Time for the assault to begin.
The wild horses on the beach tell me that I’ve reached North Carolina’s Outer Banks. It doesn’t look like my winds have unfolded here yet, but boy, are those waves powerful.
They slam the shoreline, and the horses retreat behind the dunes and grass.
The oil spill is still fresh in my mind, but these horses wouldn’t be here unless they’re protected.
No, no. No more internal conflicts. I’m working my way down the Outer Banks and plucking off the humans. I can do it, looking at Helene and how she was only a tropical storm, but still killed many people, most by flooding.
A dock enters my peripheral. Swells pound it on either side, and a cracking sound explodes into the atmosphere like a firecracker.
A wave grabs the dock and pulls it out to sea, and it isn’t long before it floats under me.
Wow, now that’s what I call a good start. There were no humans on that dock, but maybe the next one?
I pass a beach next, and there we go. Beachcombers wade in the water, and a lifeguard watches them from her chair. She’s a fit, young woman who doesn’t take her eyes off the swimmers.
Waves, come to my assistance?
“Help!” a voice soon screams from the ocean.
I look forward and flinch.
A young girl and her mother float in the sea—the rip current must have caught them—and waves beat against them repeatedly, pulling them underwater and then back up.
“Help!” the mother yells again, holding her daughter close.
A splash comes from the beach, and the lifeguard paddles out to them. She bounces over the waves and stops beside them, saying, “I’ve got you.”
She helps the mother and daughter onto her board and takes them back to shore. I see them embracing on the beach, and then hear this:
The mother locks eyes with the lifeguard and sniffs. A tear drops down her cheek. “You don’t understand. My husband died a few weeks ago in a shipwreck in the Caribbean. I’m trying—believe me, I am.”
The mangled sailor! Oh, God! Oh, God! He did have a family—I found his family—and I almost killed them, too.
Be the good, Erin.
No, be the evil.
Be the good.
No, be the evil.
Shut up, Mother.
For a moment, my waves quiet down, leaving the young family, lifeguard, and beachcombers to observe them.
At this moment, I back off and head back out to sea, a new lease on life in my mind. I separated a family, but that doesn’t mean I can’t redeem myself.
Mother Nature, please don’t let me hurt North Carolina like Helene did. I never knew how to stand up for myself, but now I do. There is just as much good in the world as evil, and I am the good.
Please forgive me, Mother and Mother Nature, but I can’t do this anymore.
I’m going home.
ns216.73.216.174da2
and then Add to home screen.