The Eternal Glass Ceiling :: The Neo-Reconquista

Un-Natural Disasters

Several hours later Amaru ascended up the mountainside, through the rural shanty towns. In the front yards of the local villagers he saw kids playing with goats, chickens, pigs and donkeys. As he began heading further up the mountain a strong gust of wind began to push against his body. He looked up at the sky only to find that the clouds were turning dark and grey with a little gleam of sunlight peeking beyond the silver lining.

Despite seeing this change in the weather he continued his journey until the forces of the wind became even stronger. That's when the boy remembered what the elderly men had said about the approaching storm that the news reported. Hence Amaru decided to abandon his hike up the mountain. He descended down onto the dirt path until he came across the same group of elderly men from earlier, but the group was now smaller than before. Consisting of only a few familiar faces.

"Hey, where'd everyone go?" Amaru yelled trying to make his voice heard over the howling winds.

"Oh it's you! They all went home! The news said that a storm is approaching!" the man yelled.

"A storm? During this season? Did you hear correctly?"

"Yup! They announced it over the news. A hurricane is heading to Central America and it's already a category 4."

"Thats insane! This is very unorthodox!" Amaru replied.

"Very what?" the man shouted over the winds.

"I said it's very unorthodox!" Amaru repeated.

"It's a what?" the elderly man questioned once more.

"It's unorthodox! The situation is very unorthodox!" He exclaimed twice more to make sure that the man comprehended what he was saying.

"I heard what you said! But what does it mean?" he asked

Amaru sighed, "It means unusual! The situation is unordinary especially since we're not currently in storm season!"

" . . .Uhm . . . Yeah I know kid! But you better get home before these winds blow you away! I'm headed inside myself! See ya around!" the old man said as he closed his stand and made his way inside.

"Thanks mister." Amaru said as he watched the man dash inside his house.

Amaru left the merchant's stand as he ran down the street. Passing all of the houses he began to notice that everybody was rushing around putting all of their belongings inside and boarding up their doors and windows. That's when Amaru realized that he needed to quickly get home to help his family prepare for the storm. Everyone seemed to be really afraid. Normally hurricanes barely scathe their country. They would usually pass along the coast leaving an after effect of heavy rains.

However, this particular storm seemed to be more urgent. It threw everyone into a state of paranoia. As Amaru ran along the gravel path, he suddenly heard a faint voice shouting out, "Help!" not too far from where he stood. He looked around to locate which direction the voice was coming from. But It was hard to focus under the sound of the wailing winds. Then he heard the voice again piercing through the strong winds "Help!".

"There! In the fields out west!" he pointed. But as he prepared to run into the fields, he began to have second thoughts, "But I have to get home to my family." The rain began to fall even harder flooding the dirt pathways, quickly converting them into pools of mud. The boy knew that he didn't have time to contemplate over what he should do. He wrapped his jacket around his head making some sort of balaclava before dashing into the fields attempting to follow the voice to see if he could assist whoever was in danger.