The evening began quietly enough, the kind of ordinary calm that lulls people into a sense of routine comfort. Tuesday had unfolded without incident in the town, with residents finishing dinners, settling children into pajamas, and preparing for another unremarkable night. The air was heavy but not threatening, warm with the lingering stillness that often comes before sunset fades. No one anticipated what was about to happen. Weather forecasts had mentioned scattered storms in passing, but nothing that suggested danger or urgency.

That sense of normalcy made what followed all the more jarring, because when the sky began to change, it did so with startling speed. Clouds thickened and darkened in layers, swallowing the remaining daylight. A strange hush fell over the streets, as though the town itself had paused to listen. Then came the first gusts of wind, sudden and forceful, rattling loose objects and sending leaves skittering across sidewalks.  A strange hush fell over the streets, as though the town itself had paused to listen. Within minutes, the calm evening had transformed into something ominous and unfamiliar.