September, 2003. A month I will never forget. For two months, the eastern seaboard from Maryland to Georgia were preparing for the worst. Hurricane Isabelle was storming her way up through the Atlantic with her sights set on North Carolina and Virginia. My cousin Sarah, who lived on the beach in Kill Devil Hills, had decided to weather the storm, despite the warnings and the fact that all of her neighbors had decided to leave. Sarah was determined to save her house or go down with it.
The storm hit quickly. Before the winds were even more than a gust, the power went out. After that, I lost all contact with my cousin. I walked carefully through my living room. All my family had chosen my house to gather and wait out the storm. Being only an hour and a half away from Sarah, I had tried to convince her to come, but she refused. I had trouble getting to sleep that night. I knew that my family was safe in my house, but I was still worried about Sarah. We had grown up together so we were pretty close. It was about midnight when the front door opened. I was checking on my dog in the garage when Sarah came into the house, soaked to the bone and on the verge of tears.
“It’s gone,” she cried, “my house, my yard, everything.”
“What happened?” I asked as I noticed how wet she was, “Why are you so wet?”
“The top of my car flew off about an hour ago,” she said, “ I drove most of the way here in a convertible with no roof.”
I brought her upstairs and got her a towel. “Try to find something of mine to wear, and get some sleep,” I said as I led her into my room. “I’ll sleep downstairs.” As I started to close the door, she started to cry. I couldn’t leave her like that, so I went back into the room and wrapped her in the towel. She fell into my arms, shivering.