By, Mackenzie
The sirens are honking on the firetrucks, my television is saying, “Sorry for this interruption but this is very important, take shelter NOW!”
I run and think, “Oh no Avery!”
Then I sprint upstairs, wake her up, and she says while yawning, “What mama?”
“You need to come downstairs with me honey.” I say breathless.
She gets up, grabs her favorite stuffed animal and follows me downstairs.
My husband, Anthony, and other son, Andrew are downstairs also. When I get down the basement stairs I can feel the tension in the room, quietly waiting for the all clear.
It’s normal for where I live to get tiny tornados, or storms, but this one feels different, it feels real. I’ve never been so scared, and nervous in my life!
My dog Duke was at the groomer’s, he’s at my mother’s house right now, safe…only if all of us were. I always take him to the groomer’s, it’s two hours away but worth it. I used to live near my mother’s house and Duke would go to her house once he’s done, which he still does. If only I listened to Avery and stayed at my mother’s house…
But everything happens for a reason, and we are going to be fine, this just happened last week, a tiny storm, yeah…. We are fine.
“I’m tired can I go back upstairs?” Avery asked.
“We have to stay down here for a little bit longer honey, there’s the extra bed down here,” my husband says while pointing to the bed that’s run down with the unmade sheets it used to be mine when I was younger. We have it down here just for this reason. Avery and Andrew crawl onto the bed I cover them with a blanket with a blanket, and they were out, good I think. Now I don’t have to worry about them getting scared. The problem is we are so used to going into the basement for tornados, thunderstorms, etc. that they don’t even flinch when I tell them to go downstairs.
If only I could keep them all away from this. All I know is once this is over we are moving, I’m done!
Then Anthony gives me a kiss on the forehead.
“It’ll be okay,” that really calms me down.
“Can we…..” A big gust of wind comes through and I tense up. “Can we move once this is over?”
I pause as my voice cracks. “Of course.”
Another big gust of wind comes but this time it’s 10 times stronger,
Anthony drags me toward the ground as the house topples on top of us. I hear every one of us scream, but I heard it like it was miles away, that I can barley hear them. I try to get up but Anthony tells me to stay, and I do like I’m a dog and he’s commanding me to do so. He knows what he is doing… he’s a firefighter and I trust him to get our kids out, with, or without me.
It’s quiet for a moment and I was about to get up so see what was going on but then, I look above me. A pillar was on fire, laying on the last stair and was barely attached to the ceiling, about to fall on top of me. I start to move slowly then I see Anthony with Avery and Andrew hung over his shoulders.
“Move very slowly toward me.” he commands.
As I do I can hear the pillar cracking. When I get to him he shows me the way up what used to be my stairs. As we are walking up them and moving the parts that used to be my house.
This cannot be real!
All I see are ambulances, and firetrucks helping the wounded people, my neighbors. We then all get checked out and they tell us that we are fine but we were very close to being crushed. All I can do is laugh and then I start to cry. The town I used to know and love is destroyed.
A police officer drives my family and me to my mother’s house. I see Avery with her favorite stuffed animal squeezing it like a stress ball. We get to my mother’s house; my mom and Duke hug and kiss us.
“Your dog has been crying and barking for hours like he knew what had happened.” My mother says very annoyed.
I look at my family running around playing tag with Duke. My family is safe, finally safe.
Tiger Times 