Struck

Prologue

Ever since my mother and I moved to Denver, Colorado nature has had the greatest influences on me. Nature could woo me better than anyone I ever met. The birds flew without fear of falling; they sang their sweet songs, taking me to a place I didn't know could exist in a world so full of chaos. Their song spoke to me, it's lyrics as clear as day.

If through is too tough
Then it's over you go
If the way seems too hard
There's a path you don't know.
There's a way to slow down
If it's going too fast
But to stop short midway
Means the dream has now passed.

I felt it. I dreamt it. I lived it. And I knew, God must have given us nature for nature to tell us it's story and guide us through ours. I didn't believe that stars could predict the future, or relay the past; but I believed each constellations could give us a story to fit our hardships, to fit our needs. Every tree has lost its leaves, yet it didn't just give up; but waited out the winter for the sun to come out again. Every flower gives life, no matter how ugly, prickly, or poisonous. Every blade of grass has been trod on yet, no matter how low you cut it, it will shoot back up, and no matter how much heat it takes, it's still standing upright. No matter how bright the sun looks to earth the other stars continue to shine, and be seen, observed, and studied.

Nature taught me that no matter how hard life knocked you upside the head, you have to shake it off and get back in the ring. The wind was like a gentle push to get me back on my feet. The rain, told me it was time to clean up my mess. The thunder a warning of possible outcomes if I didn't get my life on track. Everything held meaning in my mind, but I didn't worship nature, no, I worshiped the God who gave nature to me.

Leaning my head back against the tree I was sitting against, I could feel the blowing against my cheek, pushing damp black curls onto my forehead and over my eyes, blocking the purple mountains from my right eyes view. I wrapped my hair into a bun, pulling the band from my wrist to hold it in place, and looked up. Clouds rolled across the sky, dark and threatening. I tugged on my zipper, but my jacket was fifteen years old, passed down to me from my mother, the zipper had past broken for destroyed. I gave up zipping my jacket, instead pulling it tighter around me.

It probably wouldn't be wise to stay under a tree in a thunderstorm, but I knew, if I waited just a little bit longer, I might get to see the baby birds in the tree next to me fly for the first time. I figured, even though it was about to rain, it hasn't yet; and I refused to miss it by minutes because of a little rain.
It was only drizzling, and there was rarely lightening that came with it where we lived.

Moments went by, and the rain started to get heavier by the second. The sky flashed with light and then returned to its darkened state. Thunder roared before another flash of lightening. I stood up, stuffing my belongings into my old, tattered backpack. Wishing, for not the first time, that I had a more decent one, but this time there was no time to rant to myself about dad abandoning us and taking the last of the money with him. Or even swear that when I saw him, I'd hit him on the head with a pole to give him half the pain he left us with. The lightening was striking closer every twenty seconds, and the water getting higher, making it harder to run in. I stumbled over roots, and pushed straight into branches in my run home, unable to see where I was going.

The lightening was right next to my area now, and I was surrounded by trees and water, up to my knees. I had thirty seconds to figure something out before the lightening struck water close enough to me to get me, not to mention the next strike might be close enough to get me a second time. I dropped my backpack, scared it would weigh me down, and ran as fast as I could through the water.

9 seconds.

I kept my eyes directed straight in front of me, focusing on where I assumed the end of the forest was, where I could at least get out from under the trees.

8 seconds.

Something caught my foot, flinging me forward. I fell face first into the water hitting my head on something hard. I pushed myself up to my knees, but everything was blurry. Everything in front of me was tilting left to right, left to right. I knew I had about two more seconds left, not even enough time to stand up, and I could barely stay on my knees with the pain in my head throbbing.

0 seconds.

A flash of light. A tingling pain ripped through my whole body, and I let out a scream. Then the light was gone along with the pain, but the tingling lingered. I couldn't stay upright anymore.