Facing My Fear

• Jaquelyn Loria, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2019

Imagine hearing the skull rattling sound of a lightning bolt, striking everything in its wake...
I woke up to the sound of a long and loud 'crackling' noise. It's then followed by an eerie silence. I run to my parents room, finding them both asleep. I was so scared that I didn't care if they were asleep, I NEEDED their comforting words.
"MUM!" I bellowed, "MUM!" She didn't respond. "DAD! DAD!" and again, no response. They were right in front of me, living and breathing, yet they couldn't hear me. I’m trapped.
I run back to my room and begin to cry. The sound comes again, even louder and more alarming than before. I open my blinds to see the chaos unfold in my own world. The sky is lit up with my worst fear...A storm. It isn't just lightning, it is also torrential rain and rattling thunder. I curl up into a ball on my bed and rock back and forth, trying to calm myself. It wasn't working as well as it does when my Mum is around. When I was 5, a disastrous storm hit my hometown and shattered everything in its path. I was petrified. My Mum was there with me, and she told me that whenever things are bad, just remember, they can only get better. I reiterate it in my mind, over and over. Another lightning bolt hit and this time, completely destroyed my flower garden. I look into the sky, and everything slows down. The next thing I know, I can see a lightning bolt come slowly down from the sky and hit my house, directly. Everything shuts off, and the power short-circuits. My lamp bulb blows and so does my hope of the weather getting better. My vision gets blurry and I can't see straight. I keep hoping that things will get better, believing it more and more each time, until that one thought takes over every fibre of my being.
I uncurl from my ball position and stand. I go to the window and watch the rest of the storm scene continue. I see the howling wind threaten to destroy my home. I stare at the tree that the wind is terrorising and I instruct it, in my mind, to go away, and it does. Did I just do that?, I thought to myself. I look at the rain and see it pelting down on the barn. I stare at the rain and almost instantly, it retreats. Finally, I see another bolt come down to strike my house, but this time, I stare at it with the intent to overcome it. I scream at it, not caring if I wake up anyone who may be sleeping. "You will no longer scare me!" The bolt stops in its wake and returns back to the sky. I close my eyes and am suddenly awake again, like nothing ever happened. But something did happen that day...I faced my fear.