Storm Surge

STORM SURGE

by Jennie Badger

The water charged angrily

Cold and black, foaming and relentless,

It rose

Like a furious hungry beast

It gorged, unsatisfied

Obliterating everything in its path

I held on tight as its wrathful maw came for us

With one brutal tug, it sucked me in

And ripped you away

The three of us tumbling like marionettes

Through its entrails

Clawing, reaching, gasping we spilled

Then, silence.

I lie broken and cold

Alone in a sea of destruction

Remnants of a life I knew

Float beyond my grasp

My heart has been ripped from me

But I still feel it beating

And breath is all that remains

So I breathe.

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Born and raised in Cuero, Texas, Jennie Badger has lived in San Antonio since graduating from Trinity University. Professionally, she has worked in public relations, practiced law and written for a local magazine. None of that remotely relates to the volunteer position she held for six years as choreographer and director of middle school musicals for her children’s elementary school. She and her husband of 23 years are parents to three children – a soon-to-be college senior, college freshman and high school sophomore.