Who was she?

Gordon City. Orchard road.

It began as just another lazy Sunday afternoon. She had had a good sleep, and was eager to get going again soon. Ever the night owl, she looked forward to her day starting as soon as dusk approached. There was a rather queer calm around her though today. The wind was still and she could see clouds in the distance. And the street down below her abode was not exactly buzzing with activity. She wondered if she should really wake up from her slumber. Her next-door neighbour & best friend, also seemed fast asleep, lights out.

Almost as she let out that first yawn after you wake up & stretch along with, she noticed that her friend had also just awoken. It had become almost a ritual now, waking up at the same time as if their body clocks were controlled by an external agent. But she knew it was because they were such good friends, so attuned to each other's lives. So much so, that she felt that both of them were thinking the same things at the same time.As darkness wore in, she, her friend, and a couple of others decided, yet again, to hit the road. The clouds had seemed flow in from the horizon in the past few minutes, and it looked set to be a rainy night. But the air was still calm. They saw a lot of passers-by on the street. The lone walker, with his I-pod plugged in, oblivious to the world around him... The old man, without a walking stick, fighting to prove to himself that he was still young... The crazy-looking, young journalist, with his crew, reporting the 'latest developments' on the ground. He wasn't seen, often, but maybe there was something special to talk about there today. He was strangely dressed in a yellow raincoat.

Funny, coz it wasn't raining.

But just as she thought that to herself, a gust of wind flashed past her face. She looked up into the sky, and the clouds, were staring back at her. Thundering. Flashing. Threatening to cut loose. There was a loud crackle then, like God had clapped his hands, for the show to begin. Rain started filling the sky from out west. And as the cloud broke, she could see the rain approach her with a swift sizzle. And then, she felt it, the first drops of rain. It was magical. The cool drops on her bare face, the smell of the wet mud, and the wind brushing past her arms in a loving embrace.

The reporter meanwhile, seemed to have gotten excited by the rain's arrival, his yellow raincoat now fluttering in the wind. The walkers and joggers had disappeared. The odd car just whizzed by.The rain was heavier now. Or maybe she felt so. She didn't have a raincoat, of course, but not that she really cared. She felt herself strong enough not to be bothered by a petty shower.

But this was no petty shower. The clouds were low, seemingly just an arm's length away. The breeze had really picked up.

And then, a ghastly sight! A weak old tree was ripped out of its roots, flew past and slammed into the wall behind them with crushing force. She and her friends were shocked. They had never seen such a thing before. The excited reporter was now furiously speaking into his microphone, gesturing and pointing to the old tree which was now in the wall that was.

Just as she was about to think about a way out of this, this hellish storm, the unthinkable happened. A bolt of lightning screamed out of the sky and struck one of her friends, ripping her in half, right in front of their very eyes.

Panic gripped the others. They had no where to run now they thought. They froze, stuck to the ground. It was too late. She thought that maybe the reporter & his electrical crew would help. But they had already packed up and left right before their eyes. How could they!? Was this some nightmare?

Another one of her friends, tired by the incessant rain and strong wind, couldn't fight it anymore and just dropped to the ground, lifeless.

It was now only her, and her best friend. They were going to make it together, she prayed. As the rain and hail, now, pelted down, and objects the size of a cow were being hurled through the air, they sputtered for help. With power in their bodies waning, their once bright eyes now seemed like cold, cataract-stricken old ones.

Darkness.

She lay on the ground, beside her friend, like her, both twisted, mangled, dead. The storm had claimed its victims, not the least of whom was the first lamp-post, and the next three, on Orchard Road in Gordon City.