"So who here is awesome at addition and subtraction?" I asked my class of third graders, all of them raised their hands and started competing to see who could get it higher. I laughed at them and continued,
"Well now we're learning something new, Multiplication and division. Any guesses what multiplication is?"
Abigail, a little girl that always wears her hair braided raises her hand and answers, "is it like big addition?"
"kind of. imagine Nia has 2 purple pencils" I pointed to the quiet girl drawing at her desk.
"Pencils are boring, make them have something more interesting!" Aidan, a loud boy, yelled out. the class giggled in response and he smiled.
"Fine, She has a tornado. Carlos and Jayden also have 2 each."The 2 boys grinned at each other from across the room.
" in order to find out how many tornadoes there is in total, we would multiply 2 tornadoes by the 3 of them."
To help explain, I drew a sketch of the scenario on the board, only stopping when I realised the tornadoes started looking like something out of one of my nightmares, the same dream I've been having since a tornado ruined my family. A thought for another time, no use in spiralling in front of a bunch of eight year-olds.
As if right on cue, the PA systems sounded
"Teachers, please check your phones for an announcement and hold in your class, prepare for indoor recess". The kids all cheered and started getting rowdy throughout the halls.
the only visible alert on my phone appeared with blaring red and yellow words was the very last thing I wanted to see: a tornado watch notice.
It had felt like so long since the last time I'd been remotely close to a tornado, let alone being hit in the gut with a tornado watch.
I quickly pulled myself together for the kids' sake and continued the lesson with one foot out the door. The odds the tornado wouldn't even funnel near a place like Alida.
I continued the lesson and eventually got to go home after a stress-induced high kept my anxiety at all time high throughout the entire afternoon. I forgot just how many memories come back to me during extreme weather, namely tornadoes.
Unlocking the door, I stood in my entry doorway looking into my apartment, barely furnished and cold. I turned up the thermostat, put on some quiet music and started making myself some supper.
I just finished putting a box of pasta into pot of boiling water when I sat down to finish marking some vocabulary tests. I only got halfway through my stack when my phone buzzed. ignoring it, I continued onto the next paper when it buzzed again. Flipping the screen over, I had 2 messages from Ollie:
"didn't you say you knew a guy named Tyler Owens when you were little?"
Tyler Owens.
that's a name I haven't heard in a very long time. The name of a boy who had been the first person to really care about me, even if it he was just being a regular curious sixth grader at the time. He really made me feel like I mattered and being around him used to make me really happy before everything happened.
i swiped to the next message:
"Do you think you could recognise him in a recent picture?"
What? What does that mean? Why would Ollie of all people have a picture of that kind boy from past?
My spiralling thought process was cut short with another buzz, another message from Ollie.
A link to live stream of some account titled 'Tornado Wranglers', what the hell?
Upon opening the link, Im met with the face of a familiarly handsome man. hazel hair, joyous green eyes and a wild grin as he spoke:
"And if you feel it?!"
No way, that's not possible. But those were the same words I'd told him so long ago, the words Id spoken before packing my life into a bag and driving away to what is now my life.
"Chase it," I whispered
