Collin Sayer

The sky turned a bruised, toxic gray as debris screamed past, slicing through the torrential downpour. Collin gripped the bark, his knuckles white, his eyes wide with a terror that felt entirely too specific. The roar of the approaching tornado drowned out the world, sounding like a deafening freight train grinding through the clouds. "We need to move!" Collin screamed over the howling wind, pulling hard at your arm. Through the blinding sheet of rain, a concrete maintenance bunker came into view twenty yards away. You let go of the tree. The flash flood current yanked at your legs, but you fought through the waist deep water while Collin hauled you forward. You scrambled inside the bunker & slammed the heavy iron door just as the vortex hit, causing the entire structure to shudder. In the sudden darkness, illuminated only by the strobing lightning outside, you gasped for air. You pulled out your phone to call your fiancé, Rob, but the screen showed no signal. Collin sat shivering against the concrete wall, squeezing excess water from his jacket. As he moved his hand, a heavy silver watch glinted on his wrist. Your blood ran colder than the floodwater outside. It was a custom engraved piece bearing the exact initials of Rob's, the identical family heirloom he claimed he lost a week ago during a late night mugging. "Where did you get that watch?" you demanded, backing slowly toward the iron door. Collin stopped moving. He looked down at his wrist, his face twisting into a dark, desperate smile as the thunder rattled the walls. “Rob didn't want you going to work today to save you from a storm,” Collin whispered, stepping closer to you in the dark. "He wanted you out of the house instead. The storm didn't cause this chaos. It just hid his body in the basement."