I told myself I would never be outside when the tornado sirens go off(when it's the real thing). Sunday afternoon, my sisters Anna and Lucia went with me to our Great-Grandpa's house. They took their bikes, and I ran along with them. It was muggy and warm. Our Great-Grandpa agreed with us on the fact that bad weather was in store for us. He had grown up in western Kansas, and had bee through more weather than any of us. Our grandparents got there like they did every Sunday. We visited for a little while. A little after three o'clock, we turned on the radio, and heard something about "a possibly tornadic thunderstorm in Sedgwick County". Grandpa told us to start heading home. "Take the most direct route, move as fast as possible, and don't stop." That was good enough for us.
We moved along at a quicker pace going home than coming to Great-Grandpa's house. Thunder could be heard. Previous times that I had been outside in thunder, I ran back inside. I didn't feel scared this time. About a block and a half from our house, I heard it. It started as a low wail. Tornado sirens! My pace kicked up. I hadn't felt that rush of adrenaline since my las Track meet a few weeks ago. I never before had the strength to scream while I was running as fast as was. But deep down I had found it. "Go! Faster!" I yelled at my sisters. They were on the edge of tears. They were scared. One of my first thoughts was to protect my sisters. People were rushing out of their houses to look. All of their heads looked to where the sky was the darkest. I kept yelling at them. Whatever happened, I wanted to keep them safe. It must've been some sight for other people to see.Three girls running in fear.
We reached home. I saw that our big van was gone. One of the first things I thought was that the rest of my family had gone to my Great-Grandpa's to pick us up. I knew what I would do. See if we could get into the house. If no one was there, keep my sisters into the garage until I found a neighbor that could let us into their house. But Dad was home. It was Mom and my three younger three sisters that were gone. We were all out of breath and at the point of freaking out. Dad was trying to calm us.
Dad eventually sent us downstairs. There was a tornado not far off to the southwest of Wichita. We went behind the stairs. I tried to sing some songs to cheer me up. I sung a little of "Tornado by Little Big Town, "Blown Away" by Carrie Underwood, and "Storm Warnin'" by Hunter Hayes. It made me feel better.
The storm cleared out. We were okay. I found out about my mom and sisters. They were just pulling up to Kohl's when the sirens went off. It then started raining. Pea-size hail fell. Mom decided to go into Kohl's. My sisters started crying even harder than when the sirens went off. The doors were locked, and Clara started banging on the doors crying. Somebody was walking around in front of the doors, and let them in. Nobody in Wichita was hurt.
Thankfully, Wichita is okay. But other people aren't so lucky. People in the both the past and present. Pray for those people. Pray for the ones in Oklahoma. They need your prayers.
