Lightning Crashes, A Short Story (Digital Download))

In a world devoured by apocalypse, one soul wanders, lost and alone.
 
Imagine a future where the Earth's atmosphere is a distant memory, and a lone ghost drifts across a barren landscape, haunted by echoes of a life long gone. This is the reality of our narrator in "Lightning Crashes," a poignant and thought-provoking short story that explores themes of loss, longing, and the enduring power of connection.
 
Fueled by a forgotten tale of beings who could only touch their soulmates during the flash of lightning, our narrator searches for meaning in a world stripped bare. Was it nuclear fire, a solar flare, or something far more cosmic that brought about the end? And why is this one soul tethered to a dead planet, unable to find peace or companionship?
 
But amidst the desolation, a spark of hope ignites. After a billion years of silence, the Earth begins to stir. And in a breathtaking climax, our narrator experiences a moment of transcendent union, a lifetime of love and understanding compressed into a single, electrifying instant.
 
"An estranged friend of mine once told me a fanciful, if tragically romantic, tale. It was about a race of beings who could only materialize and touch their soul mates once, during the fleeting union of lightning. One would reach up from the ground, the other would reach down from the heavens, and in that brief, blazing instant when their energies met, they would experience a lifetime of intimacy compressed into the blink of a split second.
 
"But there is no more lightning now, fanciful or otherwise. That would require an atmosphere, after all, and the atmosphere has been gone for nearly a billion years.
 
"Sometimes, beneath the silent, star-strewn sky, I find myself pondering that tale. I wonder if those beings ever truly existed or if they were merely the wistful creation of a friend I haven't seen in ages. Without clouds to gather or storms to brew, the heavens remain distant and unchanging, and the earth lies quiet and barren. The chance for such a profound union has long since vanished, like echoes fading in an empty hall."
 
"Lightning Crashes" is more than just a post-apocalyptic tale. It's a haunting meditation on what it means to be human, even when humanity is gone. It's about the enduring search for connection, and the possibility of finding love and meaning in the most unexpected of places.
 
Download "Lightning Crashes" now and prepare to be moved, challenged, and inspired by a story that will linger in your thoughts long after you finish reading.
 
 
This book was digitally set with Adobe Caslon Pro at BOOKFORGE EDITIONS in historic Erie, Pennsylvania.
 
Lightning Crashes will appear in the short story collection, Lavishly Entangled Words of Enlightenment, written by Edward Patrick Kranz. The compilation will consist of semi-autobiographical fiction and other eloquences of deceit.