A Sleepless Night
I have experience of a sleepless night. It was a fearful night. There was a cyclone on the 20th instant. It began to drizzle from evening with occasions bursts of wind. About midnight, the cyclone burst in full fury. It seemed nature had gone mad. I was alone that day in my house. I had shut all the doors and windows of my room, still, I could hear the roar of blasts and crashes of falling trees. Even the doors and windows began to rattle as if by an earthquake. Deep darkness enveloped the environment. Peals of thunder together with flashes of lightning seized me with fright and dread. I felt helpless and began to pray to God to stop the scourge. Now and then there might be a state of lull. But this was followed by blasts of greater force. Eventually, it blew off the roofs of the house, uprooted the trees and plants. swept away the mutilated corrugated tins and broken branches of trees. People began to raise a hue and cry at dead of night. These shouts and shrieks frightened me. I could not utter any sound in fear. When, at last storm abated, it was nest morning. It was the bitterest experience of my life that will remain fresh in my memory for many years to come.