A wind pounded at the lobby windows as electricity sliced the sky. We saw quick sparks transported from water up the telephone pole and through the electrical wires, heavy and untamable rain that even the supernatural couldn’t control. The store across the street had little light and all of the people were huddled in the main lobby just like we were, trying to keep ourselves warm with the breath we could produce without gasping for more. It was getting cold. We huddled up in the main lobby to prevent accidents from happening when we were alone.
The lobby was filled with an odd group of people. I knew a couple of them but not enough to call them my friend. John was the manager, a bald guy with a lot of respect. He hated his job and you could tell. It was definitely obvious that he’d rather be somewhere else, but who wouldn’t? He was oddly handsome but wasn’t my type. I liked more masculine and clean cut men, like Vincent. He was sitting in the blue chair near the entrance like he was waiting for the army to walk in with tanks to protect us and relocate us to a safer location. But his girlfriend Lauren was always in the way. She was sitting on the window’s ledge, like the smart one she is. The weather was uncontrollable and my patience with her has become nonexistent.
Norma was adorable. She was like the daughter I never had; she was so sweet and intelligent also only twelve. I was jealous of her long brown curls and her petite body and stunning blue eyes. But, her mom was mean, mean as hell. They were my neighbors and I used to hear her always complaining, arguing with Norma and just being completely selfish. Her name was Ronda. If you ask me, Ronda deserved to be left out in the storm, alone to feel the wrath that Norma feels for her. And last but not least, myself. A little conceited but genuinely as nice as can be. A few more years and I’ll be moved out of this dump. I’m a paralegal, I’m only twenty three. I’m Patricia by the way, young and restless. It seems like I’m always on the move and full of energy, but, I was scared for my life tonight.
The roof was literally shaking as much as I was. It was around midnight, and the storm was still damaging the outside, destroying the city and the only thing that was protecting us was brick. It wasn’t safe in this town but there was no escape and all of the sudden we heard a loud tap against the windows and there was a crack going down the center of the window. We all stood still and Lauren jumped out of her seat and ran to Vincent. There was dead silence; you could hear a pen drop. Everyone stopped and looked around at each other until Ronda spoke up.
“What the hell was that?”
We all stepped closer to the window to see if we could see what caused the crack. We looked down as we got closer and noticed a dead bird lying on the ground, featherless. John stood in front of us with his flash light and pushed our group in the back right corner of the room. Some stubbornness and sarcasm moved along with it but we all made it to the same side and corner of the room safe. We slowly transformed back into our ways of paranoia and nervousness, we were in the beginning stage of freaking out, once again.
I started to walk in circles because I couldn’t stay still and I decided to walk back over to the window. Nobody noticed me until I screamed. A multiple number of birds came flying into the window causing the window to crack even more. I huddled in the corner and protected my head with the back of my hands even though we remained safe, the window still didn’t break. The lights still remained on even though it seemed unrealistic, but it did. We heard these loud thumping sounds from above as we all looked up and stared at the ceiling. I shouldn’t have said anything but it was like the moment I did, the lights started to flicker.
I’ve never seen paranoia so much from anyone the way I did from Norma, at that exact moment. The lights were off and she was panicking for a brief second, then it was quiet, dark and cold. Very cold. The lights remained off and I couldn’t describe how many thoughts were flowing through my head. I was scared. After a couple minutes, the lights started to flicker again. Hard to see as fast as it was going, I noticed there was one less person. Ronda was gone. Norma began to panic again as her face became red and I comforted her to settle down. Finally, the lights came back on and everything was normal except Ronda was missing.
Vincent and John felt since they were the men, they should roam around the apartment complex and search for Ronda. Meanwhile, Norma was still shaking, I felt bad for the girl as I kept her warm and calm.
“I’m hungry, Patricia.”

“Come on, honey. Follow me.”



The lightning struck again and thunder roared throughout the building. We slowly made our way upstairs and into my apartment. I made her way at the door while I ran to the kitchen real quick because of the lights flickering. I ran quickly, opened the refrigerator, and grabbed a bottle of Sprite and a bag of chips from the counter. We rushed back downstairs and the lights were still out, so we seated ourselves before the men came back.
“Lauren?” I said.
There was no sound of her. I walked over to where she was when Vincent left, and I tripped. I felt all of my surroundings and I felt the figure of a face and warm, thick liquid. She was dead. I kept my scream inside as best as I could to prevent Norma being more scared than she already is. I can’t have her having another panic attack; I wouldn’t know what to do. Quietly acting like everything was okay, I tried comforting Norma, telling her I couldn’t find Lauren.

“Everything will be alright Norma; the storm will be over soon.”
That’s when we heard a loud, trembling shriek from above. It was John and Vincent, screaming for help. I didn’t know what to do, what was up there; I couldn’t face the dark and have Norma here by herself. So, we listened. Norma began to shake and all you could hear was the men and then they stopped. The building flooded with fear and darkness. The windows were beat with hard rain and the only light that was present was the lightning, when it struck. Suddenly I heard very loud cracking. We wondered what it was until we heard a flock of birds rushing into the lobby from down the stairs. We cuddled in a ball and screamed, just like anybody would. The birds flapping and flying past us like quick lightning and the thunder rumbling the building, it was unrealistic. Almost like a sci-fi movie but it was real, they were there with us.
The darkness screamed the truth, all of my nightmares coming to life and hitting me in the face. It was me and Norma. We were alone and the town could’ve been desolate too for all we knew. The wind still rustling the trees and pounding against the brick building; I was more scared than I’ve ever been.
“Norma? Are you okay?” I said loudly for her to hear me over the wind.
There was no reply from her and just as I stood up the glass front door cracked open and made a loud crash on the hardware floor. I quickly ran up the stairs, yelling for Norma but I didn’t hear anything. I ran through the apartments, opening the doors and yelling for her until at the end of the hallway, I saw a black tall shadow. I squinted my eyes, barely being able to see, I get closer. It stood there and I stopped; I froze. It moved closer to me but I couldn’t move. My eyes remained on the darkness and my legs were weak, I literally couldn’t move until something sharp scratched down my back. I turned around as fast as I could and ran, cold chills spinning up my body making it hard to handle.
I ran down the steps and jumped out of the broken glass door. Wind nearly was pushing me over and rain made it hard for me to run, but I still made it to my car. I took my car key out of my pocket and started up the engine. Hail tapping my window with lightning lighting up the streets, I kept driving. I drove until the weather was decent, until I was no longer scared and I made it to Saint Peters Town. Somehow the rain and weather wasn’t pouring down on the streets of Saint Peters, it was clean and free.
I parked in the local park and turned my car off. I began to write this until I realized I didn’t know where I was going to go next, or what I was going to do. My hometown was destroyed and all of the radios were out, I couldn’t find out anything. I was afraid. I looked in the mirror, empty handed, without a purse, money or anything besides my car. I looked at the gas gauge, and the fuel tank was on empty. I heard this weird noise coming from my trunk; I pushed open the door and stuck my key inside the key hole and twisted it. I lifted up the trunk and they followed me, a flock of birds came flying out past me and into the beautiful sky.