THE STORM

“When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in…” – Haruki Murakami

He had never believed in weather forecasts.

They were educated guesses, at best. Often, just stabs in the dark.

So when they said the worst storm for decades was on its way that night, he dismissed it as nothing more than scaremongering, and quickly changed the channel.

He never heard the warnings to keep pets inside, or to keep away from windows, in case of flying debris.

But he definitely heard the smash, when a falling tree burst into his living room and went straight through the television, shattering the glass.

He never doubted a weather forecast again…

Just a few streets away, a luxury hotel was battered so hard by the elements the whole building shook, causing an ornate chandelier in the reception area to crash to the ground, narrowly missing a small group of young, American tourists.

They vowed never to return to London again.

But they quickly changed their tune when the video footage they posted online of the almost catastrophic disaster went viral, and they became instant Internet celebrities.

Now they travel around the world, intentionally visiting locations where accidents are likely to happen, hoping to capture other near misses on camera, for their thousands of Followers to eagerly lap up…

A little farther west, a train was succumbing to derailment, and was ferociously knocked over by the force of the relentless winds.

The passengers were rattled around inside like pinballs, with many sustaining injuries.

A former professional rugby player was the only one able to clamber back to his feet.

Whilst the others were screaming and panicking, years of training for his chosen sport had taught him to stay calm and focused under pressure.

He became a hero that night, administering first aid to everyone he could before the emergency services arrived and took over.

The newspaper articles about the incident all mentioned him, and he ended up marrying one of the women he tended to, whose hand had reached out to him for help in the darkness of the carriage.

Which came as a shock to her family and friends, because she’d always said she hated rugby and thought all the players were oafs…

The rain didn’t subside for several hours.

And it left behind deep puddles that children later played in, blissfully unaware of the seriousness of what had caused them, or the fact that it would be talked about for years to come…

And me?

I slept through the whole thing…