Good Evening, welcome to me daily writing practice! Please leave your feedback and your own responses to the prompt.
Prompt: Tornado Season. A tornado is forming and your character is in the absolute worst place they can be at the moment. Where are they? How do they handle the situation?
Genre: Environment/Description
Source: 59+ Creative Writing Prompts to Fuel Your Inspiration
Time Spent: 25 minutes
Word Count: 687
The sky was an eerie shade of green and the wind ripped around me. Thick, dark grey clouds swirled overhead. Lightning flashed in the distance and was followed almost immediately by a boom of thunder that rattled the windows of the shed I was standing next to.
There was only one thing that could mean, as anyone growing up in the Midwest would know, I was in for a tornado. I knew that a storm was predicted for today when I had gone out to my secluded shed to get some wood-working done. I had heard the rumbles of thunder, but I had made sure to properly ground the shed, so it concerned me little. I heard little else over my focus and the sounds of the tools. It had been a surprise when I left to head back over to the house, a few hundred yards distant, to find the ground soaked and the odd combination of green light and black clouds.
I had seen a tornado at a distance, and I had certainly seen plenty of movies, but this was the first time I had seen one form. The wind was swirling more and more around the field, picking up loose pieces of grass and woods, and within seconds I had to brace myself against the shed. Right above me, I could see the clouds begin to swirl and, like an incoming freight train, a swirling funnel descended.
Fight, Flight, or Freeze, those were the classic choices when presented with danger. Against one of the most awesome forces of nature, fight was useless, and startled by the sudden turn of events flight seemed impossible, especially with my storm cellar so far away. My brain, left with no other option, chose freeze and so I stood as the wind spung, then rushed, then roared and the funnel cloud got closer, and closer, and closer.
I was snapped out of my awe by the sound of would being torn apart, and I turned in time to see the roof of my shed get torn away. The moment of anger that all my hard work had gone to waste did the trick and I turned and ran. Every muscle in my body strained as a ran full out and endeavored to keep my feet from the terrific wind around me. What small part of my conscious brain was still working was trying to figure out if there was anything I could do.
A large chunk of sod and a fencepost, all but torn in half, whizzed past me and in the moment I had to paused to avoid getting hit, I remembered a random snippet of a documentary on Tornadoes around the importance of, if out in the open, getting into some kind of depression in the ground. Turning toward the drainage ditch to my right I was propelled onward by the wind. In fact, it nearly lifted me off the ground when I dove into the ditch. Just as I did so, I felt something hard slam into the side of my head, and then nothing.
I awoke with a start and the feeling of my head positively throbbing. I was in the drainage ditch and judging by the storm cell moving away to the east and the limited light still in the world the tornado had passed. Other than a nasty lump on my head and a splitting headache, plus a large variety of smaller scrapes and bruises, I seemed unhurt.
Carefully, I picked my way out of the random debris the lined the bottom of the drainage ditch, and I carefully climbed out. To my great relief, the house seemed to be undamaged, at least at a distance, and he hoped that meant everyone was okay as well. My shed was gone, but there was no helping that, and I did have at least disaster insurance as part of my policy.
I got lucky, both in there being no damage to my house or family, and nothing serious to myself. I really do need to check the weather reports better before I do work outside.
I hope that you enjoyed! I would love to read your response to this prompt as well and also what you think of what I wrote!
I hope you all have a wonderful day, get the chance to do or experience something creative, and I’ll catch you on the next one.
– Jon
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