After the storm

In response to Authors B Mazing finish it challenge #31. The intro was provided (in italics) and the challenge is to complete the story. Please find my story below.

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The earth was trembling. Not sure what to do she grabbed her little girl, hoping her son and husband were safe. The sound of rattling kitchen ware and thumping of books as they fell off the open shelf grew louder with every passing second. Huddled up in the farthest corner within her daughters room she attempted to hide them from any destructive missile. Her eyes darted back and forth, breath became increasingly shallow as she anticipated the worst. Closing her eyes she rocked her daughter back and forth.

In a flash it changed: silence restored, no tremors, no rattling kitchen ware.

In a soft conspirators voice she asked “Mummy, are we playing hide and seek with daddy again?”

Shaken out of her revere her eyes took in the room, nothing seemed out of place. Rushing out of the room she walked through the entire house, again nothing seemed misplaced, the books were stacked up neatly on the shelf. Oh no! This could not be happening again. Why now, when everything was getting back to normal. There was no way she was telling her husband, she had to find away to cope with this on her own. It was tough enough dealing with their sons injuries, adding an unstable partner would be too much for anyone to handle.

Turning to open the fridge, she caught sight of her daughter at the door starring with innocent, loving brown eyes. How does she explain this to her three year old without scaring her? How do you tell your child you have post traumatic stress disorder? Was there a need to?

Arms outstretched with solemn smile she beckoned “come here honey.”

As the pitter patter of tiny feet approached, she retrieved a bottle of beer from the fridge. This had helped calm her down last time, thank God it was close by.

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