Hurricane Euphoria

### Effie Porter, Kathleen Shepherd, Auggie Porter, Laurie Porter, Millie Porter, Jim Porter

December 11, 1401 was, for the most part, no different than any other day. Effie had spent the morning at kindergarten, playing with playdough and colouring, every 6-year-old’s dream. The afternoon was spent grocery shopping with her mum and her little brother, Auggie.

“Can we get cookies, mum? Please!” Effie begged. Auggie was getting fussy and was on the verge of a tantrum, and her mum was losing patience fast.

“We have cookies at home, Euphoria, now come on,” Effie’s mum was the only one who ever called her by her full name - a name that was near impossible for a kindergartner to say, much less spell.

With two grumpy kids and no cookies, Effie’s mum was pushing the shopping cart across the parking lot. That is when it happened.

December 11, 1401 at 5:37pm. The moment they would never forget. Explosion. Noise. Light. Storm. Darkness.

Effie cried out as she was thrown to the ground. She could hear Auggie crying and her mum calling out, but she couldn’t see them.

For a mother, not being able to find her children, not knowing if they are okay is a fear like no other. For a child though, it doesn’t take long for the moment of paralyzing fear to fade away to a distant memory erased with a simple kiss and a hug.

It is after a disaster, people are the kindest to each other. Strangers helping children find their parents, bandaging up scraps and bruises. Everyone giving a helping hand.

Effie’s mum hugged her children tight and never wanted to let them go. They all wanted to be home with the rest of their family.

Traffic was absolutly crazy. The whole city appeared to be affected.

“Look mummy, dirty hands!” Auggie, only two, didn’t realize the extremity of what had occurred, and was fascinated by his soot covered hands and the marks they were leaving all over the back seat.

When they finally arrived home, Effie was surprised to see her dad and her older siblings, Laurie and Millie, waiting anxiously at the door. Her dad ran out to the van and scooped them all into one giant hug.

“We were so worried,” he exclaimed, barely being heard over everyone talking at once. Laurie and Millie attempted to explain everything that had happened.

“An explosion-”

“The whole city was affected.”

“StarLabs was trying an experiment-

“Yeah, the particle accelerator I was telling you about last week,” Laurie concluded, out of breath.

It was many years before Effie, or anyone really, fully understood the significance of what happened that stormy winter evening.

The Porter family weren’t concerned about what happened or who was to blame, they were just relieved their family was safe and no one was hurt past a couple scraps and bruises.

“Bath time!” Effie’s dad announced, with a forced lightness “look at the state of you two!”

~

“We haven’t even eaten dinner yet!” Effie laughed, “and I’m in my PJs.” Millie just smiled and gave her sister another hug. The teen, while still quite young, understood more than her parents realized. Despite being the second eldest, she had often felt a responsibility over her siblings. Millie had seen her father pacing by the phone. She had seen her mum holding back tears as she held her children tightly. Millie saw all this, but kept it to herself.

Effie ran into the kitchen, telling her mum all about the fact that she gets to be in PJs before dinner, a source of major excitement to the 6-year-old. Her mum didn’t respond. Effie tried tugging on her shirt, but her mum’s gaze was fixed on Effie’s hair. She reached out to touch it, and instead of replying to her youngest daughter, she called out

“Jim, come here,”

Effie’s dad and Millie raced to the kitchen, sensing the fear in her voice. Effie, trying to figure out what the issue was, turned around, ducking out from her mum’s outstretched hand. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. There was a streak of white contrasting against her jet black curly hair.

The tension was broken as Millie said,

“Oh, I just thought maybe she got into some bleach or something.”

Effie’s mum slowly shook her head,

“She hasn’t been around anything like that.”

The white streak didn’t fade over time, but it also didn’t expand. Effie’s mum dragged her a number of doctors, all top of their fields, but no one could explain it. Since that day, every strand of hair that grew from that one location, above her left temple was white, while the rest of her hair remained it’s original pitch black.

why a streak of her hair would suddenly change colour, but didn’t affect the rest of her hair. Even the new hair that grew in that one location was white, while the rest of her hair remained its original black.