Tornado

At first, everyone in California had thought that the storm would come, and that it would rain for only a couple of days, as storms usually did. There had been a tornado warning in Carlsbad and Los Angeles, but that was about it. There was no tornado in Vista. The rain came, and the wind howled.

Many people had been unprepared when the tornado did hit San Marcos. It tore though the city, and destroyed many homes. There was nothing but a pile of rocks where Palomar College once stood.

I was working when the tornado came. We didn’t have a radio or television there, but I noticed how the clouds had begun to form strange shapes. The rain was so thick that it was impossible to see past a couple of feet. Lightning constantly struck and caused buildings to shake.

I called a couple of friends. Julian had cancelled his driving class because of the bad conditions on the road. Yuki was at his house with Youhua, and Taka was determined to drive to La Jolla to get his hair done at Tera.

There had never been such a storm in Vista. Normally during such weather, the wind blows hard enough to make trees sway, and sometimes even tears branches away. But in this weather, it was difficult to even walk. I closed the shop and decided to go to Palomar College to pick up Asuka instead. I took each step carefully. I felt as if I would be dragged away if I didn’t put my strength into every movement.

The drive there hadn’t been easy either. As I said, the rain fell so heavily that I couldn’t see too far away. When cars drove ahead of me, the water would jump from their tires and splash into my front mirror, making things worse.

There was a few accidents on the way to school. One car had gone off of the road and people were busily trying to pull it out of a muddy hole. Further ahead, a Ford pickup truck had run into a small sports car. From what I saw, it seemed as if the truck’s brakes had failed at the signal light. I had heard that that Jun had also been in an accident the day before, so I drove carefully.

The cafeteria was packed with students when I got there. That’s when I first heard of the tornado warning that had been issued for San Marcos. Even then, I didn’t think it would come, or that it would cause any damage. Instead, I ordered a cup of chocolate and I sat to talk with Rob and Aiesha. Although the weather was bad, we didn’t think much of it.

The first thing I heard was from a student to my right, who screamed “Holy shit!” I looked over my shoulder, and noticed that the big clock tower was gone. I moved over to the glass windows, just like the other students, and saw a white pillar that rose from the ground. I bent my neck to look up, but the pillar rose all the way to the clouds. The pillar consumed everything that it came across.

Many of the students panicked and ran, but there was also a couple who believed that they would be safer if they remained inside of the cafeteria. I ran as far away as I could. When I looked back, I saw how the tornado had torn the cafeteria in half. It was growing bigger.

Big pieces of hail had started falling too. I remembered that hail had fallen the day before, and I had been stung by it a couple of times. But this time it felt as if each piece that hit me was like being shot by a paintball gun. I had to look for cover, or one of these pieces of ice would have hit me hard enough on the head to knock me out.

I ran to the D section of buildings in the school. I opened one of the rooms to find Michi there, among a couple of other students. They sat huddled together, holding onto their instruments. I asked her to come with me, but then the students started playing a song together. Michi said that as a musician, it was their job to perform even during the toughest times, and that she would stay there with them. I listened to them perform Ave Maria as I made my way back to the hall. I didn’t know it would be the last time that I saw her. Later, after the storm had passed, there was a photo of Michi in an article reporting on the tornado. They had found her with the other students among the debris, still hanging tightly to their instruments. This picture came to represent the spirit of the students in the face of the disaster and became famous throughout the world.

The storm was becoming bigger and faster with every moment that passed. Now it was moving to the NS building, which it was tearing away one brick at a time.

I found Asuka in the room next to where I had met Michi. Since they’re both music students, this shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. She was hiding in a corner of the room, under a table. When she asked me if she could drive back home, I told her that it would probably be better if I led this time. Who knew if there was still a home to go to.

By the time that we had come out of the Music room, the NS building was gone. The question now was, where do we go?