The Storm

“What?!! No Mom it’s my bachelor’s party!” he groaned at his me.  But I just had to go along with him. Her son was getting married shortly and his brother and cousin and wanted to take him to the beach for a full day of some fun. I thought of changing it into a family picnic and insisted that I go along.

“If it is any compensation she’ll be coming along too” I told him.  

“You mean Maria?” he asked unbelieving

“Yeah! And her mother too” I added

And I wanted to invite his best friend from childhood Anna along as she was sensible enough to control any sort of situation.  It was a short trip to the beach. The drive there was a little stuffed as we were kind of squashed in.  We had more people than space in the car but then that’s what stays in the head after the end of the picnic. Anna is a sweet person she lived with us like family for a very long time. Her mother had passed away when Anna was very young so she took on the responsibilities of home and eventually out grew her age.  

During our drive what I hated was Maria’s mother screaming at Anna for accidentally sitting on her purse. She obviously didn’t do it on purpose there was no place to sit; I know it upset Anna but I had to say something else so that everyone would forget about it, but when I looked at Anna I knew she was still upset about it.

As we finally reached the beach we had booked ahead for a hut that was close to the beach, makes it easier for us to eat and rest and shower before leaving for home. The place was really nice two bedrooms a veranda that opened out and a few feet away we could see the beach. I didn’t want to go into the water but I might just go and stand closer, I was there to monitor the kids only. I know from experience they have the ability to forget boundaries of safety when they’re having fun.

I was standing outside and talking to Maria’s mom and deciding how far I’d let the kids go in the water. The weather was beautiful; it was cloudy and looked like it would rain. I went in to check on Anna who hadn’t come out of the hut and she was busy getting things ready for the return. Well I know she was really excited to go into the water , you could see it in her eyes we both walked towards where Maria and her mother were standing and looked out appreciatively into the see the presence of clouds really added to the picture perfect moment. And then suddenly Anna asked why is the sea looking dark?  And when I looked out into the sea it was really dark there were dark clouds that were heading towards us. The sea looked like it should have during night time, it grew really dark, so dark that people around us turned on their lights and all of them came out of the huts to see the sky.

What we saw was unbelievable. We saw clouds break off from the sky and fall down like pieces of ice. They fell down into the sea and the impact caused an explosion.  When did clouds break away from the sky and fall down? When did they fall into the sea and explode? This was not natural there was something really wrong! I was worried and panicked about the safety of everyone. We were all looking up terrified when suddenly Anna screamed to look into the sea, there was a whirlpool there and the sky grew darkest and then there was another whirlpool and then there was thunder.  

The people close to us were screaming excitedly and pointing at the overhead electric cables. I looked up to see what had their attention and saw the cables moving really fast as if it’s in a storm but the wind around me was not really that strong. I started backing into my hut and asking everyone to come in along with me. We had to get to the safety of a roof before it started raining or a storm hit us.  I started screaming and asking everyone to get in.

As we ran into the hut I turned around to look at the sea before closing the door and what I saw was horrifying. The sky had turned dark as if it was night, the sea was flowing in a whirlpool it terrified me, and I could feel current in the air. There was lightening and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I felt goose bumps and from the worried whispers of the others I knew they too felt the same. The sky and the air were threaded with streaks of electric current I had never been so frightened in my life. I closed the door.