Photo Story: Forecast: Severe Weather

Lightning lashes the sky like a torturer furious at what he’s become. Scrawled messages hang suspended for one or two blinks before they give up the ghost. We don’t believe anyone is coming, though we hear sirens spinning against an atmosphere already gone red. We go outside for a minute to watch it bleed. The horizon ignites. We dare it to come closer. It advances, the air bulging with sound. We run, but now it’s inside the house, smashing windows and blowing out the lights, leaving us shrunken and numb, our mouths open, each moment a cone of breath spilling out.

Cheryl Snell is a writer from Maryland who writes as revenge against reality. Her published books include poetry and fiction of all sizes.

Photographer: Bryce Bradford