The Girl With Tattoos • Original Version

Hurricane Update (9/16/17)

^^ haha, Hurricane by Panic! because I live for puns.

Hey guys!

I know what your thinking. Hurricane Update? I mean, why? I just want Chapter 24 man.

Well, I didn't want to leave you guys in the dark. I was just going to write the authors note at the beginning of Chap 24 but halfway through I realized it was waaaay too long so I decided to just add this little thing.

If you live under a rock and haven't heard the news, Hurricane Irma hit The Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico, and Florida. It hit landfall on Florida 9/10/17 in the Keys, south of Fl. At first, it was supposed to be a Cat. 5 but the storm was downgraded to a Cat. 4 as soon as it made land but still did major damage. It flooded the streets, tore down buildings and houses, leaving thousands without places to live or work. I live on the east side of Fl sorta in the middle of the state. I wasn't getting too much wind or rain but I was getting some. We were supposed to get full effect around 9-12 at night. All around people were losing power, but I hadn't yet. My friends were telling me how they already lost it and I was terrified. I was determined to be asleep when the power shut off.

It was around 6 when the wind speed picked up. I took videos of it and it was actually kind of amazing. An hour later, around 7:15, I went to the window out front again, only to be welcomed with darkness and pouring rain. You could see the little raindrops getting pushed around. It was legit raining sideways! That's how fast the winds were.

But that wasn't even its full potential. Around 9, the lights were starting to flicker like a horror movie, the walls were shaking like an earthquake, and my heart was beating like a drum. My cat was on my lap sleeping and the dogs underneath the desks doing the same thing. We had to move the bird cage away from the window because we didn't expect it to be this bad.

I headed to my room around 10:40. As I said, I really wanted to be asleep when the power went out. The storm was heading our way and fast. My mom came in and explained how we were gonna get the eyewall, which was going to be probably the worst part of the entire Hurricane. That scared me even more and I closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep but the noises outside my house were something along the lines of a train and my neighbor's roof getting ripped off. I would occasionally hear loud crashes and see bright flashes of light, red to blue hues. Then, at exactly 11:20 pm, there was a huge bang and the entire house went dead.

No lights, no ac, no water, no fans.

I was scared shitless. My mom forced to sleep in her room since she had more space there and only one window, compared to my two. I was laying on my dad's side of the bed, who was working at a shelter he was assigned. I stared outside watching the trees dance and bend in the wind. Limbs were falling from the sky. Leaves getting pushed around. I was sweating and breathing hard and heavy from the lack of circulating air.

Then a loud high pitched ring came from my phone. I looked at it and groaned, feeling even more unsafe in my own damn home.

My county was under a tornado warning.

Thinking about what my mom told me, a tornado sounded like a train.

Which is what outside these walls sounded like.

The entire night was long. Walls shook around me, noises outside making me jump out of my skin even if I didn't even know what they were, no ac to keep me cold and let me just say, with no ac meant no air moving in and out of the rooms and with 3 dogs, my entire house smelled like dog.

I fell asleep around 4 am.

The winds hadn't died down, more like got even worse.

I got exactly 3 hours of sleep that day.

I walked outside at 7:20, with my mom closely behind me. Winds were still blowing harshly but not 130 mph like it was last night. It was raining slightly but not hard.

Outside was a wreck.

A tree fell in my yard, all his leaves slowly falling off and adding to the collection of moss, tree limbs and leaves in the grass. The street was flooded with water as it flowed down the street. Other trees were snapped down the middle and some uprooted. Other just had fewer branches as they were blown right off the trunk. We walked down the street, gawking at the damage. The road was basically green with all the stuff a top of it. A power line was down at the entrance, probably what was keeping us off the power.

We live on a lake, a beautiful one at that. It was usually a good 9 feet away from the road but today it was in the street. It was over top docks and inside the neighbor's pool. The screen protecting it was torn off and broken. A few roof decorations were gone and fences were lost. It was horrible.

All across Florida trees were down, 7 million people were without power, entire city's underwater.

I didn't get my power back until yesterday, 9/15/17, around 4-5 pm. It was 5 days after the storm.

I was dying inside that house, without any air. No lights. No wifi.

And that was my story. I hope you enjoyed!!!

So basically, I just wanted to inform you guys on what's happening. I hope you can forgive me for missing this weeks update! I might get one out later today or tomorrow. I don't know!

Stay safe my lovely people <3