Miss Texas: A Twisters Story

2. Tragedy

The next morning Savanah woke me up and told me the storm cell was developing earlier than expected. We got our things together and got in the truck, hooking up the trailer with our barrels of sodium polyacrylate. We headed out to the funnel touch down point; it was about thirty miles from Cleburne.

"Okay, we checked all gear and the mixture?" "Yes ma'am!" I smiled at Savanah, "Let's do this then!" She hollered and we drove into the forming storm. "We just hit the rain; hail shouldn't be far behind!" I nodded and continued through. The funnel dropped just as expected.

"There she is! Do we have Dorothy ready?" "Almost, we need to be closer though!" I drove deeper into the storm, the hail beginning to pound the truck. "How are we looking?" "It's ready!" I stopped the truck and we both go out, running to unhook the trailer. Dorothy was primed and ready to go along with our mixture, so we ran back to the truck.

"Bombs away!" Savanah looked out the window as our trackers and sodium polyacrylate were sucked up into the tornado. "Hell yeah!" I laughed and she looked at the computer, "We have visual!" "Alright, let's get out of here!" I pressed on the gas, and we drove off. 

The tornado was behind us, and it was eating our mixture alive. "What do the trackers say? Is it collapsing?" Savanah was quiet. "Talk to me Savanah!" "It's not- It's not slowing down!" I looked into the side mirror. "It's on us!" "I don't think it's an EF2 anymore," Savanah yelled.

I continued to check the side mirrors until a hay bale flew by ripping one off. "Holy shit we need to go," Savanah yelled. "I'm going! I'm going!" The truck was maxed out, but the tornado was too fast. It had to be an EF5.

I felt the back of the truck begin to lift up. "Hang on Savanah!" I was breathing hard, we only had two wheels on the ground. Savanah looked at me with so much fear, and then we were sucked up in the air. 

We were both screaming. "Please God! Please God!" I repeated it over and over. Debris were hitting the truck and tossing us around in the tornado. Savanah let out an ear-piercing scream as a sheet of tin flew through the windshield. I looked over at her through squinted eyes.

"Savanah!" The tin had impaled her right through her chest. Her eyes were wide, and there was blood everywhere. "Savanah!" She turned towards me with wide eyes and blood on her face. I never got that memory out of my head. 

The tornado spit us out, and we hit the ground hard. We rolled until a telephone pole collapsed and landed on the top of the hood, securing the truck, and us too. I was shaking as I turned to Savanah. "Savanah?" She was stuck in her seat, eyes blank, the tin still impaled through her chest. "Savanah wake up!" I started crying, "Savanah please!" I tried to get out of the truck, but my legs were pinned. I started screaming.

It was 4 hours until I saw a first responder. They lifted the telephone pole off the hood and got me out. I had a concussion and minor leg injury; any different angle and I should've been paralyzed. 

Savanah was dead, the medics said she most likely died about 10 minutes after impact. She didn't even have a chance. By the time I got out of the hospital it was Monday. 

The pageant director had called to inform me that I had won Miss Texas, and they would hold the ceremony for a week to give me some time. She offered her condolences and told me she was hoping to see me back for the Miss USA pageant. I refused the title. I could never do a pageant again, never make a speech about the passion that I stood for. The passion that was supposed to make a difference but killed my sister. 

I disappeared after that. There was a whole news spread about me: Miss Texas Forfeits Her Title, The Tragic Tale of Miss Texas, Favored Miss USA Quits! It was endless.