The cellar door clambered against its hinges, trying to break away and fly away into the storm above.

James sat shaking in the corner of the cellar, feeling the ground shake as his house struggled to stay attached to the earth.

The cellar wasn’t made for such a big storm, there was a deeper cellar made that the family was supposed to go to instead.

James had found it hard to sleep sometimes and found himself most able to in this cellar.

The only problem was the one he currently found himself in, which was when a storm rolled in.

James woke up to the cellars slamming shut, hearing the wind picking up quickly and violently.

He did what his father had taught him to do and grabbed a metal beam and stuck it between the thick handles of the doors.

They still shook violently, but they had yet to break away.

James hoped his family was in the deeper cellar, the Cow they had called it.

They called it the cow because it was huge like a cow, and it was stocked with canned beef.

His dad insisted that if the nuclear apocalypse came they’d have enough for a year.

It was built after the one James was in was made.

His dad made it bigger, deeper, and able to be lived in for a longer period.

James was always scared of having to be in the Cow at all, but something about this cellar made him calm.

The Cow was too big, making him think he may somehow fall into it and never climb out.

The cellar, however, was perfect since you could see the exit.

He felt safer in it.

The cellar shouted at James, forcing him to remember his fear and try to hide deeper into the shadows.

There was never a storm as bad as this before, occasionally there would be one passing by and the family would hide in this cellar.

They would wait for a few hours, play a game while they waited, or go back to sleep in the makeshift beds that they had made.

James started to wish that his mom was there to hold him.

The wind screamed at James, punishing him for his fear.

The thunder outside was still striking the ground in furious passion.

James wished there was a skylight on the ceiling so he could see the rain pound onto the glass panes.

The ground was only about 6 inches deep according to his father.

“The perfect depth for the cellar, deep enough to keep us safe but also shallow enough that we don’t get claustrophobic, perfect for mum right bud?” His father had said.

James looked up at him, hands on the grass looking over the edge of the dirt pit that his dad had finished digging out that day.

He was fascinated by the structure, it seemed so deep and big, but the way his mom had described it, it was supposed to be small, so small that it might be hard to breathe.

“Is it because of her Afsma?” James asked his dad.

His dad thought for a moment and waved his hand indicating that James was kind of right.

“Your mom's asthma does make it harder for her to breathe, but she also has claustrophobia, which means she is scared of small spaces,” his dad explained.

“Her asthma acts up when he finds herself in a small enough space, like this cellar for example,” His dad finished.

James looked back at the hole, and back at his dad.

“But… but it’s so big!” James yelled.

James’s dad laughed heartily, something that was contagious for anyone nearby.

“That’s true, but it's big to us. For you mom, it seems smaller than it really is,” His dad tried to explain.

James looked back at the hole, thinking about what his dad said.

He didn’t think that the cellar could ever be small for him.

Now that the storm had come and he was alone in the dark, it seemed smaller than he could comprehend.

At the same time, it felt like it was all that was left of the world, making it huge.

The storm seemed to only get stronger, the thunder becoming nearly constant.

It was hard to hear the wind over the thunder, James thought he could hear a fire nearby.

This was somehow scarier than anything else, a fire that even the rain couldn’t put out.

James typically liked fire, always excited when the family was making s’mores in the summer, but now it had become a weapon.

A danger that he was blind to in all his senses.

It might’ve been a fabrication of his fears, materializing and tricking him.

But to James, it felt real, it felt like the fire was right outside the cellar doors.

James closed his eyes and tried to go to his happy place, something that his parents told him to do whenever he was scared.

He thought hard, what was his happy place?

He thought of the time they went to the zoo and saw the bears, but the roars reminded him of the thunder.

The time he got an action figure for Christmas he wanted all year, reminded him how scared and small he felt.

The sound that echoed within the walls rang in his ears.

Soon James found his hands over his ears, trying to block out the sound.

Tears streaked down his face, snot following it out of his nose.

He didn’t realize that he had started screaming.

He screamed for what felt like forever until his voice finally gave out.

But even then he kept his mouth open, screaming in silence.

When he finally stopped to draw in some air, he exhaled slowly.

He suddenly felt calm.

He found his happy place.

James was sitting in the playground, watching the sky.

He was sitting alone, the sound of kids playing around him.

He wasn’t sad though, he was happy.

He leaned back and laid down, arms sprawled open as if he may fall upward.

He heard someone walking by, but he didn’t look up at them.

He stared at the beautiful sky.

His eyes got blinded by the shadow that loomed over him, his eyes focusing on a girl's head.

His eyes focused on her brown eyes, matching her hair.

She was wearing a T-shirt and had a sweatshirt tied around her waist, even though it was the middle of summer.

“Whatcha doin'?” she asked.

“Watching the clouds, they’re cool,” James responded immediately.

The girl looked up, still blocking his view.

She looked back down and asked, “Can I watch it with you?”

James thought for a minute, debating whether the new presence would disturb his peace.

He shrugged, “Sure if you wanna,” he said.

She smiled, “Ok!”

She finally moved from his eyesight and lay next to him in a similar position.

At first, she distracted him intensely, but after a few minutes, he found her presence comforting.

Somehow she brought calmness to his soul, which made the sky brighter, and the clouds more majestic.

After some more time passed, she eventually spoke again.

“What’s your name? Mines Cassy,” she said.

“I’m James,” He responded.

James couldn’t help but smile.

He started asking her questions, encouraging her to talk more.

Her voice was more calming than the sky, bringing a sense of safety in the fact that she was with him.

James sat in the cellar, remembering that moment.

His hands covered his ears, and his eyes were squinted shut.

But his mind had brought him somewhere that calmed him.

His soul was still, mind calm, and body soft.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but eventually, he opened his eyes to see daylight.

There was a sliver of light-catching his eye through the slit between the cellar doors.

He slowly brought himself up and walked towards the door.

He slid the bar off, careful not to let it drop to the floor and interrupt the booming silence.

He pushed open the doors with all his strength and was blinded by light.

After his eyes adjusted he saw tree branches and pieces of his house everywhere.

It was all wet, with no sign of a fire anywhere in sight.

It was beautiful in a way, the stillness of the world even after the disaster that had occurred.

He saw the doors to the Cow, but he stayed where he was.

James looked up at the sky, bright and void of clouds.

He knew she was looking up at them too, he could feel that she was.

James fully stepped out of the cellar and felt the wet grass on his feet.

He took the entire world around him in, breathing in.

He closed his eyes and saw the world through his skin, cold from the rain but the feeling of the oncoming heat followed it.

He smiled and breathed out.