You have asked amateur writers for advice. Not to take away from the many great story tellers who post on the site. My advice may be helpful or worthless. Each writer must find their own voice and style. You will not please everybody. There are authors that make millions each year writing novels, who I could not get past the first chapter.

I read your story. My personal critique,
I found many of your descriptions redundant. If I edited your story, I would condense many paragraphs into single sentences. Example: What was once farm land was now a parched waste land from the ten-year drought.

A rule I learned in writing classes, never lie to a reader. A character can lie in the story; however, the writer cannot lie. One paragraph you open talking about the size of the town, then correct what you just stated in the next sentence. The false impression needs to come from the character.

I found your foreshadow to direct. I would have had the gypsy talk about a storm coming, which is the metaphysical storm, while the character looks at the pending storm on the horizon.

Most of what you wrote about Alex I liked. You had one paragraph where you stated Alex did things in the reverse order, then described what I see as the proper order.

As I first stated, each writer must find their style. I felt how you wrote about the town and how you wrote about Alex had two different styles.

Robin