I wasn't always afraid of thunder. When I was young, my parents taught me how to measure distance to a thunderstorm: you count seconds between a lightning strike and thunder, then multiply it by the speed of sound — 300 meters per second. It's more like 340 m/s, actually, but I had to make some approximation, being an eight-year-old kid. So, in a thunderstorm, I'd look out of a window and measure distances. It was an entertaining activity. Even more so, if you consider that we'd unplug all electrical devices during thunderstorms — there was a real risk of frying every electrical device if a lightning hit a power line.

One day, I was riding a bicycle and was caught in heavy rain. I tried to wait it out under a cover, but it only got worse. I decided to rush through it when lightning started to strike left and right. I counted seconds from every strike, but there were so many flashes that I wasn't able to keep track of which sound belonged to which flash. And then lightning struck so close there was barely a second between the blinding light and the deafening sound. I thought I was going to die right then and there. As I was riding the last hundred meters, the only thought that kept me at peace was that I wouldn't hear my own lightning strike — I'd die so fast I wouldn't even feel pain.

You can guess that I survived. But since then, I'm scared of thunderstorms. I try not to be outside when a thunderstorm happens. If I see lightning flashes outside my window, I close the curtains to keep my peace.

Two days ago, late at night, I was playing a videogame with headphones on when I heard thunder. It was a loud one — windows started trembling. I looked outside, but I didn't see any flashes. Then I heard another rumble. Then a siren started going off. At this point, I realized — it's no thunderstorm, it's just a drone attack. Half an hour later, I saw flames in the distance. I guess they hit the oil refinery this time.

It's funny how the human mind works — there's no threat from a thunderstorm when I'm in my apartment, yet I close the curtains every time. And there's a real possibility of dying if a drone strikes an apartment house — but I wasn't really worried. At moments like these, I just think: you won't hear the bullet that gets you.