![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/storm111-1024x674.jpg?resize=640%2C421\")
<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nby Sean Butler<\/p>\n
It was dusk and Cuervo paced around the apartment, the sound of his nails clicking across the floor marking time with the ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece. The dog didn\u2019t usually pace, but he seemed nervous, and Jonas thought that he was increasingly anxious because of the storm. He looked up from his cell to watch the dog and wondered if he would settle down at all before the storm broke. His phone vibrated in his lap, and he turned his attention back to the texts that his sometimes-girlfriend was sending<\/p>\n
She was in Atlanta, escaping from Savannah when the word had come to evacuate. But he\u2019d stayed, full of young manhood bravado, along with his dog, to watch the storm\u2019s fury unleash upon his city. She was worried about him, the latest text said, and she asked if there was anything that she could do to convince him to leave. He smiled as he hammered away at the phone\u2019s virtual keyboard:<\/p>\n
*U could Snapchat me a little \u2018sho!<\/p>\n
She responded:<\/p>\n
*NO WAY\u2026u\u2019d share the pics!<\/p>\n
A strong gust of wind slammed into the house and he heard that timbers groan. The lights flickered out once\u2026twice\u2026then stayed out.<\/p>\n
He wrote back:<\/p>\n
*Nah. Snapchat-They\u2019d be between U \u2018n me!<\/p>\n
Then:<\/p>\n
*Power just went out. Send pics b4 my phone dies!<\/p>\n
There was a loud banging against the door and he jumped. The dog whined.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake it easy, Cuervo. It\u2019s just the wind. Probably blew the screen door open.\u201d Jonas went to the door, stood, and listened to the wind. \u201cWow,\u201d he said, looking back at Cuervo, \u201cIt\u2019s really kicking out there.\u201d Jonas turned the handle on the deadbolt and\u2014<\/p>\n
BOOM! The door blew in, slamming into Jonas and knocking him back onto the floor. Wind, rain, and water rushed in as Jonas tried to get his bearings. He staggered to his feet and checked for the screen door\u2014it was folded back against the house, the frame bent beyond use. He looked to see the Savannah River creeping up the yard. He leaned into the door with all his might and engaged the lock.<\/p>\n
\u201cShit, Cuervo\u2014that hurt.\u201d Jonas chuckled nervously and rubbed his forehead, glad that he hadn\u2019t been seriously injured. Emergency services shut down hours ago\u2014there was no help to be found, even if he wanted it. He lit some candles and sat back down on the couch.<\/p>\n
His phone was blinking. There was a Snapchat from Lana:<\/p>\n
*Hope U enjoy these!\u2014followed by a smiley emoticon with horns.<\/p>\n
Jonas grinned at the photos\u2014it wasn\u2019t full frontal nudity, but the shirt she wore was sheer enough to leave little to the imagination. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m talking about.\u201d He said, smiling.<\/p>\n
Cuervo whined and looked uneasily at the kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cRelax, boy. We\u2019ll be ok.\u201d His attention returned to his phone and the sexy photos. He was studying the pics when his phone buzzed\u2014he had a new Snapchat.<\/p>\n
He finished with Lana\u2019s photo shoot to see a snapchat from <NO NAME>. Strange, he thought, but pulled it up anyway\u2014Jonas hoped it was a photo; that it was Lana using a girlfriend\u2019s phone to take pictures. Maybe, he thought, Lana and one of her hot friends decided to tag up on me.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t. It was a photo of him\u2014taken from the kitchen. He was sitting with the candle on the table in front of him, looking at his phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the hell,\u201d he said out loud, whirling around to look at the kitchen. He jumped to his feet, peering through the gathering gloom into the room beyond. \u201cWho the fuck is in my house?\u201d The unsteady, fearful sound of his voice surprised him. Cuervo whined again, and Jonas noticed that his dog was shaking. He looked around the room, trying to find anything that he could use as a weapon. He grabbed a paperweight off his desk and started to make his way toward the kitchen.<\/p>\n
His phone buzzed again.<\/p>\n
He stopped in mid-stride, glanced at his phone, then back at the kitchen.<\/p>\n
His phone buzzed a second time.<\/p>\n
He edged his way over to it, trying not to take his eyes off of the kitchen. He picked it up and glanced at the screen\u2014a new text from Lana and a new Snap from <NO NAME>.<\/p>\n
Lana\u2019s message:<\/p>\n
*Hello\u2014did you get my picszzzz?<\/p>\n
The photo was taken from the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. In the photo he was looking just past the point in space where it had been taken, paperweight in hand.<\/p>\n
Jonas was mad\u2014and scared now. A large gust of wind slammed into the house, and there was a crash from somewhere above. His phone buzzed again\u2014he ignored it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho the hell is there? What is this?\u201d His phone buzzed again in response, and Cuervo started barking furiously at the kitchen. He jumped and a slick sweat of fear coated his skin. Cuervo stopped barking, yelped, and peed on the floor.<\/p>\n
He could barely see the photos, his hands were shaking so badly. The first pic was of him sitting on the couch, bug-eyes looking at his phone, and he appeared to be typing something. The second was of him lying face-up on the couch, his hands around his neck, as though trying to stop somebody choking him. He started shaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuck, fuck, fuck.\u201d He collapsed onto couch, fear paralyzing his mind. His phone buzzed\u2014another Snap from <NO NAME>. He ignored it, looked around the room, wild eyes searching for whoever, whatever was taking the photos.<\/p>\n
Call 911. He punched in the digits only to hear a busy signal. No emergency services.<\/p>\n
He felt a cold mist settle against him, pushing him into the couch. The weight was unbearable; he couldn\u2019t breathe. He fumbled with his phone, sent a message to Lana:<\/p>\n
*911callthepoli\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cOHGOD<\/em>\u201d was the last coherent thing he said or thought, as cold invisible hands crushed his windpipe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was dusk and Cuervo paced around the apartment, the sound of his nails clicking across the floor marking time with the ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-short"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3073,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071\/revisions\/3073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}