“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

She is running through the house and she knocks over a lamp that immediately shatters. Shocked, she starts walking backwards to try and remove herself from the situation but instead of making a clean exit like she originally planned, she bumps into the chair which falls over and brings down the books that were on it.

“Kaitlin!”

Her mother is first to respond as she runs to the living room, voice tense and sharp. She yells out that the boys need to watch themselves around the house now as she grabs a broom and starts cleaning up the floor, taking a moment to glare down at the little girl.

“You can’t act like this, Kaitlin. It’s incredibly irresponsible and I’ve had it up to here. You’re a hurricane, barraging through this house. You need to start acting like a young lady and you need to be more careful next time.”

Just had her heart broken for the first time, she truly believed she was in love. In a time where love consisted of group dates, online messages when one was supposed to be tucked away asleep and conversations about a near future that seemed like it was truly the end goal because this was the happiest she could ever be. As though life stopped at sixteen and everything else was cloudy.

She steps back into the house quietly so no one would hear her, tiptoes up to her room and opens the door to see her father. He doesn’t look too pleased. In terms of parenting, she’s got it good with him: he’s lax, understanding, fun, when she’s late for her curfew he gives her a little nudge but this seems to be different. It probably has to be since she snuck out the side door after curfew to go hang out at the house party.

He says absolutely nothing, just looks over at her, and before he has a chance to give a fatherly chat about breaking rules, she bursts into tears.

Julien is taken aback by this at first but in no time Kaitlin has rushed over and has her arms wrapped around him, crying into his shoulder.

“I don’t know what I did wrong.”

“Nothing, cherie. These things happen. Not everything lasts.”

By the time she’s finally calmed down a little bit more they’re downstairs with their respective snacks of choice. Him, a chocolate bar. Her, a bowl of grapes.

“The thing is, Kaity cat, you are a hurricane.”

She remembers the words of her mother from a few years ago and looks down sadly. Of course she has to be a hurricane: loud and destructive. Never the type to be demure and tame. To that, her father has something more to explain.

“You are the kind of girl that won’t soon be forgotten. People may not know how to handle you sometimes, but those are the best kinds of people in this life. They roll into your existence, they make things brighter, they switch things up, and then when they leave you are never the same. Not everyone can handle that, true. Then they are not meant to be in your life. But those who can handle it? Those who want to? Those who choose to? Ah. Those are the kinds of people you will fill with so much joy and they will be forever grateful to have even known you.”