Tornado Warning ("Disaster Strikes" Series)

Chapter 3: Superhero Secret

A bunch of the kids had looked up at the sound coming from her phone, but Sarah just told them to ignore it.

It didn't sound like a text or an email notification, so then what was it? Her heart skipped a beat when she read the message:

Tornado Watch in effect for Plains County until 5:00 pm.

She knew that this was really bad, but she was still confused. No matter how many times she looked it up, Sarah could never remember the difference between a Tornado Watch and a Tornado Warning. All she knew was that one was worse than the other.

Quickly Googling it, Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. A Watch was when conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes. Meanwhile, a Warning meant that a severe thunderstorm has developed and has either produced a tornado, or it is likely to produce one soon.

This means that the danger isn't as immediate. Everything is going to be alright, she thought to herself.

Still slightly on edge though, Sarah made a decision. "I'll be back in just a second, okay y'all? I just want to ask Mrs. Miller something."

The students barely paid attention, too focused on the movie in front of them. Opening the door to the neighboring classroom, Sarah called the teacher over to her.

"I just got an alert for a tornado watch in this area," she whispered. "It's just a watch, not a warning, but still. What do y'all do when there's a tornado at the school?"

"Oh, we put as many kids as possible in the conference room. Those who can't fit go into the bathrooms, since each classroom has one."

Sarah nodded before asking, "Is it okay for me to just clean up the conference room a little? Just so we can fit more students, if needed."

"Of course," Mrs. Miller answered. "Just leave the door to the conference room open so you can still watch the kids."

With a "yes ma'am," Sarah left.

Walking back through Mr. Greenwell's classroom, she almost ran right into a student. Stopping herself suddenly, she knelt down to be on eye level with the little black girl.

"What's wrong, my angel?" Sarah asked the obviously nervous child.

"Is there gonna be a tornado?" Sarah could see the terror in her eyes.

"Come here," she said, holding the girl's hand. Sarah stood up, leading her into the conference room. After sitting her in a chair, Sarah knelt down and spoke again.

"First of all, what's your name again?"

She had been looking down at her feet and running her fingers through the ends of her braids, but turned her head up when Sarah spoke. There were unshed tears in her eyes. "I'm Jada," she answered, playing with her hair bobbles. (A/N: there are a billion names for these things, but I'm calling them bobbles. It's those hair ties with the two plastic balls on each end, know what I mean?)

"Okay, Jada. What makes you think there's going to be a tornado?"

"Well, it's raining hard, and it's dark, and your phone made a noise!"

Sarah laughed politely and let a lie slip off her tongue. "That was just a reminder for me to call my friend and tell her 'Happy Birthday!'"

Jada said "oh," and rubbed her eyes, but still looked skeptical.

"Tell you what," Sarah leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "I have a secret to tell you! You have to promise not to repeat it though."

Jada's eyes widened and she whispered "what?"

"I'm a superhero!"

The second-grader giggled. "That's not true!"

"Who said that? I'd never lie to you! I am a superhero, and my power is to keep good little boys and girls safe, okay? You'll be safe, as long as you're with me."

Jada nodded and gave the older girl a big hug. "Thank you Super Sarah," she whispered.

They broke apart and smiled at each other. Then a voice shook them back into reality.

"Are you alright, Jada?"

Sarah turned around and saw a little black boy walking forward. Jada answered him, saying "I'm fine Andre!" Turning back to Sarah, she explained. "That's my brother."

"Oh, okay then. Why don't you go over to him? Remember," she mumbled these next words, "keep my secret."

"I will! I promise!"

Andre asked his sister, "What did you promise?"

"Go ahead, Jada. He's the only one you can tell."

Jada nodded and they walked back into the classroom. Sarah could hear her saying, "Andre, guess what? You can't tell anyone, but..."

Sarah laughed. Hey, it worked to calm her down! That's all that matters.

Turning back to the task at hand, she began to organize the conference room. She collected all of the papers into a neat stack, and placed them inside a cabinet. There were four long rectangle tables which were arranged in a square, leaving a large open area in the middle. Moving the tables around, Sarah pushed them together, eliminating this open space and offering the students more protection, should they have to hide in there.

Next, she noticed a large whiteboard on wheels. It was about the size of a door, only a little shorter. With difficulty, she moved it against the wall, in front of a bookshelf. That way, if a tornado struck and knocked books down, they would hit the board and fall, rather than hit people.

Finally, Sarah pushed in all the chairs and stood back to admire her handiwork. With a nod and a smile, she walked back into the classroom. Over the next fifteen minutes, more students came up to her to ask about the storm.

For the more mature ones, Sarah didn't bother to tell the "superhero" story. She just explained to Maria (a tall Hispanic girl with long, jet-black hair and bright green eyes) and Caleb (a little blonde-haired, blue-eyed gentlemen) that even though the rain was coming down strong, they would be safe. "Yes Maria, even though you watched a documentary on the Weather Channel with your older sister."

Not everyone was calm about it though. Mrs. Miller had warned Sarah about Taylor, a sweet ginger princess (in a good way), saying that she began to cry very easily. Sure enough, after a particularly loud boom of thunder, the tears began to flow.

Rushing to get her to stop before everyone else got scared, Sarah brought Taylor into the conference room. Too little, too late. Two of the her friends came rushing after them. Seeing Taylor's face, they freaked out and cried too.

In an attempt to distract Taylor, Cassidy, and Leila, Sarah took out her phone and showed pictures of her dogs and horses. It worked like a charm! After that, she gave them an extra bag of animal crackers, and told her story about being a hero in disguise. Within a few minutes, they had eaten and calmed down greatly.

"Why don't you three finish up the movie, all right?" The girls ran back and Sarah joined them. When she realized that none of the students were watching her, she sneaked over to the window and peaked through the blinds.

What she saw made her stomach drop. The ground was covered in white, from the tons of tiny hail balls that were falling. The rain was coming down in such thick sheets that Sarah couldn't see farther than a couple yards in front of her. Quickly turning around, she took a deep breath and made sure that her worry wasn't showing on her face.

There probably won't even be a tornado at all. I'm just getting worked up over nothing. But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself, and the students, Sarah still had butterflies in the pit of her stomach.