Lost

Chapter 5

Liam and I had been sitting on the park bench for about ten minutes now. We had been laughing and eating our ice cream, telling each other about ourselves.

I learned in that short period of ten minutes that he was the captain of the Northbrook football team, had only 2 other girls he had liked his entire life, got good grades, and that he had 8 close friends.

I was mostly surprised that Liam played football. And that he was the captain of the team. He was so nice, and most football players are such jerks. Then again, Liam is tall and has lots of muscle so he no doubtedly would make a good football player.

Liam was very lucky that he had eight close friends. That was a lot to me. I told Liam how I had had only one close friend, back in 7th grade. She was the only best friend I had ever had, literally. Her name was Lilly, and we had hung out every day and had sleepovers nearly every weekend. I told her everything. Until at the beginning of 8th grade, she ditched me for the two most popular girls at my school, Amber and Peyton.

I shared with Liam how I got good grades as well, how I had been a social outcast pretty much my entire life, my favorite TV shows, and I told him about my family.

We talked about those things and a couple other small topics for another hour, and then my phone buzzed. My mom had texted me that dinner was ready at home. We were having chicken enchiladas, one of my favorite meals.

Liam offered to walk me home, but I declined. My house was only a couple miles away from the park and anyways, he had baseball practice in only a half hour and I didn't want to make him late. Yep, that's right. He played baseball too.

As I was walking home, I realized that I had learned so many countless things about Liam. And he had learned a lot about me, too. I had a great time at the park with him. We had really connected and had so much in common with each other. It was actually my first real date with a guy. I wondered if he had told his friends about me yet. Probably not, considering we just met the day before. And anyways, we weren't even a "thing" yet.

I felt a wet raindrop hit my shoulder. I looked up at the sky and my jaw dropped. The sky was so dark it looked almost pitch-black. Back at the park, it had been sunny and beautiful. What happened? I hadn't even realized there had been a change in the weather.

The wind picked up. Trees began to sway and the rain began to fall harder. I still had quite a ways to go until I reached my house.

I started to run. The wind was blowing so hard now that I could barely move because it was holding me back. The stupid wind was slowing me down. I thought I'd never get home.

I heard a loud boom of thunder and saw a streak of lightning flash through the sky. I didn't know it was supposed to storm that day, and I definitely wasn't expecting it since the sky had been clear and the sun had been shining just an hour earlier.

I tried to run as fast as I could. I had never been athletic or into sports, but I had to force myself to sprint as fast as I could through the terrible wind. Why did there have to be a storm then? I thought. Why couldn't it have happened when I got home?

The sound of sirens filled my ears. Oh my god. That could only mean one thing. This wasn't a storm, it was a tornado.

I was freaking out. I had to find shelter, quickly. I was on Auburn St. in a neighborhood about a mile away from my sub. I had ran pretty far already, but I still didn't have time to run all the way home. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise that sounded like a freight train. I spun around. In the distance, a funnel cloud was quickly forming. Debris was beginning to fly through the air. I screamed, but it was muffled due to the wind. I spotted a woman outside in her garage in a house across the street. She was watching the storm. Without thinking, I ran towards her.

She didn't even notice me until I sprinted onto her driveway, panting. "Hi, I'm sorry but I need somewhere to take shelter. Would it be okay if I stayed here until the storm passes? I live a mile away and I don't have time to run home. There's a funnel cloud already forming." I said breathlessly.

"Oh my goodness." she exclaimed. "Are you okay? Here, come inside. I don't mind if you stay at all."

"Thank you so, so much." I told her. I couldn't thank her enough.

"Don't worry, it's not a problem." she said, leading me inside.