Chapter Two

Clara ate lunch, and then went home. She had had a full morning. She sat down on the couch. Something felt wrong. Their German Shepherd Willow would normally come in. Clara ran down the basement stairs. She looked at Willow’s pallet. She was lying there, breathing heavily. Clara knelt down next to her. “Hey girl,” she said with a trembling voice.

          Willow looked up at her. There was a sad look in her eyes. Both of them knew that it was time. Willow was a little over 10 years old. Clara placed her hand on Willow. Jason came down to check on Clara. “What’s wrong?” he asked. Clara looked up at him. “It’s her time, Jason,” she said.

          Without Willow, life changed for the whole household. Clara was used to seeing a dog sleeping at the end of her bed. It became hard for her to sleep those first few nights. She had lost two loved ones in the last month. There had to be a reason for this.

          Over the course of the next month, friends were sending meals to the Wildewoods. Jason hadn’t storm chased since Agnes had died. Somehow, tornadoes made him feel sad. Every time a tornado showed up on either the Internet or TV, Jason tried to ignore it. If it happened on the computer, he shut down the Internet. On TV, he changed the channel. He blocked the Weather Channel on TV. Jason was obviously running away from something that he had loved yesterday.

          Clara’s friends at school tried to be helpful to her. Even the kids that hadn’t ever talked to her were now talking to her. Clara was now troubled by something other than Agnes’s tragic death. She was worried about Jason. She had seen his attitude towards tornadoes.

          Later at home, Clara talked to Dad. “You know that Jason is running from his fears,” said Clara, “and we need to fix it,” Dad nodded. “I suppose that we could do something,” he said. “Let’s wait until there’s a good chance for tornadoes in the area,” said Clara, “and we can take him on a storm chase without him knowing,”

          In about a week, another chance for storms showed up. The probability of a tornado was high. All they had to do now was lure Jason into the car. Clara called Jason. “We just wanna take you somewhere,” said Clara. Jason was obviously unsure. “Alright,” he finally said.

          He showed up. As they drove down the highway, Jason became more and more uneasy. It was the menacing clouds that were frightening him. Clara watched him closely. Dad drove deeper into the storm. When a wall cloud showed up, Jason reacted in a way that Clara had never seen him do. He buckled over, and began to cry. “Just take me back,” he begged.

          “I will,” said Clara,” but you first need to face a tornado,” Jason still cried. “I can’t,” he said. “You are running from your fears,” said Clara. Jason was still looking down. “I just feel so guilty,” he said. Clara pressed some more, “It wasn’t your fault,” Jason quit crying. “But I feel like I could have done something,” he said.