Heroine

In Kansas City, Missouri it was a common thing for there to be storms during April but rarely was there a time when we had to worry about a tornado. Well that's exactly what happened when I was just four years old. Naturally, as a four year old, I remember sitting in my room, playing with my toys and  minding my own business when the thunder began. Mind you, I had experienced a storm before but never at this capacity. Every time lightening struck the sky, I held my breath waiting for the thunder that was sure to come. And when it did, it rumbled through the entire house to the point where I’d moved my playing elsewhere to where my sisters were located. They were in a bedroom watching the news when I’d gotten there and though I didn’t understand what the man with the bald head on the screen was saying about the red dots he was pointing at, I was smart enough to know it wasn’t good. The thunder continued to rumble outside.

The storm rumbled on but after a while, my sisters’ composure helped me relax. The sound of our mother calling us out of our room broke this tranquility and me and my sisters scrambled to where she was. We knew that tone; either she was mad, or she was worried. She told us there was a tornado warning for our area as she swooped me up into her arms and directed us towards the basement. Several things happened simultaneously after this: the wind picked outside of our living room window, the power went out, and somehow I ended up alone on the steps. I remember someone picking me up and running downstairs with me in one arm and a candle in the other. When I got older, I came to find out, that my mother had actually gotten so scared at the sound of the storm that she had dropped me on the steps and ran to the basement without me. My sister found me on the same spot on the steps, crying.

Once everyone had arrived in the basement, my mother did a head count to make sure all seven kids were present. I stood near the steps, when I heard someone yelling from somewhere on the other side of the door. Then I remembered; my brother! Though he was older than me by six years, back then he was just as scared of the dark as I was. Without a second thought, I ran up the steps, my parents calling behind me, telling me to come back and that he would be okay. I wasn’t taking any chances. I arrived upstairs and realized that it was pitch black. I tripped several times. I felt around until I found the sound of his whimpers and grabbed his hand for dear life. I convinced myself that I was holding his hand tightly to make sure I didn’t lose him again but in truth, I was just scared. We made it downstairs in one piece, and not long after the power came back on. Come to find out, there was only a tornado watch and the power had gone out because lightening had struck an electrical cord. My brother will deny the entire story till this day, but that night, I was his hero.