# data[].attributes.body
We had been told to pack light. I had torn through my bedroom, yanking down photographs, certificates, mementos - the precious things were always small, but irreplaceable.

I had fumbled with the zipper on my bag, adding other precious things to my pack; bottles of water, a few tins of food. I grabbed some band-aids from the bathroom cupboard too, an impulse grab, useless. They wouldn’t be able to fix anything that mattered, but they made me feel less helpless.

Hands full, backpack slung over my shoulder, I hurried outside.

I could feel my world blowing into dust, swirled around and smashed into the ground. From inside the house, I could pretend it wasn’t happening, with the blinds drawn and the blood pounding in my ears disguising the sound of the wind.

Outside, I could see and hear all; the pillar of wind in the distance, tearing through homes, schools, workplaces, throwing lives and hopes and dreams into the air and ripping them apart. The city was being devoured. The monster howled,  a shrieking sound, echoes that reminded me of screams and sobs and occasionally a deranged kind of laughter. The air was a reddish brown; the sky was dark with dust flung into the clouds. I tossed my bag in the back  and climbed into the car as quickly as I could, slamming my door with a barely audible thunk. My mother and brother were already buckled in; my father wrestled his door closed, fighting with the wind.

Then we were leaving, swerving around tight suburban corners as we wove our way through once-neat streets littered with anything light enough to be snatched by the wind. At first, it had just been leaves and pieces of litter. Now frisbees and lawn chairs sailed through the air, some slamming into the car with a muted bang. The air inside the car felt oddly stagnant, calm against the raging depravity of the storm.

We drove fast - the roads were empty of cars. We were one of the last to leave, desperate to cling onto our homes. We had watched the storm appear, slowly beginning to devour the city, until we had no choice but to flee. There wouldn’t be a home to come back to; it would be torn apart, shaken and smashed and left to lie in limp piles of rubble, jumbled together with hundreds of other dead houses. We left the city in dead silence, almost reverent silence - if you can call it silence when a demon is outside, twirling and stomping and ripping a city apart. We left the city, speeding down the highway. I couldn’t bring myself to look back.

We were at the mercy of beasts - monsters of wind and fire and water smashed at us, seeking revenge for the way we abused them. We were driving into the desert, highway in front, chaos behind, and nothing to do but run.

# data[].attributes.body
Muffled screams frantically pierce my swollen ears - beating and beating. Dark and stinging hazes burn my bloodshot eyes. They touch my skin and it peels, every cell in my body reacts, dies. I longlinly grip with my life, mothers ash filled, smokey pyjamas. I remember them to be pale pink, soft, fluffy and homely. Not now. Not anymore. I know that I have ruined my final chance at home. After so long I found a connection. After so long I had found myself. Now that was gone. I sit and stare blindly into the past 4 years of my life -  years of my happiest and brightest memories torn apart. Basking in the sun, huddled inside during the rain, and long bushwalks in the cool, breezy Autumn air. I watch as this entire world rips away from me in an instant. Yet all I can do is mindlessly watch. It breaks me. I am utterly useless. My mind swirls like a hurricane. Could I have stopped myself? How could I do this? Over and over again, the roaring flames engulf the town. So much so that not even the river of salty tears streaming down my face could change it. The terrifyingly beautiful bright yellow and red glowing sparks smack me in the face on repeat, a harsh reminder of what I have done. I force myself to turn away. But I can’t bare it. I can’t face the fact that I am leaving the place I have called home. I can’t be disloyal. Can’t betray my morals. Can't move on. Nonetheless,  I have to. I have to face the facts. It was me.

# data[].attributes.body
We stood in silence, watching the town we knew as home get torn into a million pieces. Rain trickled down the windows of the space craft. through drops of water I saw parts of my home; the roof, my bed, even my sister who wasn't fast enough to be saved. My father patted my shoulder with sympathy, but I knew he felt the same way I did. The colours were thrown everywhere, like a depressed abstract artwork. The green trees, red roof-tops, even a blue coach tossed against the grey sky. My stomach growled, reminding me of the food I hadn't eaten for seven hours. I looked at my father, a tear fell down his face as he thought of his lost daughter. I could smell the rain, through. the thick, metal walls. It brought me back to the reality I would now face, the future I would have to conquer.

# data[].attributes.body
Trapped in yellow snow. Caught between the dry and the rough. Open your eyes and blind yourself in the particles swirling around you. No escape from the grit of the dust swirling around you, sanding your skin to its rawest layer. I screamed into my mask for someone to help but all I could hear was the roar of the dust and wind in my ears. I was losing hope. Trapped in the middle of the field with a deadly dust storm surrounding me. There was no escape from the layers and layers of waste that coated every inch of my body. Faintly in the distance, above the roar of the storm I could hear a yell. Not a yell, a plea. I forced my body to move in the direction of the cry, resisting the wind that pushed me to my knees. I heard the voice again, only inches away now, wailing for another to come and help them. I touched the body and felt cold stiff skin that broke open upon impact. I screamed with the body now and opened my eyes for the briefest second. Black, darkness, I had broken the one rule. Now the screaming stopped and my hand flew to my eyes, rubbing them hard trying to stop the pain and the grit infecting my irises. I felt the body once more and this time it said nothing. Dead, I knew. It was my turn next. I layed down and let the blackness take me.

# data[].attributes.body
I remember it like it was yesterday, standing on the edge of the beach. Watching children splash and play in the water, and hearing parents yell at their children to remain close to the shore. Because of the warning of rising sea levels.

I stood there on the beach, watching the waves crash on the shore. Thunder sounded, lighting up the sky, making it look dark and dismal. The waves started to come in stronger, and the mothers rushed their children out of the water knowing none of them were strong enough to fight the raging current.

I stood there, as the wind started to pick up, becoming stronger and waving my hair around my face. Making me look like I had been electrocuted. The sea levels started to rise even more, and the water reached my knees, the freezing cold water felt icy on my legs.

I turned around, and started to helplessly splash towards shore looking for any signs of help, but I found the beach abandoned. All of the mothers and their children had evacuated and everyone else had left a long time ago. I remember trying to rush towards the shore, knowing that if I didn't move quickly I would be swallowed by the rising current.

The water started surrounding me, trapping me in its path. It rose t0 the height of my neck, threatening to swallow me whole. I started to kick with my arms and feet, fighting to stay above water.

But I was no match for the flooding and soon enough the water swallowed me up completely. Leaving no trace I was ever there.

I drowned knowing nobody could hear my silent cries and pleas for help.