It's a gut wrenching feeling that too many residents in the Town of Souris have felt before.
The local fish plant, a major employer in the seaside community of just over 1,000 people shut down close to one year ago and the Newfoundland-based company has no plans to re-open it.
The consequences? Employment Insurance benefits are running out and some of the people who have worked in the plant for decades are looking down that proverbial tunnel but regrettably the light at the end of it appears to have gone out.
Some are now forced to squeeze pennies because there are is no prospect of a regular pay cheque in the future. And in the wake of their misfortune are the businesses who depend on those people's financial support.
It doesn't make the current situation look any brighter but this isn't the first time Souris folks have come face to face with the gloom and doom of a bleak future.
On September 22, 1993 a large bold headline on The Eastern Graphic's front page read "Blaze destroys Usen Fisheries'. The multi-million dollar loss put as many as 150 people out of work.
The trawlers that unloaded 250,000 to 300,000 pounds of red fish per boat per haul were forced to take their catches elsewhere.
Prior to that tragedy, in 1959, the town lost a whole block when a pulp yard burned. Souris was devastated with the loss of hundreds left jobless.
In both instances businesses in the town braced for hard times in the wake of the disasters.
"There’s kind of a feeling of depression and everyone is tightening their spending," one restaurant owner said. "Everyone is wondering how this will affect them."
In the days and months that followed residents would focus on buying basic staples before looking to luxury items.
Among the more profound reactions to the loss of the fish plant, then owner of Home Hardware Allan MacPhee said, "My instincts are to remain very optimistic."
Mr MacPhee's sentiments were echoed this week by Souris Mayor David Macdonald who nine years ago was a teacher and coach.
Mayor Macdonald stood on his deck and watched Usen Fisheries burn to the ground. Uncertainty inevitably follows tragedy but he said good came out of the blaze and the town isn't about to roll up the carpet on its future this time either.
Mayor Macdonald said as people mourned the loss of an outdated and aging fish plant and the red fish industry teetered on the verge of collapse, jobs were created as a new and modern plant was constructed.
He agrees the feeling among some is dire now but jobs will be created with the construction of the proposed K-12 school and those workers will leave money in the community. The towns' leaders are also relentless in their attempts to convince the federal government to move the Coast Guard to Souris.
There is a future in Souris, Mayor Macdonald says. "We're not going to roll up the carpet. To suggest the economy is going to collapse, just isn't right."
So while some in Souris struggle with the worry of being thrust deep into the bowels of uncertainty the mayor is confident the town will prosper - history has shown that and the story will be no different this time around.
Heather Moore is editor of The Eastern Graphic. She can be reached at editor@peicanada.com