by Adelaide Fitton, 05/11/2020, Lansing, MI

Middle School 6-8 Category

The night was quiet, silent as if birds and other animals knew what was coming and were waiting for it, holding their breath as not to make the smallest disturbance. Then the rain began not a little at once but all of it came pouring down. Making the air warm, not cold and so humid and thick it felt like a weight bearing down on your back. Then came the thunder. It was strong thunder, not petty but sure in its knowledge that it could destroy us easily; this thunder would not relent on our terms, only on its own. And with that it started, the first bolt of lightning cracked open the sky in its majestic beauty.

I ran outside with my mom close behind. We were covered by the porch but that didn’t keep us from feeling the sharp sting of wind on our faces. We made it outside just as the first bolt of lightning struck the ground. The sight of the lightning fills me with awe, and when I blink I can see the path that the lightning made to the earth outlined on my eyelids. Soon after the rain turns to hail and I examine it with amazement. The earth never ceases to amaze me.

“Wow,” I whisper. I didn’t know beauty could take form in such a destructive thing. We watch the entire thunder storm until it putters out to a drizzle of rain.

Once it is over I head up the stairs to my room climbing up to my loftbed the second my head hits the pillow I promptly fall asleep.

The next morning I wake up and look at the clock. I see that it says eight o’clock. My body has woken me up just in time for school. Then I remember that school is canceled. For a second I laugh at myself. That is ridiculous. Then I hear my sister downstairs and know that this isn’t some crazy dream, school is literally canceled due to the coronavirus. I remember my parents telling me that I wouldn’t be going back to school. I felt free like I wouldn’t have to wake up early or do school work or get ready. I could spend my day without those things. But school takes up a large amount of my time and without being able to leave the house after school was canceled I got bored fast. Days of boredom passed for a while until I got here.

Soon I will start online school. I hope that it will be more interesting than I expect. But when Monday comes, I get practically no work. My math teacher gives me one lesson and it’s done within half an hour. Each day is a different subject and slowly week by week things get harder but I still have many empty hours to fill and fill them I do. I read, play games, I practice my violin for full hours, and even color sometimes. I just hope that this experience is like that thunderstorm. It could get bad but in the end the rain will become a drizzle and our country will get to rest (hopefully for a long time) before we launch ourselves into another crisis.