Firestorm

April 7, 2020 | Austin | 50-59 years

I was with a work colleague from a job I had 17 years ago, driving north on the highway to go to lunch. I saw a massive black cloud in the distance and then instantly, it was upon us: a violent firestorm full of lighting flashes, dark orange billows of flame and dense black smoke, with the upward force and expansion of a volcanic eruption, a chemical plant explosion. Viscous smoke surged in through the air vents as we were hemmed in by great raging globes of orange flame veined with dark red and black. I didn't know whether to keep driving or turn back, and it seemed to be too dangerous to do either one. I felt certain there was no escape and we were driving into our deaths. I was sad that I was going to die not with people I loved but with a guy I knew from work. In another instant, the storm was behind us and all was as before. We drove on into the sunny day feeling breathless at being inexplicably alive. There was no news coverage of the cloud anywhere afterwards but I knew it was real.

Note: Dreamer added, “I have been experiencing severe insomnia on some nights since this started, waking with an adrenaline surge of panic that keeps me from sleeping for several hours.”