The Challenge

Chapter 1: The Tornado
In the year of 2010, a strong breathtaking tornado hit the small town of Tokoyo.A little girl by the name of Daniya Witherfield hid in a little tub at her home along with her mother and father Damon and Alexia Witherfield. The storm lasted about 20 minutes before the family noticed a long line of streaming silence. They rose up and looked around. Their house was no longer a house. They had half a roof still standing that looked like it could fall at any minute. The very small amount of furniture they did have looked like someone had come in and shot the place up. The part of the house where the two bedrooms were was completely gone. It was just like starting from scratch. The little money they did have couldn’t even buy them a TV. All her mom could do was fall to her knees and cry. Daniya and her dad fell down and cried along with her. After they had cried for a while and had no tears left, they got up and walked around the neighborhood. Some houses were still standing, some just had a tree that had fell and stuff slung around in their yards, and some like Daniya and her parent’s houses were destroyed. There were no signs of anymore. They walked around for what seemed like hours until they finally spotted a menthe man was dressed in a yellow suit, and he had a flashlight in his hand.Daniya’s father asked the man, “Who are you? The man replied, “My name is Mitchell ad I am here to rescue the survivors of the storm.”Mr. and Mrs. Witherfield introduced their selves and followed the man to a helicopter. They had never been in a helicopter before. The closest view they had ever gotten was TV. They were very fascinated and curious about what all of the buttons did. They kept asking questions about the things inside. The driver who looked like a man in his early twenties answered each question happily. Mostly because he was happy to see people who were so amazed about helicopters.
About 30 minutes later they arrived at a big building. This building was about 10 times the size of their house. They had never seen this side of town before. When they entered the building a woman came and led them up a long flight of stairs to their room. When they finally made it to the room there was a TV, two big beds, and a beautiful view. This was like living in a mansion compared to what they lived in at first. They just stayed there for a few months until they could get back on their feet.
Chapter 2: A Fresh Start
Daniya and her parents made a fresh new start and moved to California after all of that happened. Daniya found a good school to go to. She was in the 7th grade so her parents figured it would be pretty easy for her to make friends.Daniya would start school the next day. Once she got to school a lot of kids welcomed her and she felt like she knew a lot of people already. The day went smoothly for her and all of her teachers were nice. After Daniya had been going to school for about two months, she got checked out of school early one day. Her mom had something to tell her. Her dad had gone to jail and was sentenced 25 years. All Daniya could do was cry. This would be the second time he missed Christmas with her because of this. When the papers came out that next Wednesday Daniya saw that her dad had been in jail 9 times for this same thing. Sometimes she found herself wondering did he love selling drugs more than his family. She wrote her dad for the first time after she read that. She told him she was mad and sad. She spent most of her nights crying herself to sleep. On top of all of that her grades were steadily falling .She knew she had to try harder but how could she when she kept blaming herself for him going. There were so many unanswered questions running through her mind. A few times she thought about giving up, but she knew she had to get her grades up and keep trying for her mom. So much had happened. A tornado, living in a shelter, and now losing her dad to jail. Daniya was hurt deep down. She went to school and the only thought that ran through her head was memories of her dad. One of her teachers named Mrs. Greer noticed that her grades were turning around. She knew an A student couldn’t have went to a B and C that fast. She asked Daniya to stay after class a while that day. She talked to Daniya and asked what was going on. On that day Daniya knew someone really cared other than her mom. She knew she could trust someone else. She looked her teacher in the eyes and made her a promise. She said, “I promise I will try my best from now on if you will show me that you care.”
Chapter 3: Overcoming
After months and months of crying and wondering why all of this happened Daniya could finally see a breakthrough. She knew she had what it took to do more with her life. All she had to do was make up her mind she wanted to. After a while Daniya overcame all of her fears. She realized she had to get her grades up. She had to face the fact that through life she would have ups and downs. No one promised her anything would be easy and she didn’t expect them to. From then on Daniya knew she had to reach for the highest and she believed she would get there. She knew she had what it took. Daniya ended the year with all A’s. Her mom was so happy and somehow just seeing her mom’s smile made it all worth it.From then on, Daniya knew if she didn’t have anything else she had a mom who cared and she had the brain to get anywhere she wanted in life.