Clayton Loc

This is an opening to a story I wrote a few weeks ago. I haven't had much inspiration to continue it yet but maybe I'll overcome writers block soon enough. I hope you enjoy...

Clayton was a largish town to the west of the Cotswolds,unlike the places surrounding it with their tranquil cottages and country lanes; Clayton Loc was busy, with high streets and modern flats surrounded by deep overgrown woods from the east to north carrying up the vast mountainous green that went on for miles and right in the middle was the loc, hence the towns name. It was an unusual place to live, a rural settlement with a bustling town nestled in the centre. Apart from that Clayton remained completely normal; no peculiar historical background or weird old man isolated from everyone else with dangerous stories to tell the curious children. The only thing strange was the always closed library, right at the end of the town, just off church road, right on the corner. No one even seemed to know it was there, everyone used the school library if they needed it.

A storm was brewing that night over clayton loc. Everyone could feel it; the humidity in the air, the heaviness of the sky. It was darker than usual, the sun had fled the sky quickly, taking safety with it. All was left was an eerie silence; it really was the calm before the storm.

Midnight came silently and the town was still as motionless, all the lights were out and the streets were bare. To a passerbyer Clayton Loc looked abandoned, a ghost town. Then the clouds rumbled loudly, a deep tremendous groan that slowly and strongly ripped through the calm skies and quiet.

Deep in the woods was a small clearing so untouched and desolate that you would barely know there was an open space. Above the clearing the clouds had been circling ferociously all night like a sea of sharks waiting the perfect moment to strike their prey. The storm carried on slow and heavy. Then it stopped. All the world paused like it was holding its breath, everything was silent again.

A quick rumbling began, slighter than the first but whether it lasted longer was unsure as only a second in, a pure white beam of light tore through the centre of the circling clouds colliding with the forest ground and creating a trembling quake, much louder than the thunder. It lasts a few seconds,so strong it lit up the whole forest and then it was gone. The world breathed out and everything came back to life, there was a calm again but not a pre storm warning anymore, a peaceful sigh of relief, the storm was over and everything was fine. So it seemed.