“And now for today’s weather forecast,” said the news woman.
“Thanks, Jane. Today we have a line of severe thunderstorms moving in from the south along the western part of Oklahoma about 100 miles west of Moore. There is a possibility to have large, widespread tornados today. As of now, there are already severe thunderstorm and tornado watches in effect until 9:00pm tonight. We will be tracking these storms all day and we’ll keep you updated at home. Back to you Jane,” said the weatherman.
“Ok, that's all for today’s morning news. Stay tuned.”
Click. the television turned off with Billy left sitting alone in front of it on the couch. He looked out the window. It was nothing but bird blue skies as far as the eye could see in Moore.  It was around 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday. His parents and little sister Allison were sleeping in as usual on a weekend, but Billy was an early riser. Knowing that there was a possibility of a storm coming his way, he went outside to check the storm shelter. He tidied up the beds and made sure the flashlight batteries were still working. He also tested out the light bulb above his head so if he and his family needed to use it, it would be ready for them. Billy meandered back into the house through the sliding glass door. As he went inside, he heard his parents coming downstairs in their pajamas. He greeted his mother, Kate, and his father, David, with a smile and a good morning. His mom turned on the coffee maker and said she was going up to take a shower. His dad sat down on the couch and flipped on the T.V.
“Rats,” he said, “I missed the news again.”
“Nothing special,” Billy said, “Except there are severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes about 100 miles west of here.”
“Oh, I better check the storm shelter then, eh?”
“No need, I already did a few minutes ago. Everything’s good to go.”
“Thank you, son. I appreciate it,”said Billy’s dad. He continued, “What do you think we should have for breakfast? We’ve got muffins, doughnuts, or I can make up some eggs.
“I’ll just have a muffin please,” said Billy.
“There ya go,” David slid him a plate with a blueberry muffin on it.
“Thanks, dad. Do you think I could go hang out with John today around town?”
“Sure. Have fun and stay safe”
“I will. Thanks. Bye.”
“See ya later”said Billy’s father.
Billy ran out to the garage and hopped up onto his bike. He opened up the door and it was gorgeous out. He put his feet on the pedals, and road down the street to where his friend lived. Billy lived in a suburban area with lots of kids. It was one of those neighborhoods where if you had a pool, every day of summer there would be kids lined up at your door asking to go swimming. After about three minutes, he got to the house and his buddy John was outside playing basketball. Billy pulled in the driveway and asked if he wanted to go and ride around town for a while and get some lunch later. His friend went inside and when he came out he grabbed his bike and they were off. After screwing around for a couple of hours playing basketball and messing with the neighbors, they went to the part of town that had all the restaurants and stores. The boys had a nice lunch that consisted of large burgers and fries, basically diabetes. The two went outside to go and have some more fun, but something felt weird. The skies looked darker, and it was getting pretty breezy. Forgetting about the news, Billy just thought it was some thunderstorms or clouds passing over.
For a few minutes all the two boys did was stare at the clouds, not saying a word to each other, thinking that it was a little eerie.
Then Billy said, “Hey man, this is looking pretty sketchy. Do you want to just head home?
“Yeah. I was getting a weird vibe too. I was about to ask you the same thing.” said John.
“Let’s get out of here.”
And with that, the pair jumped on their bikes and started to go home.
Meanwhile, Billy’s father was doing some work around the house and noticed the wind start to pick up too. As he looked into the sky, he saw dark clouds heading over Moore. Immediately he had a feeling it could be the storm that was supposed to strike west of his home. He ran inside and frantically looked for the T.V. remote. As soon as he found it, pushed the button, and the news came on. His heart sank. His fears had been correct. The storms had shifted and were coming towards Moore. The news was showing live video of an F3 tornado about 50 miles from his house, moving quickly in their direction. He had to do something. He knew his boy was out in town with a tornado heading toward him. He needed to call Billy fast and tell him to get into a storm shelter immediately. He picked up the phone and dialed Billy’s phone number.
After he started calling him, an operator came on and said, “Sorry, the number you called is out of service right now. Please try again later.”
At first David was puzzled, “How could it be out of service?” Then he knew why. “The tornado must have knocked over the cell towers!!!” David began to freak out.
Billy and John were casually riding home when a thought struck Billy like a baseball to the head. Billy said, “OH CRAP!!!! WE GOTTA GO!!! IT’S THE STORM THAT WAS ON THE NEWS!!!”
“No way” said John “that system was supposed to hit 100 miles from here. It just seems scary because it’s so dark.”
“Yeah. I guess you’re right. It’s probably just cl….” Then Billy was interrupted by a sound nobody wants to hear. A sound that makes your stomach sick, your face red. It makes you want to curl up in a ball and start crying because of what’s coming with it. The tornado siren. It started wailing away as the two became scared to death. They looked at the sky, and it was green. The kind of green that means you need to get underground, or you’ll die because the tornado is going to eat you alive. They didn’t need to talk. The two boys pedaled as fast as their 13 year old legs could move. They both knew they needed to get to safety.
David heard the siren go off and he knew that he had to get his wife and daughter into the shelter fast.
“KATE!!! ALLISON!!! GET TO THE STORM SHELTER!!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. As Kate, David’s wife, and Allison, Billy’s little sister and David’s daughter, came down the stairs. David said to them, “I’ve got to try and find Billy. He went to town with John.” The desperate father sprinted out the door with the tornado bearing down him. It was close enough now that he could feel the updraft winds. He could hear the enormous roar of the F3 tornado that had now grown to an EF5. Billy’s knew that EF5’s were tornadoes with wind speeds from the minimum of 200 mph to anything above that. The highest recorded wind speed being 318 mph. With that in the back of his mind, he looked both ways down the street with no sign of Billy. When he looked behind him, he could see the power flashes of the massive power poles that stretched across Oklahoma. David had to make the hardest decision of his life: go to find his son and risk death, or go back to the storm shelter and pray that Billy was in a safe place. Being a father the choice was clear as day. He decided to find Billy. He ran off down the street hollering Billy’s name. Once he got about half a mile down the road, he saw the boys. He screamed and hollered to them.
Billy and John decided to go to Billy’s because it was closer than John’s house. They took a left instead of a right, and went straight instead of turning left to go to John’s house. Soon they were on Billy’s street. The boys could feel the winds the same as Billy’s dad could. They almost were knocked off the bikes it was so powerful. They knew that they were going to die if they didn’t get to the house in time. They were literally riding for their lives. They were about half a mile away, and they saw Billy’s dad jumping and waving and screaming to hurry up and get to the shelter. They all could see the mile wide spinning wedge of death in the background too. At that moment the worst possible thing that could happen while trying to escape the grasp of a tornado happened. Billy fell off his bike. He had fallen on his knee and it was hurt bad. He found the courage to fight through the pain, get up. He ditched his bike, and hobbled the rest of the way. Billy was almost to his father and John. John and David helped Billy over to the gate which lead to the backyard where the shelter was. It was locked.
“JUMP THE FENCE!!!” John yelled, but the two others could barely hear him over the howl of the winds that sounded like a freight train about to run them over. John went over first and then it was Billy’s turn. In the background they could see houses being ripped apart and tractor trailers that were once driving down the highway being circulated around in the tornado and being thrown miles from there.
He said, “DAD!!!  I CAN’T GET OVER!! HELP!!!” David gave him a boost and John helped him down. Then David hopped it and they ran to the shelter. Right as they were knocking on the shelter door to get in, they heard a creaking sound, then snapping. They looked up and trees were being ripped out of the ground and sucked up. Kate and Allison heard the knocking and yelling. They opened the door and yelled at them to get in. Now that everybody was inside and safe, there was one part left they had to do. Get the door closed so debris couldn’t get in. It was a hard task obviously. The tornado wanted to take that door right off and launch it through the sky. Billy, John, David, and Kate pulled with all their might and got the door to close. They latched it tight.
Now everybody was safe. The boys and David sat on the beds while Allison was in the corner crying, and Kate was asking all different questions, but not one of them heard a thing. They were just staring at the floor in disbelief and looking like a soldier with a thousand yard stare.
Now Billy spoke. “How are we alive? How are we alive? We should all be dead right now!” At that moment he broke out into tears and put his face in his hands. John and David then looked around and noticed Billy. Everybody sat and huddled on the floor cried. Just being thankful that they still had their lives to live. They cried so hard that they couldn’t even hear the sound of the tornado anymore.
And when it sounded silent outside, Allison said “I… I think it’s gone.” Everybody then realized that it was dead quiet. After David took a peek and saw the tornado dissipate, everyone emerged. The scene was terrible. There was nothing left of their house except the foundation. They looked about the whole neighborhood and saw the path that the tornado took. Everything in sight was leveled. Everything. Gone. Just like that. Billy recognized something though.
Through all the sobs he said, “There’s my bike!” It was covered with mud and all scratched up, but it was something that was left by the tornado that took everything he owned away from him.
It was two years after the tornado hit Billy’s town. He had a new house that was just finished a month ago. It was a beautiful day. His sister was out playing in the yard, laughing and running around with her friends. He decided to go outside to go ride his new bike. When he walked into the garage, he saw the bike he was riding exactly two years ago when tragedy struck him and his town. He flashed back to when he was running to get to his dad and seeing the debris swirling around in that tornado. He will always have a part of that day inside him until he dies. Every year he will remember the fear that the tornado put into him. He will never. Ever. Forget it.