When Lightening Strikes!

Why are we scared of thunder?

We wake up suddenly in the middle of the night and for no apparent reason, other than feeling as though we just jumped or that our heart beat is racing just a little bit faster than usual.

We role over to face the window (to which the curtain is not drawn, for fear of oversleeping on a weekday morning) and see the flickering sky and as your ears begin to focus on sounds around you, you hear the massive bucket-droplets of rain falling down.

Suddenly you hear the CRACK and then BOOM of the thunder, just mili-secondas after the lightening strikes and you know that the storm is circulating directly above your head and you freak out.

Well, at least you do if you weren't born in Asia. Thunder storms, still, to this day, scare the shit out of me, even after having lived in Asia for 4 years and witnessing typhoons so strong (in Hong Kong) that you could feel your building swaying as you hid under your duvet, praying for it to all be over very soon.

The irony of it is that I'm only scared when I'm alone and it's dark and it's the middle of the night. If I'm not already in bed, I would normally go out onto my balcony and watch or film it in the hope of getting an amazing bolt on camera. I mean it is one of nature's most powerful and beautiful shows. BUT, when I'm jolted from my sleepy and all is quiet in my apartment I freak out. Barely able to even poke my head out from underneath my duvet.

Last night there was a big storm that kept me up for about 2 hours, in the end I couldn't sleep so i called my mate BD for about an hour, all the while, wondering if i would get electrocuted through the "ariel" of my phone.

After a while the storm calmed down/ passed over head and i was ready to go back to sleep but me being afraid of the dark - (yes, I am and I also openly admit that when I first moved in to my own place and lived on my own i slept with the lights on for about 2 months) was too scared to get out of my bed to grab a glass of water so my friend agreed to stay on the line whilst i ran out of my bed, to the fridge poured a glass of water and squealed as I ran back into my bed and drank under the covers.

She thought it was hilarious, I thought myself simply pathetic. Still, i survived and the axe murderer that I was sure was waiting for me outside my bedroom door, was not, in fact, there and did not murder me. Because, when there is a storm, someone always gets murdered, don't they?