1 Foreboding news

The morning sky was clear blue, the clouds were like cotton candy as they gracefully floated fairly through the vast sky. Nothing was so out of the blue today. As the trails of calm, unworried winds floated past the green leaves of white acacia trees full of life, a father and daughter are sitting on a sofa watching TV.

The little girl looked like a little princess: She had long shaggy brown hair, and one could tell that when she grew up, she would be an extremely beautiful woman. Her head had been slumped on her father's arm, one hand clutching his bicep and the other on her little brown teddy. Her crystal clear blue eyes were half- open and she had a frown on her small, plushy pink lips. The man had been moving too much, she was having her afternoon nap but the sudden shout of her father woke her up as his favorite team had scored an amazing goal. He jumped and joyously tossed his muscular arms high in the air as if he was reaching for the sky but doing so had caused his arm to be snatched from her hold. Her big blue eyes narrowed on her father's hand before looking back at hers. Her pink lips formed a pout as she started ranting but just before she could, the TV channel had gone static for a second and was transported to a news broadcast... The man's expression suddenly grew serious as his jumping came to a halt.

"We interrupt this program to quickly inform you. The national weather department has confirmed that in the next 12 hours that an abnormally large cyclone will reach North American soil from the west coast. We have been told to inform you to kindly have you and your loved ones evacuate to the nearest military shelter within the next 5 hours. Thank you for your time. For live updates please go to channel 41 on your TV or radio."

"Daddy, when will the storm come to us?" The little five-year-old girl couldn't help but ask curiously with a tinge of fear. She was now wide awake, her hands resting on her knees as she peered at the TV and back at her father.

"Don't worry, Mila. We'll be fine," he replied, "now go and pack up your stuff. We need to pick up your mom at the supermarket." He seemed pretty carefree about the impending storm that would come as he calmly said these words.

At the mention of the word 'mom', the child's footsteps somewhat hurried faster as she ran up the creaky wooden stairs that responded to her every step.

Seeing his little girl run without any worry and anxiety. The man could only sigh. He reached inside his pocket and brought out his phone and dialed a number.

Ring...ring...it rang once... twice… thrice until someone picked up.

"Hello?" a young female voice answered.

"Hey, honey how're the supplies going? Did you get everything?" the man questioned.

"Almost! I've nearly got all of it: canned food, snacks, fruits-- oh! Water bottles were on sale today so I bought two dozens." The voice exclaimed joyfully.

"Good. Mila and I will be coming to pick you up in 45 mins. Then it's off to the shelter. Stay safe, Alita"

"Okay, Aiden. Bye-Love you!"

As soon as he hung up the call. A notification had popped up on his phone followed by the high pitched sound created after notifications. It was a text message from the board of directors of IMAGin'E. It read " Aiden Smith, due to the impending storm about to arrive. All staff and directors are asked to evacuate to Fort Sandstorm in the next 8 hours. Don't worry about having to tell your staff. They have all been sent the same mail."

Hearing this, now Aiden could only force himself up and silently start packing. He couldn't figure out why they had needed to be this worried about a cyclone. Natural disasters happen all the time, why did they have to be so worried about this one? Why should he be particularly scared about this one?

Aiden was an inhumanely handsome tall and muscular man. He worked as a managing director at IMAGin'E tech. He and Alita had been married for 7 years and they lived in a white, stylish and modern two-story house with a large garden at the back. Life so far had been blissful for the family of three.

Thirty minutes had passed, the clock's hand slowly moved to convey the message. The pendulum inside the clock swung left to right as the ring of the old grandfather clock slowly subsided

The door of the garage had opened. Inside was a bold, black SUV, really spacious on the inside. Alita had always wanted a family car after the birth of Mila so Aiden ended up buying this one. Its trunk was open, Aiden had just placed both his and his wife's suitcases, Mila's suitcase yet to occupy its rightful space. He looked towards the house.

"Mila! We're leaving now. Bring it down now." Aiden said loudly.

"DADDY! Help me! It's too heavy!" Shouted Mila in her adorable voice. Aiden let out a chuckle as he shifted his body towards the house. He skillfully weaved through the house and arrived at Mila's room, the site was a mess, Mila's hand was lodged under the suitcase, her eyes focused as her tiny furry eyebrows scrunched in concentration. Upon seeing her father, her sheepish smile returned as Aiden lifted a brow, amazed at how lazy his daughter was when she knew he was there for him. He went to help her and in no time they had readied everything and began their journey.

The rays of the brilliant, yellow radiance of the sun shone through the creme colored clouds like before. But this time, there was a difference. There were more clouds than before and not only were there more...they were bigger.

The streets were empty, lifeless. It was a weird sight as this was rush hour time and traffic would often be as fast as a snail but today, it all changed. The car quickly arrived at the store. It was a large supermarket, the local store the Smith family would frequently visit. Standing outside the entrance was a young woman in a tracksuit, bags clumped around her feet as her calculating eyes dashed back and forth looking for a black SUV. She was an outstanding beauty with soft doe-like blue eyes, on occasional days, they would remind Aiden of pastel blue clouds, that he could only imagine were soft if he could ever touch. Her hair was a dark shade of brown, appearing black but at the sudden contact of sunlight would reveal a softer tone of brown. It ended just below her shoulders by a few inches, where caramel highlights graced the tips. Her face was finely cut, graced with high cheekbones that were accompanied by plump ruby red lips and two small dimples beside her cheeks. Her nose was buttoned off for her heart-shaped face blessed with a fine caramel skin tone. Her image radiated the aura of a goddess. Her face alone could topple kingdoms- no empires even. She was fairly short compared to Aiden, but nonetheless, she was a considerably tall woman.

Aiden drove just beside her. Mila had a humongous smile on her face as she hugged her mom, Alita's eyes lit up like a bright light at the sight of her daughter and husband. Aiden nodded at her, offering one of his rare affectionate smiles as he began to pick up the mess of bags and start arranging them into the car.

"Phew. All done, we can make our way there now. Are you guys ready?" Aiden asked, making hand motions of excitement as if they were about to go on a road trip.

Alita looked at Mila, mother and daughter alike. How had Aiden gotten so lucky? His two girls exchanged fond, mischievously sweet smiles between themselves as both of them in unison exclaimed loudly "Oh Yeah!"