ain't no love [tyler owens]

three

Kate sat in her window seat, her forehead resting lightly against the cool glass. Below, thick clouds stretched out endlessly, a soft blanket hiding the land below, like a shield protecting her from the reality she was about to face.

It was a while since she'd been back to Oklahoma, let alone Sapulpa. She knew she'd have to visit her mom at some point, but it wasn't her that she was dreading seeing. Oklahoma was still miles away, but in her mind, she was already there. The familiar anxiety had settled into her chest the moment the plane took off from LaGuardia. Each mile closer to home felt like one step closer to a wound she had never fully allowed to heal.

With a sigh, she straightened in her seat and unlocked her phone, hoping to distract herself from the knot of tension coiling tighter in her stomach. She attempted to swipe mindlessly through her social media, but the poor wifi connection on the plane quickly ruined that plan for her. She glanced at the time - another hour before they landed. An hour left to sit with her thoughts, which had been churning relentlessly since she boarded the plane.

Out of habit, she opened her photo gallery and began scrolling through the memories captured in digital frames. Images of storms - dark, twisting clouds, lightning splitting the sky, and the occasional screen-shot of a weather map for work. But then, mixed between the tornadoes and stormy skies, there were other memories. Brighter ones. 

Ones from before.

Kate paused as her thumb landed on an old photo, one she hadn't seen in years.

It was Riley, clutching a tennis championship trophy that Kate remembered had weighed more than any of them had expected. Her tennis whites were stained with clay, and her hair was wild, strands poking out from her braids and sticking to her forehead in sweaty clumps. But she looked radiant. Vibrant. Alive.

A gleaming medal was hung from her neck, and her spare hand was being clutched by Addy from the ground, steading her best friend as she sat on Javi's shoulders.

Javi, Jeb and Praveen might have been Kate's friends first, but Addy had always been Riley's. They'd shared a dorm during freshman year and the rest had been history. It was Riley who had introduced Addy to Kate, having realised that they were studying the same major only two years apart.

That photo was from the regional championships - the last one Riley had won before everything changed. Kate felt her chest tighten as she stared at the image, her sister's smile beaming out from the screen. God, she had been so proud that day. Everyone had said that Riley was on track for something big... her coaches thought she'd be boosting up the world ranks in no time.

She moved onto the next photo, but found herself returning to that championship snapshot again and again. 

Back then, everything had seemed so simple. Riley had tennis, and Kate had her storms. They had their different worlds, but they had always been each other's biggest supporters. Kate had gone to every one of Riley's matches when she could, cheering her on from the sidelines, her voice raw by the end of each tournament. And Riley had always been there too, sending Kate off on her storm-chasing missions with a smile, occasionally being convinced to tag along for the ride - no matter how much she protested, they could see she enjoyed the thrill.

But that was before.

Kate closed her eyes, feeling the familiar burn of guilt in her throat. Riley's tennis career had been soaring, and then, in an instant, it was over. The EF5 had taken everything. Not just the lives of Kate's friends, not just the research and equipment, but Riley's dreams too.

She swiped to another photo, this one of the two of them together. Riley was sitting on Kate's shoulders, laughing as she clutched her tennis racket like a trophy, her sneakers dangling in the air. Kate remembered how Riley had begged her to take that photo, insisting she needed it for "posterity." Kate had joked about it, complaining about the weight, but she had lifted her sister easily, grinning into the camera.