Tornado

April 10, 2009, in Murfreesboro, TN .

I was nine. I was in love with Disney princesses, crafted Lego forts, and played with barbie dolls on my playset. My mother and I didn’t have school or work that day. . We watched the Price Is Right at 10am. We went to get groceries for a Good Friday dinner. Got chicken nuggets at Wendy’s. It was exciting to be out of school.

Then, the wind became heavy. The sky darkened and my mother told me we had to go home. I didn’t understand at the time. I was too busy changing songs on my Little Mermaid CD like I was creating my own album. We rushed in the groceries before my mom turned on the television. Grey swirls glided over the Murfreesboro area. The tornado was heading right for us. I just remember holding a container of chicken nuggets and fries as my mother started throwing coat after coat out of the closet. I looked at the screen as the swirl neared our road. I was tossed into the closet. My mother kneeled in front of me, “I’ll be right back don’t move.” She rushed off

I didn’t want her to leave. Our house wasn’t small, but in that moment, she felt miles away. I sat quiet for a moment as the wind smacked against our house. My body shook and my stomach was in a knot. I still had my food in my hands. The heat had already left them. I was too frozen to know what to do with them. My hands became cement around them. Every second was like hours. The air felt like it was sucking out of the house like the loud vacuum we had in the garage. I started to scream, “Mom! Mom!”

“I’m just at the back window. Hold on tight,” she said.

I felt the closet close in on me. The weight of the situation hitting me. Living in the south, I heard about tornados constantly. I would sit in the library with a book over weather. I would see the dark winds and the massive destruction. I remember watching the movie Twister and being fascinated by the danger but, now it was happening. I held myself tight. Images of our house being lifted and taking us away. I knew we wouldn’t be taken to the Wizard of Oz.

My mother bolted from the backroom and into the closet with me. The warmth of her body was the only bit of comfort I got. Finally, we heard it. A heavy woosh of wind and destruction. A sound overpowered every noise around. I pulled my stuffed dog found the corner of the closet. I can still smell the musky dusty smell of it. There were no birds chirping or my dogs barking. My cats were missing, and my dad wasn’t answering his phone. I closed my eyes. The holler of the wind shook our house. I wanted to cry but, shock controlled me. A dead weight laid on my chest and I begged all the gods for everyone to be okay. The sound became more distant as the world fell silent.

We slowly emerged from our supposed safety. The sun opened and a blue sky glimmered. The birds began to chirp, and sirens echoed in the distance. The outside had changed around us. Destruction coated the roads and lawns. Massive trees were broken like chips. I looked to the distance as an entire neighborhood was demolished. An old cabin now firewood. Gone. We had no electricity. No way of contact.

I was one of the lucky ones. My family, my home, and my pets were safe, but not everyone was lucky. There was a house down the road from me. We passed it multiple times a week. I remember seeing the couple moving in. A year later, I saw a tiny pink sign announcing their addition to the world. That day the woman and baby lost their lives. The Godzilla of a tornado lifted them into the sky and dropped them. The husband was in critical care but, survived. They did everything right, but nature doesn’t pity anyone. Every year after that, my family placed flowers in the field of grass that was once a home. This year the spot now has a new home where new memories are being made.

It could have been my mother and I that day. I can’t ever watch Twister again and my childhood dream to learn about meteorology died that day. Now, when the wind picks up or storms echo in the distance, I am taken back to that moment in the closet. Where death could have been seen out my window. Where an entire neighborhood could become rubble in hours. Where nature doesn’t care if you live or die.