The Reluctant Heiress (A Christian Romance Novel)

Part 41 : Tornado

The tornado siren continued to blair its deafening sound.

"Where are you?" Telly asked Aiden as she was talking to him on the phone. He called her to tell her that a tornado was heading their way.

"I'll tell you later. Just go and take the people to your storm shelter! NOW!" his voice has never been this commanding before so Telly knew he was dead serious.

She turned to Greg. "Take all the people to the storm shelter now!"

Greg, Kay and all the others at the lobby scurried to the direction that Greg is leading. Towards the basement.

Telly stepped out of the lobby, wanting to see for herself where the tornado was forming. If earlier the sky was sunny, right now, it was dark grey covered with a lot of cumulonimbus clouds. Telly couldn't hear the commotion from the inside, but just the ominous sound of the gusty winds everywhere.

She turned her eyes to the right side of the hotel where the huge tunnel of rotating air was forming. It was still quite a distance from them,  so she could see the whole view of the tornado, from the heavy clouds up above to the tail below touching the ground.  It was very scary. Her heart was pounding.

She squinted her eye to get a clearer view of the twister, and she seemed to have heard someone saying in a deep voice, "Do not fear, for I am with you; ... for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you..."

And a peace that surpasses understanding filled her heart and soul.

"Telly, c'mon let's go!" someone grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the hotel. She turned around and it was Diva! Or Rachelle as she was wearing the housekeeping uniform.

They ran for their lives! The winds has been gathering more strength and more debris are floating in the air.

They shut the main door of the hotel and as they passed the Banquet Hall, she grabbed her purse and sprinted towards the storm shelter.

Rachelle ran to the stairs going down and Telly stopped and hesitated behind her. She heard something. Someone was shouting for help!

"Help me!" the voice was faint but she could clearly hear it.

"Telly!" Rachelle shouted when she realized she was not following her. "What are you doing?"

"I hear someone," she replied not looking at her but continued on searching. "Go down! Make sure all the guests and staff are complete!"

Rachelle was confused on what to do first: search the missing person with Telly, or to obey what she said and to check all the staff. She decided to do the first one.

Telly kept walking towards where she thinks the person  shouting was coming from. "Hello? Are you in here?"

"I'm here," It was a lady's voice.

She opened one of the rooms and saw Mrs. Trudy lying on the floor!  "Oh my gosh! What happened to you?" Rachelle rushed to the room too.

"I was in the bathroom when I heard the siren," she replied as Telly tried to carefully pull her up from the floor. "I ran and slipped on the floor and I guess I've been unconscious, until now. Glad you heard my faint cry!"

"It wasn't faint, it was loud and clear for me," Telly said, and tried to carry her by her arms as Trudy dragged her own feet. Rachelle came to the other side.

They finally arrived near the floor door of the storm shelter, when Greg opened it just in time. And he helped the girls to bring Trudy downstairs.

When the three ladies were completely downstairs, he pulled the heavy floor door and locked it.

Tellu was sure God was the one who prompted them 'inspect' the storm shelter earlier because they are gonna need it.