The Storm That Never Was
As the sky began to darken and the wind began to howl, I knew that something was on its way. I screamed for mamma and papa but my screams were in vain; no one could hear me. I raced to my bedroom and shut the door, horrified as my window shattered and the branch flew in. At that moment I would never be the same. It was at the particular moment that I was granted the glimpse of the tornado ripping through the neighbour' backyard, coming right at me.
Dark brown hair, pale complexion, and freckles. That was me, your ordinary 12 year old guy in Elie, Manitoba. I was so excited, considering today, June 22nd was the first official day of meant that I only had a few days of school left! I peddled my bike to school, like I do every morning and made sure to tell mama that I would be home late. Tyler was having his birthday party that night and I was ecstatic!
School was its normal, boring old self, as my stupid homeroom teacher Mr. Johnson was yelling at me again! He believes that homework is more important than family. Obviously, he has no idea what family is! Regardless, I'll get mama and papa to defend me! All my other classes were normal, with my favourite being math. It's not the fact that I like the content that we are taught, it's the fact that I sit by the window, at the very left of the classroom. I love to look out at the flat farming fields and see all of the animals that the people own. Just across the farm, I can always see the fields of wheat, our "national export." I love living in a rural area!
Geography was next, and Ms. May believes that we, as the future of our province, should become more educated with our history. She believes that the coordinates of our town (in my opinion just some dumb numbers that some guy made up) are important! "Class, you should know that 97.7°N and 49°W are the coordinates to our wonderful town!" Well anyway she continued to blab and I think that during her infallible lecture, I heard that our region was the Municipality of Cartier. She said something about St. Eustache, Dacotah and Springstein being in the same region as us, but I didn't think that it really mattered.
The school day finally came to an end and I was able to go home and get ready for Tyler's party... boy was I excited! I biked home and I noticed that the wind started to pick up. It had been really warm that day, and the news had said that there would be a cold front moving in. I just presumed that we would be getting some rain, that it would be no big deal. I couldn't have been anymore wrong.
I started to pedal home faster, as the wind whipped at my t-shirt. It got so unbearable, that I was forced to run home, as the wind blew me off of my bike. I looked up and as the sky began to darken and the wind began to howl, I knew that something was wrong. The news had called for perfect weather, twenty eight degrees, high humidity, and low winds. I didn't understand though, today was supposed to be a great day!
I ran into the house, just in time, as the door blew shut, leaving my bike outside. I raced into the living room and turned on the weather network, to see what the SAM HILL was going on! I was horrified to see the video of the funnel cloud descending on the screen! I nearly fainted and I had to grab the couch for support. This could not be happening! Today was supposed to be Tyler's birthday, one of the best day's ever! I sat on the couch and began to cry. I didn't think that it was fair! That we had to have a tornado today! Then, it finally hit me; A TORNADO!
The wind became so strong that it felt as if the whole house was going to be ripped from its supports. I finally screamed for mama and papa, but my screams were in vain; no one could hear me. I raced to my bedroom still in denial, shut the door, horrified as the window shattered and the branch flew in. I ducked and shoved my hands over my ears, to drown out the sound of the wailing sirens that I could just now hear. I took a look at the sky, or what used to be the sky. The light baby blue had been replaced by a menacing black, which threatened to collapse on the world right then and there. I raised myself from the floor and was illuminated by a flash of lightning. I froze, as my body tensed and my mind was trying to interpret what I was seeing with my very own eyes. At that moment, I would never be the same. For it was at that moment that I was granted a glimpse of the tornado ripping through the neighbour's backyard, coming right at me.
The next moments of my life passed as if time had slowed. I stumbled to my feet and jumped on my bed. I thought to myself that if I was meant to die, then so be it. Frightened, I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over. I waited for my life to end. I waited for my body to be picked up into the storm, only to be thrown violently to the ground, where I would lay shattered and defeated. I suddenly felt a strong arm wrap around my torso and I opened my eyes to see papa pulling me out of the room. We raced down the stairs and mama ran with us, out of the house, into the storm. We struggled to run against the wind, but my survival instinct was activated and I led both of my parents through the monstrosity. We found a large drain pipe that was wide enough for all of us and we did what we thought best, we hid.
The next hour or so was dreadful. I was extremely tired from running and I drifted out of sleep many times, yet I sometimes assumed that reality was just a cruel nightmare. I assumed that I must have fallen asleep as papa was shaking me awake. I heard the sound of mama crying and I raced out of the pipe to meet her. I should have treaded more carefully as I stopped dead in my tracks and crumpled to the floor in horror.
Everything was gone; the roads, the trees, the wheat fields, they were all gone. I stumbled forward, through a blind of tears and met papa who ran to the shreds of wheat scattered around the town. Papa took a minute to take in the new surroundings. He then explained to me that without wheat, we were unable to export to other countries. I didn't think that wheat was such a big deal but now I realized just how big it was. I turned in a full circle, to absorb all that I was seeing. I noticed a pile of overturned soil. I then realized that we would be unable to grow crops for a while, as the soil was now ruined.
There were houses still remaining, but to a very limited extent. Roofs were swept away, windows were shattered, and furniture and sentimental belongings were obliterated. I couldn't believe that such a perfect day could turn into something so horrible. It seemed as if this whole event was a horrible nightmare! OH I WANTED TO WAKE UP! I pinched myself, to make sure that I was still among reality and noticed something. People were emerging from their hiding spots, taking in all the damage that had been done. It seemed as if a miracle occurred, as everyone began to join hands and accept that there had been a disaster in our town. We realized that there was work to be done but we all knew that if we stayed strong and worked hard, the effects would soon be unnoticeable.
I started to get a warm feeling inside of me, when suddenly something strange happened… I woke up. It was rather chilly in my room… oh my room I was safe and everyone was alright! I got up out of my bed, assuming that I had just had a terrible nightmare. I closed my window and noticed that the sky was pitch black. In the distance, I could also see a shape coming closer to my window. I immediately reassured myself that my nightmare was not a reality and I continued to watch the shape emerge from the darkness. I suddenly recognized the sound of the sirens and panicked. My nightmare was a reality!
I scrambled to the corner of my room behind my bed, hoping that papa would come and save me that I would just wake up again. The tornado emerged closer and it shattered the wall in my room. I clawed at my carpet, hoping to find something that I would be able to grab onto, but it was too late. The wind ripped me from my room and threw me into the swirling mass emerging into the wreck that was once claimed to be my house. My vision was blurred for several seconds and as I tried to scream out, my mouth became suddenly parched. I felt myself dropping before the tornado dissipated and I managed a final scream that tore at my throat before my body hit the ground with a final, deafening thud.
My narrative is a fictional story that portrays the disaster of the short lived life of the main character. I added a cliff hanging ending, which allows readers to infer and create an absolute final ending with their imagination. Foreshadowing was also used in my story, as there was one part where I stated "OH I WANTED TO WAKE UP!" and we now know that majority of the story could have possibly been a dream…what do you think that it was? I got the inspiration for my storyline through the movie Inception. The ending is cliff hanging and leaves you wondering what really happens. We can see that this is represented clearly throughout my narrative. Thanks for reading!