Raging Weather

— a short story

Photo by Nikolas Noonan on Unsplash

Erin stomped to her bedroom, her fists clenched, a fiery fury in her eyes.

Today was not her day.

She slammed the door shut behind her.

And in the same moment that the door slammed shut, a boom of thunder echoed in the sky outside. Her bedroom window cracked itself open, and suddenly an unexpected burst of cold air drifted into the room.

The wind howled, fluttering the curtains wildly.

Whenever Erin was angry, nature tended to become . . . wild, violent. That was her little secret.

Except, it wasn’t much of a secret these days. Her tantrums were getting more and more out of control. The villagers were beginning to take notice.

The clues were there from the start.

The dramatic shifts in weather pattern only began when Erin and her mother moved into town. The hailstones falling unexpectedly from the sky; the cold snowstorms blowing suddenly on warm summer mornings, the blue skies turning dark without warning — all of the chaos arrived when Erin arrived to town.

You didn’t need to be a genius to put two and two together.

Sitting by the window, Erin watched as the wind rushed across the village. Trees swayed wildly in the distance, scattering leaves in the air. Dark clouds drifted across the sky.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then counted to ten.

As her anger calmed, the chaos outside settled.

Suddenly, it was a sunny June morning again. The sky was blue. Birds hummed in the trees, and the bees buzzed in the blossom.

Her bedroom door slowly creaked open. Her mother waddled into the room. ‘What do you think you’re doing, young lady?’

Erin raised an eyebrow. ‘Minding my own business?’

‘Bah! You haven’t earnt the right to rest yet. Come on, up you get. You still have some chores left.’ Mother crossed her arms stubbornly. ‘You have to sweep the dining room and kitchen floor; take out the trash, feed the cat, wash the dishes — ‘ she paused to catch her breath ‘ — ‘where was I? Tidy your bedroom closet, mow the lawn and. . .’

Mother’s list of chores was certainly longer than Erin’s patience. Erin gritted her teeth in silent frustration as she listened.

There was a devastating hurricane a couple of moments later. It wasn’t in any of the weather forecast predictions.