A Journey Into the Land of Dreams

Tornado at School

Billy's birthday. The day disaster struck on Mitchfield School. I remember it all, clear as day. As if it was only yesterday.
We had all ran outside to enjoy the weather and the cupcakes Billy had brought. For some reason, he thought it would have been funny to hide them everywhere. He said it was like a "treasure hunt". The little fucker was insane to think those of us in high school would find that funny, but we still wanted those cupcakes. Immediately, my best friend, Sarah, found some on top of the damn monkey bars so she took it upon herself to grab two. One for her and one for me. I didn't see my boyfriend, Zach,  anywhere or our other best friend, Sam. Oh well. I thought. They'll catch up in class. That's when it happened.
The sky became grey and the wind picked up speed. Clouds started moving faster across the sky. We all looked up, a little concerned but didn't really pay much mind as we had shitty weather in the past and nothing dangerous ever typically came of it. If anything, it felt better outside. So, we all gleefully took bites of the cupcakes we had found until we heard the teacher telling us all to get down in lines around the playground and field. What the fuck?  I shared a look with Sarah as we found a place beside Junip and got down on both knees and our heads down.
The next thing we knew, we heard someone yell, "There it is!" I glanced up. The clouds began swirling around each other and lunged into each other, like two grizzly bears fighting. A massive tornado was starting to form. The funnel began and the teacher screamed for everyone to get inside in an orderly fashion. She called them waives like in video games. We all lined up and headed for the school building.
Billy's class lined up on the side of the door with Billy holding the door open as my class quickly got inside. Needless to say, my class wasn't very orderly about it and somehow Sarah and I got lost in the chaos while students were coming in in hordes. I still didn't see my boyfriend or our other best friend anywhere.
I grabbed Sarah's hand as we darted along corridors and every single room was packed or the door was shut. The wind screamed above our heads as we trudged through the school and down to the basement. The basement was dimly lit and cast just the tiniest light on the hallway in the basement. We followed that hall until it led outside. Water dripped around us like a dismal drum beat as we walked through the grey lit area outside behind school.
We looked around and there were brick buildings and a black scaffolding over them connecting the brick buildings together and stairwells leading up to different doors. It was like an apartment complex.
We decided it would be in our best interest to try the doors to get in and find shelter. We climbed the first flight of stairs and tried the door. Locked. So we went to the next door. It opened but was packed with people. So we tried the third door. It was open and there was room inside for us. In fact, we were the only ones, so we settled down in there and hoped the tornado would pass us by quickly.
We sat, huddled together while the rain fell around us outside and the wind continued screaming at us. There was a hole in the left corner of the roof and some water dripped in on the hard concrete floor. It was fairly dark with just a hint of daylight seeping in. It was drab and miserable but it was shelter.
We hoped we wouldn't turn into Dorothy and Toto and get whisked away by the huge storm raging around. We shivered in the cold air and wrapped our arms around each other. Praying. Crying. Until finally, the scream of the wind sounded distant. It had felt like years we were stuck in that building.
We emerged from our shelter, very cautiously and carefully walked towards the stairs, which were slippery from the rain. We grabbed the drenched handlebar and slowly stepped down. I looked back at Sarah and nodded reassuringly. The tornado had passed on.
We made our way back into the school where doors were now open and we started peering inside searching for Zach and Sam. We didn't see them so we started to continue down the hall. I had a sudden feeling about the room behind us to the left. Zach and Sam just had to be in there. I told Sarah and she decided to continue down the hall a little ways.
I stepped into the room and sure enough, there were Zach and Sam! Zach looked up, huge grin on his face and told me he was happy to see me and Sam shot up out of his chair and wrapped me up in a giant bear hug! I went to hug Zach then Sarah darted in and hugged him.
We didn't have jealousy in our relationship so neither of us were pissy about the bear hugs. Sarah decided to settle in on Zach's left knee. I wasn't jealous. Just a little annoyed because I was going to hug him but no matter. I settled in on Sam's lap and we all started chatting and giving hugs. We were just happy to be reunited after worrying about each other getting lost in the storm.
That was 3 years ago. I still remember it all too well. The fear, the sadness, the dread. I remember survival instincts taking over. I remember the relief of being reunited with Zach and Sam.
We never lost contact with anybody in the friend group. Zach and I wound up breaking up but remained wonderful friends. He and Sarah wound up together and Sam and I wound up together. Go fucking figure. We all remained extremely close.
I was maid of honor in her wedding to Zach and she was mine in my wedding to Sam. We meet in this little local coffee shop every Saturday like we had for so many years before. We all still genuinely loved each other. Afterall, we survived a fucking tornado together.