Love Against the Odds

"Ellie, Ellie!" John yelled.

"What is it?" she screamed back.

Ellie scrambled up the stairs, careful to avoid the broken glass covering the floor.

"Where's that light?! We need to get the candles." John disappeared into his room and snatched his box of matches from the bedside table.

"John! Don't light them inside! You know what Grandma said about that!" Ellie screamed as she ran towards him. "Where are you going? It's pitch black outside."

"The shed," he replied. He ran outside and lit two old oil lamps that were hung on hooks by his father's workbench. He walked around the shed, checking to see if he could see any damage from last night's storm. The rain had finally stopped; however, there was a large tree down in the front yard and part of the roof was missing. "Hey Elle, you'd better stay here." He handed her one of the oil lamps before heading back into the house to grab a couple more items.

"What are we gonna do?" she cried as tears streamed down her cheeks. "We have no food, no power, and no way out!" She fell to her knees and sat on her feet, rocking back and forth and sobbing uncontrollably. Her tiny frame shook with each wail and John rushed over to comfort her. He put his arms around her and rocked her until her sobs turned into whimpers and eventually faded away.

"It'll be okay," he whispered softly in her ear. "We just need to stay calm." John wiped some of the tears from Ellie's face before picking up both oil lamps. He handed one lamp back to Ellie; then he took hers from her hand before placing it on a small coffee table near the couch. Ellie stood up, wiping away any remaining tears with the back of her hand, before joining John by the front door where he was looking out through the shattered windowpane that used to cover it. There wasn't much left standing in their front yard; most of their trees were uprooted or smashed against their house or other trees as they lay broken along with many of their fence posts across their property line with their neighbors'.

"I'm going to see if I can find anything useful in Grandma's room," John said as he opened the front door and stepped outside into the cool morning air. Ellie followed him out onto the porch, walking slowly behind him as she inspected every corner of their now destroyed house for any sign of life that might still be present within these walls; however, other than a few dust particles floating lazily in the air, nothing moved inside this house once occupied by nine people all living together under one roof... all dead but for two survivors who now stood side by side in front of what used to be their home less than 24 hours ago. They surveyed everything around them: their old oak tree lay sideways across their driveway like a fallen soldier lying flat on his stomach with its limbs pointing straight up towards a sky still filled with gray clouds threatening another downpour at any moment; piles of debris covered every inch of grass surrounding their house while roof tiles lay scattered like confetti in some places while only half-covered by dirt in others - they were randomly spread out all over their yard in piles containing anywhere from one tile to dozens upon dozens covering each pile; strange circular holes were dug into several parts of their yard and driveway where what looked like sharpened wooden stakes once stood vertically standing behind each hole; several damaged fences belonging to neighbors were now leaning precariously against anything nearby holding them upright because they were unable to stand on their own; and everywhere they looked were dead animals - there were birds, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, foxes, opossums... all dead - lying motionless wherever they died whether it was on top of someone else or on its own separate pile somewhere out there amongst all this rubble.

John turned around suddenly and faced Ellie before taking a matchbook out of his pocket; he tore out a matchstick from within its folds before striking it against its rough edge causing it to burst into flames which he used to light the lantern hanging from above his head between his hands where he held it steady while waiting for it to fully ignite its flame before turning around so that Ellie could see his small victory over this catastrophe that surrounded them both. As soon as she saw it, she smiled at him brightly causing him to smile right back at her causing both young lovers' hearts to swell with joy as they realized how lucky they truly were despite everything surrounding them being gone now except for each other... Together forever more until death do us part...