louisville, ky

It’s pitch black in the room for another few seconds, then every corner is flooded with flickering blueish light. The lightning illuminates every detail of the room for a moment. I look down at my chest and see her head resting there, eyes closed. I give her a little shake with my left arm.

“Hey! Are you falling back asleep? How can you sleep through this?”

Onemississippi twomississip-CRACK! The sky is split in half and the room shakes. It’s a cliche, but the sound thunder makes really is rolling. It doesn’t even begin to fade before more light comes through the windows.

She stirs, but doesn’t open her eyes. “Hmm. It helps you sleep. . .”

The thunder storms in the south are louder and longer and brighter than any I’ve ever seen before. It’s five in the morning and I couldn’t think of sleeping. A crack of thunder comes simultaneous with lightning, right over our heads. The feeling of such an all encompassing noise is almost indescribable. It shakes my bones. My heart rate is up and my eyes are fixed on the patch of sky I can see through the window, waiting for the next fork to burn it’s image onto the blackness.

The thunder dies down but I can still feel a vibration in my chest. It’s not from the thunder storm – she’s actually snoring. I give her another little shake.

“Hey.” I tell her. “You’re a weirdo.”

Flash! Crack! More lightning. More thunder.

“Hmmm. ‘M-not. Nu-huh. . .” Her rebuttal is barely audible not because of the thunder, but because she’s mumbling it from her sleep.

I’m wide awake. In order to get the last word I wait for another thunder clap so my response is drowned out.

CRACK! BOOM!

“. . . yes you are.”