Trajan Keane

Mr. Jockers

Period 2

1-31-18

ILA

A Storm in Many Ways

 

The dark clouds almost completely blocking any light from emerging slowly moved like some sort of evil snail. I could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance. The lighting forking into the ground. “How did I get here” I wondered…

 

I was already of this new and frightening place. Vietnam. The name even sounded scary to the 3rd grade me. There was so much going on with new sights and smells. The buildings were all stacked up next to each other, all 5 stories tall but with only one room on each floor. All the kids played soccer here and there was no green open fields of grass to play on (Everyone played on artificial turf). There was a lot of dirty air and not a lot of technology. Needless to say I was more than a little terrified. Our house was huge, at least to me. And, all of the floor was covered in moving boxes and the smell of fresh paint was everywhere. The room me and my brother would share for the next 3 years sat empty, occupied only by 2 blow up beds.

 

I realized that maybe that this move wouldn’t be so bad. My dad worked in the military, the army specifically. We never live somewhere for more than 3 years. I didn’t like this lifestyle because I was young and making friends in a new place was really difficult for anyone. I made relationships would never last because we would move and I would never see these people again. I hoped maybe this time I could make some longer lasting friends.

 

The sky was darkening rapidly as we went to sleep. I thought nothing of it thinking it was just night coming around. Later that night I remember the jolt of lightning that jarred me awake. I looked frantically around wondering what could have caused such noise. Panic began to set in as I realized that the only thing was thunder. When I was younger I had a fear of storms and now that I think about it this was probably the event that started it. I looked around and saw my brother sleeping as calm as ever. He didn’t even move as another jolt shuddered through the air. The smell of the musty air. The air was almost alive with electricity. I could see the lights outside flashing. With a pop and fizz I heard the light in the hallway go out. I began to panic, feeling as if the walls were closing in and trapping me so that I would be sucked away into the storm and would be never seen again, my imagination was really excessive back then. I then started to panic. I had never seen such displays of nature’s power before in my life. I ran upstairs to my parents bedroom crying.

“Mom, Dad I’m going to die.” I cried.

“No, calm down buddy.” My dad said,”It’s just a storm.”

“But the house is shaking.” This wasn’t just my imagination, this was the truth. I could feel the house swaying and shaking.

Despite my parents constant reassurance I was severely spooked for the rest of the night and didn’t get any sleep. I learned that in many ways I had to face my fears and overcome them.