"When the Storm Came" (also known as simply "The Storm") is a Short Story by Captain Cold Cut Cliche. It can be found on FictionPress
and the Creepypasta Wiki.
It is a first-person account by a citizen of a small Western town. A freak storm has devastated everything... but not everything is as simple as it seems.
Warning! Due to how short this story is, all tropes below are not tagged for spoilers. You have been warned.
"When the Storm Came" provides examples of:
- Apocalyptic Log: The story is a personal account of events by a small town citizen telling of their town being destroyed by a very abnormal freak storm, which turns out to be a sentient monster beyond description.
- Cassandra Truth: When cowboys from out of town warn that the storm is coming, the townsfolk laugh at them, thinking that they're trying to scare them away so they could steal gold from their mines. When the actual thing arrives, they realise that they should have heeded their warnings.
- Cliffhanger: The story ends with the main character gripping their gun, seeing "the Storm" look right at them through the window with Glowing Eyes of Doom.
- Cosmic Horror Reveal: It's initially assumed that the titular storm is naturally ferocious, but it stays over the town for days, using sandstorms and lightning to ruin buildings and stop the small groups of people trying to mobilise through it to obtain resources. Cementing "the Storm"'s otherworldliness is the protagonist being stared down by its Glowing Eyes of Doom.
- Detrimental Determination: Bob Lewis is first to step outside after the storm first clears up, telling the others that it's safe to come out only to be Instantly Proven Wrong as the sky darkens again. He doesn't heed the others' warnings to come back inside, and dies from a lightning strike.There was a loud rumble. We all yelled at Bob to run back indoors, but he wouldn't. He always was a stubborn one. I think he didn't want to let the storm intimidate him.
Well, it didn't intimidate him. It killed him. - Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Implied. The protagonist thinks Bob Lewis refuses to return inside because he doesn't want to be intimidated by a storm. But "the Storm" is a malicious entity, not Hostile Weather, and Bob's supposed defiance is responded with a lightning strike of instant death.
- Eldritch Abomination: The townsfolk are warned of an incoming storm, which turns out to be a more intentionally destructive being. It is not given any description, besides the citizens calling it "the Storm" as it seems the most appropriate name. At the end of the story, it's revealed to have Glowing Eyes of Doom.
- Gaia's Vengeance: Discussed. Some citizens of the mining town say that the incoming storm is nature's retribution for stealing the earth of her treasures.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: The story ends with "the Storm", the otherwise indescribable entity laying waste to the town, looming over the protagonist with glowing eyes.
- Hostile Weather: Subverted. Initially, the titular storm causes sand to fly everywhere for about a day and a half, forcing the townsfolk to stay inside as it ruins several buildings. It returns just as Bob Lewis claims it's safe outside, killing him with a lightning strike. "The Storm" turns out to be a deliberately destructive entity and not a natural storm.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Bob Lewis goes outside after the storm first clears. Shortly after he says it is safe to come out, the skies rumble and become dark again.
- No Name Given: The citizen that the story is written in the perspective of is unnamed, and their gender is also unspecified.
- Weird West: The story is written from the perspective of a Western small town citizen, made evident in the accented choice of words, and that cowboys are occasionally seen. The supernatural come into play with the Cosmic Horror Reveal of the being known only as "the Storm" mercilessly attacking the town.
