She grew up in what is referred to as Tornado Alley, which includes several different states. She lived in Moore, Oklahoma, where one of the biggest tornadoes in history was reported. Now she was fifteen, and just like every year, the weather service was issuing a warning about a possible touchdown of a tornado. Still, this time, they predicted a record-breaking tornado that was supposed to touch down in Oklahoma City. Tornadoes had never scared her. Ever since she was little, she had a fascination with them. Time after time, her parents would find her watching them as they touched down, reeking as much damage as they could. Her parents named her Gale because of the weather when she was born. The year she was born, there was a record number of tornadoes in the United States. They were even seen in states where they’ve never had tornadoes.
Her parents, Skyler and Sunnie Spray, had moved out to the country to try their hand at farming, something her father had always wanted to do. Gale, of course, didn’t want to move and lose her friends. Of course, what she wanted didn’t matter when it came to what her parents wanted. She sat up in her room, reading a book about tornadoes, her favorite subject. She looked out her window and smiled. The weather was just starting to warm up, which meant it would soon be tornado season. She vowed that this year would be the year she would get to see one up close. She had spent the last two years making a plan, and if the old farmers were right, this would be the year that had the most tornadoes. As the days went by, Gale would go over and over her plan. She even made a contingency plan in case her main plan didn’t work.
One morning she was eating breakfast before leaving for school while her parents watched the news in the other room. She overheard the weatherman say that there was a tornado warning in four counties, including hers and that her school was closed for the day. She knew this would be the day. She finished her breakfast and then ran back up to her room to get ready to execute her plan. During the last few weeks, she had been building a gadget that would tell her how big a tornado was, and she was excited to use it. The only drawback was that she would have to get right next to the tornado. That’s the part she was excited for the most. The weather started to get worse and worse, so Gale grabbed her invention, opened her window, and slipped out. She shimmied down the side of the house, then ran out into their field. She turned on her emergency radio and listened for the right time. As the sky got darker, it turned a green shade, which told her that a tornado was on its way. She looked up at the sky and saw the clouds start to turn.
The moment had finally come. She was going to be able to test her weather gadget. At the far end of the field, the funnel cloud finally dropped, and it touched down in their field and was headed straight for her. She knew this one was the big one, and she wasn’t afraid. Her excitement grew and grew as the storm got closer and closer. She looked down at her gadget, and the dials started to move. It was getting something. She continued to fine-tune it so that she could get the most up-to-date information. The tornado sped straight for her, and she could now feel the sheer power a storm of this size truly had. She was in awe of it. She opened her arms out wide like she was welcoming the tornado home. Gale was hit with two-hundred mile an hour wind speeds and hail the size of a baseball. Still, she was unmoved by all of it.
The most powerful part of the tornado hit Gale with all its force, and it was like she absorbed the energy of the tornado until it disappeared and went back up into the clouds. The path of destruction stopped as soon as it hit Gale. After the tornado stopped, Gale’s whole body glowed, and her hair stood up on end as electricity left her body and entered it. Her parents slowly opened the doors to their bunker, and her mom saw her standing in the middle of their field, “Gale!” Her dad looks in the direction his wife was, saw his daughter, and took off running to get to her. He got a few feet away from his daughter when he was struck by a jolt of electricity that left Gale’s body and entered his, knocking him to the ground. A few moments later, the power that Gale’s body had absorbed finally dissipated enough that she was able to snap back to reality. She looked around and saw her day lying motionless on the ground a few feet from her and gasped, “Daddy!”
She ran up to him, dropped to her knees, and laid her head on his chest to see if she could hear his heartbeat. The whole time her head was on his chest, she kept repeating, “Please wake up, daddy.”
Tears began running down her cheeks because she couldn’t hear her father’s heart beating. She desperately wanted to help her father, but she didn't know how until a strange thought entered head that told her to put both of her hand on her father’s chest and send a small electric shock. Gale lifted her head, and while kneeling next to him, she placed both of her hand over his heart. She pressed down an electric charge entered his chest with a flash. She did this same thing a couple more times and then listened again for a heartbeat. Much to her surprise she could hear a faint heartbeat and she hugged her father tight. Shortly after that, an ambulance arrived, and they took her father to the nearest hospital. Gale and her mother both road in the back of the ambulance as they drove to the hospital. Both her mom and one of the EMTs asked her questions, trying to figure out precisely what had happened. Gale didn’t want to tell them that it was her fault. She told them a little as she could.
Her father spent the next few days in the hospital, and once he was home and resting, he called Gale into his room to talk to her. Gale walked in and saw her father sitting up in his bed, “Hi daddy, how are you feeling?”
“I’m doing okay, I’m still really sore, but I’m healing.”
“That's good.” She said as she walked over to him and sat next to him on his bed.
“I want to talk to you about what happened in the field.”
Gale dropped her head, “I’m sorry you got hurt, daddy. It’s my fault.”
He wrapped his arms around her, “Oh sweetheart, I don’t blame you for what happened. It was just a freak accident, nothing more.”
“But I was the one who was in the field when the tornado hit. I should have been in the bunker with you and mom.”
“True, but as long as you are safe, then nothing else matters.” He felt like he could relax for the first time since all of this happened, and Gale herself felt safe in her father's arms and was happy that her father didn’t blame her for what had happened.
“Gale. I do need to ask you a question, and I was the whole story.”
“Okay.”
“I need you to tell me exactly what happened to you and why you were in the field in the first place.”
Click Follow to receive emails when this author adds content on Bublish
Comment on this Bubble
Your comment and a link to this bubble will also appear in your Facebook feed.