Chapter 1
Emma
Laughing, I wave goodbye to the group of people I was hanging out with as we all begin to part ways and climb into our cars which are lined up on the pavement of Liberal High school’s parking lot; which you guessed it, is in Liberal, Kansas!
Just as I yank open my driver’s side door of my 1983 maroon Dodge Aries, I hear someone shout my name. “Hey Emma, you coming over for the bonfire tonight?” Glancing over my shoulder, I spot my friend two cars down from mine. She’s just opened the door to her brand-new 2024 Jeep Wrangler but hasn’t yet climbed in the thing. Instead, she’s looking over at me and her face is beginning to morph slightly as a horrible cheesy grin takes hold of her lips and she adds, “I heard Scott is planning on coming...” Kayla’s voice trails off for added effect, maybe? Who knows but my cheeks instantly flame a vibrant shade of red and I quickly look around the lot to see if anyone else had heard what she said to me.
Scrunching my nose up at her, I give her one of my ‘famous’ glares before whisper-shouting to her, “shut up Kay!” she giggles, her mission to embarrass me accomplished. “I’m not sure if I can,” I add shielding my hazel eyes from the blazing afternoon sun so I’m better able to see her. “I’ve got a ton of chores to do around the farm once I get home.”
Shrugging her shoulders Kayla says, “suit yourself,” and then as though an afterthought adds, “go Red Skins!” before hopping in her vehicle and leaving. Rolling my eyes I watch as she peels out of the parking lot and heads south towards her house.
With a sigh I flop down on my maroon clothed driver’s seat and then lean to my left so I can fish my keys out of my front right jean pocket. Muttering to myself about having already delayed the inevitable, I twist the key in the ignition bringing my car’s engine to life. Putting the A/C on high, I crack open my window and then turn the volume up on the local oldies rock station on my A.m./F.m. radio.
Leaving the parking lot myself, I turn onto Main Street and drive along it for a few minutes before turning onto one of the many dirt roads in this town. This one of course will lead me directly to my family’s farm.
All day we had nothing but blue skies. Not even a fluffy white cloud in sight! Glancing in my rearview mirror now though as I fly down the dirt path, kicking dust up with my tires as I go, I see clouds rolling across the once clear sky. These clouds are unlike any I’ve ever seen before! Black and dark grey slamming into each other and then the rumbling starts as the sky seems to turn an ill looking shade of green.
The farmhouse comes into view just as an ear-piercing sound splits the airwaves of the radio which causes me to jerk and accidentally pull against my steering wheel making me swerve hard to the left before I overcorrect by spinning the wheel to the right leaving me breathing hard at the fact that I just avoided crashing my car into the ditch. That wretched sound of warning blasting from the radio sends me on high alert and I try to look heaven ward through my windshield as I continue to speed towards my driveway biting at my bottom lip nervously as my foot slams against the pedal encouraging my ancient vehicle to go faster than it’s used to going.
Mom and dad meet me at the bottom of the porch with Sammie, our blue-eyed, black and white, Border Collie yapping at their heels as I throw my car into park near their old tan and white Bronco. Just as I shove my door closed with the full weight of my body, because yeah, it’s that windy out, I can hear my mom shouting at me to hurry up and get to the cellar. The wind whistles passed my ears causing me to wince and blink hard as my mousy brown hair whips across my face making tears spring up in the corners of my eyes.
The wooden door to the cellar is bouncing against the cement frame causing the wood to groan and whine as we attempt to get closer. Mom gets to the cellar first and quickly descends the cement steps. I watch her slip slightly as the sky has just opened and is now dumping buckets-full of rainwater on us! Dad enters next, corralling Sammie into the dark and now damp stairwell of the cellar.
When I’m a couple feet from the doorway, my dad looks behind me and his eyes grow wide in astonishment, possibly even fear. “Emma quick! We need to get this door shut and barred. Hurry now!” Risking a peek over my shoulder I regret immediately having done so as I realize why my father’s eyes grew as they did. A tornado has dropped from the sky and is barreling straight towards our home!
Placing my hand on the still swinging slatted wood door, I grip it tight and pull it with me as I enter into the cellar. Just as I am shutting the door I happen to look up at the sky one last time and watch as it lights up because of the lightning streaking across. Odd, I’ve never seen the sky turn such an intense shade of green before, I think to myself as I feel my dad step behind me helping me latch the door into place before we clamber down the steps and over to where mom and Sammie are huddled in the furthest corner away from said door.
Within minutes the storm is over. Together we decided to wait an extra five minutes listening all the while to the howling of the wind until it tapered off to nothing but a slight breeze. Running my hands through the soft fur on Sammie’s back I give her a reassuring hug before looking at my parents to see if we should brave the outside world once more. They nod in agreement and then dad unlatches the door but then has to give it a good hard shove before it opens.
Looking at the ground I see that there are tree limbs scattered across the muddy dirt backyard and a turn of my head shows me why dad had to push so hard against the door. A bench had toppled over and wedged itself in such a way that made it difficult to open the door. Thank the stars the bench hadn’t got turned any other way or we would more than likely be stuck in the cellar right now!
“Alright,” dad says with a heavy sigh. “Let’s look around, assess the damage, check on the livestock, you know the drill.” Mom nods her head okay, wisps of her dirty-blonde hair falling from her bun as she looks around before heading to the back door of our home. As for me, I head towards the chipped and peeling paint of our once red barn to check on our animals with Sammie trotting along beside me.
