like it just took a bath.
Dad notices me for the first time. He kisses my cheek. With red eyes he tells me happy birthday. My parents’ eyes are focused outside, checking their phones frequently. It’s dark outside. Finally their phones buzz. We go outside. It’s safe now. Dad puts my yellow raincoat on me. Outside smells like the ocean, in a way that hurts my stomach. The bats are gone from the doorway. People are coming out of their houses, touching the puffy paint and dark line on the front of their houses higher than my head. All the houses on our street are normal, mostly. There is a deck that is just sticks. A lady sits on a cracked tree with her hands on her cheeks, looking out with no emotions.
The houses are crumpled. The boardwalk looks like someone picked it up and twisted it around. The water looks like a bath now.
People are moving water from basements with buckets. I see a skull on the ground. I feel a scream coming up from my stomach. Dad leans down to me and says, “It’s just Halloween decorations, Caroline.” And the scream stays in my neck.
More Halloween decorations have fallen all around and they look scary. We walk on a ghost-looking wet wedding dress, hung up in someone’s gutter on a white hanger.
Back at our house, mom lights a birthday candle, and sticks it in some of the ice cream that is melting from the freezer and sings happy birthday. Then we all go sit on someone else’s porch furniture that’s blown onto our lawn, and watch the red sunset.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleHello, Musing Mind, scary doesn’t have to be all horror, and I liked the way that you showed this. Nothing more scary than a storm on Halloween. Well written.
Hi, Musing Mind – I agree wholeheartedly with
Eric Radcliffe when he says “scary doesn’t have to be all horror”. Some very scary scenes come to mind that are not all horror or bloodshed. You have done a great job on this, and we hope you will write more new stories. Happy New Year!
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Thanks for your encouraging words.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThanks for reading and providing me the feedback.
That’s a good point, Eric. A story doesn’t have to be about blood or pure horror to be scary. And I think that Musing Mind’s story proves just that.
One can only imagine how terrifying and surreal it would be if you’ve never been through a hurricane (and I’m glad I haven’t!). Beautifully written and portrayed. I especially like the ‘it’s just Halloween decoration, Caroline’ amid all the mayhem.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThank you so much for reading.
Congratulations, very well done. A nightmare situation indeed, and very difficult for a child to deal with. I enjoyed the lighter bit about the candles in the melting ice cream at the end.
Thank you so much for reading my story.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleCongratulations Musing Mind on your Placing, I bet You are feeling so Proud. – Eric.
Thank you so much for the encouraging words.
Your story really puts me in Caroline’s head, and I love how this one is written! “And the scream stays in my neck” especially stood out to me.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleI appreciate your feedback.
Hello, Musing Mind. Wow, this story blew me away. The descriptiveness of the aftermath is brilliant. It reminded of cyclones I’ve experienced in Cooktown, Australia. Hurricane Sandy must have had such intense power, and I love how you have captured the reality.
Thanks for the encouragement and the wonderful feedback.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThis is a mind-blowing story and a beautifully written one. Congratulations on your win.