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She had only been seventeen when this had all started. She was a senior in high school with every plan to go to college and make something of herself. At the time, she had wanted nothing more than to be a lawyer. Everyone said no matter what she did, she would be great at it. She always put her heart and soul into everything she does. They had both been straight A students, both she and her brother. They had gotten along very well for people five years apart.
Shayla, Shayne and his mother were at their cabin right near Tahoe Lake. They were on a trip to Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort. Shayla had just gotten back from snowboarding and her board was still leaned against the wall by the door. Shayne walked into the living room, covered in snow and looking to Shayla, bright green eyes begging to warm up. Shayla had just stoked the fire and shook her head, sending the boy to his room. Shayla made the hot coco and placed the marshmallows in the smiley face shape he liked. Shayne took the coco and smiled, hugging Shayla. Lime green eyes shone with his childish joy. Bright white teeth shone out of his twelve-year-old face, a face surrounded by shaggy dirty blonde hair. To this day, she never understood how he ended up so light skinned with naturally blonde hair. Shayla went to the window seat and curled up with her book, mp3 player, and her own hot coco. He turned on the X-box 360 as she tuned out the world.
She on the other hand was tall and her skin was often described as caramel. Long hair, as black as the new moon night, fell in purple eyes and she moved to tie it back. Her face was slim and her features small. Her nose was long and aristocratic, her lips plump and a bit darker than her skin. Her face had a natural calmness about it. She rarely got honestly flustered, but when she did, she could make quite a scene. She could always find her calm place when it mattered the most. She could always think well enough to analyze and plan her next move. She did not mind her features and no one seemed to complain about her.
Absolutely consumed in here book, she felt her brother’s soccer ball as it came flying at her head. She caught it deftly and finished her paragraph before looking up from her book, purple eyes conveying her slight irritation, and pulling one of her headphones out. She truly was enjoying her book and she despised being disturbed. “What do want Shayne?” she asked thoroughly annoyed.
“Show me how to get past the chainsaw sisters, please.” He begged and she nodded. She almost never said no to her little brother. She blew strands of black hair out of her face and rolled her neck.
“Toss the controller short stack.” She responded affectionately, as she put my book down. She shifted as she sat up to play the game as her brother watched in awe. It was always that way. If he could not do it and she could, he would just sit with that amazed look ok his face that always made her smile. Just as she defeated the videogame demons, she heard a disturbing bulletin on the radio, announcing a tornado warning for the Tahoe area. That was when it started, when Sarah started blowing through.
At the time, it did nothing but annoy her because it interrupted a perfectly good Avenged Sevenfold song. If she had known what was to come, she would have done something better. She would have responded quickly to save Shayne and her mother from the worry, the pain. Sadly, she did not know better and she just returned the controller to her grateful little brother, who smiled at her, and made her way back to the window for some peace. If she had known that would be the last time he would smile at her, she would have paid closer attention and memorized every detail of his face. Instead, as usual, she just smiled back and returned to her reading. Only ten minutes later, her mother came through the door. Her black hair had once been a high ponytail, but it was falling out by then. Her snowsuit was covered in snow and she looked disheveled, as if she had run off the mountain and thrown herself in the car to rush back to us.
“Shayne! Shayla! You both need to pack up now! We are leaving in two hours!” she said frantically, scaring Shayla. Shayne looked up from his video game at our mother, fear obvious in his eyes.
“Mama, what’s wrong?” she asked, noting her disheveled appearance. She looked panicked, as if she had seen a ghost. She was normally so laid back that this was a complete and total change. It takes a lot to rile Nicole up, and I had never even dreamed of seeming her with such fear in her eyes.
“Just do it, now! We can talk later!” she hollered at them and Shayne remained frozen on the couch with fear. Shayla stood and helped Shayne to his feet, ushering him to the stairs. He looked at her with pleading eyes and she petted his mane of shaggy dirty blond hair to comfort him. This was not normal and she was not going to lie to him and tell him she knew it would all be all right. She did not know it would be all right and, as it turned out, it turned out, it would not be. She had always treated her brother as if he was just as reasonable as she was and she refused to start babying him then.
“Go re-pack your stuff Shayne. I’ll meet you on the couch when I am done.” she said, opening the door to his blue room and he nodded. The boy walked into his room and threw open the closet doors. Once she saw this, she ran into her royal purple room and took a passing glance out her window. The sky was dark and filed with clouds as black as the night. At the time, she had thought it was only clouds, or oncoming rain, but it just felt wrong. She shoved the thought to the back of her mind as she turned to her closet. She opened the large black wood doors and pulled out two very large duffel bags for her things.
There was time, time enough for her to collect what she needed. Somehow, she knew she would need her things soon, all of her most important things. She stuffed all her clothes and necessities, the staples of her life, into the bags. Shayla changed into a black 'Black Sabbath' shirt with a pair of blue jeans with my dog tags before she walked back downstairs. She was not in any rush because to her, it did not feel like a rush. Her little brother sat beside her quietly, leaning on her shoulder. She comforted him for a short while before Nicole came back downstairs.
“Everything goes in the car now!” Nicole shouted at them and Shayne put his hand on Shayla’s arm. That woman has scared him again. Now things were out of control. Shayla never screamed at them, much less with the crazed expression she had had at that time. It was like looking at a completely different person. She did not like what she saw and how this side of Nicole that terrified her little brother.
“No! Not until you calm down and explain what is going on!” She shouted back, finally at her wits end. Shayla’s mother looked at them in shock after she quieted down. She had never raised her voice to her mother before now. She had honestly never thought to, it just was not done in her house. Then again, even with every reason under the sun, she normally respected her mother.
“The tornado is coming.” She stated as if Shayla should have known its significance. When nothing registered on her face, Nicole went borderline hysteric. “We have to leave, now!” Her voice suddenly dropped and Shayla strained to hear Nicole’s next words. “You don’t know what I know.” At the time, they just sounded like the ramblings of an overprotective mother.
“Come on now mom. We’ve never even seen a tornado.” Shayla said back and Nicole looked at her with pain in her violet eyes as Shayne squeezed Shayla’s hand. Shayla looked down at him in shock and fear. Shayne has not squeezed her hand in four years. Not since the car wreck when he was only four. Shayne just seemed to have known it was coming.
“Come on Shayla. I think mom’s right.” He said and she crouched down before him. He was normally right about important things like this. Sometimes he just knew and none of the family questioned it. His vivid lime green eyes stared into Shayla’s deep violet ones and she bit her lip hesitantly.
“You’re sure, Shayne?” She asked and he nodded. She nodded once decisively and picked up the four bags. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Shayla knew it hurt Nicole
To see that she trusted Shayne more than her, but Shayne was not frantic. He was not acting as if the world would end if they did not get in the car at that very moment.
They all ran outside, Nicole with frantic fear, Shayne with calm acceptance, and Shayla with an odd mixture of emotions. She was not afraid, not for herself anyway. She had to watch out for Shayne and Nicole. They had to be safe. She was the last thing on her own mind. Both children ran out the front door, bags in hand. They tore a path to the black SUV and tossed their bags tightly in the trunk.
As the family left, Shayla looked out the back window and saw it, a swirling black vortex against the dark sky. She felt Shayne next to her, staring at it with frightened awe. She pulled him down quickly and he buried his head in her shoulder as the car sped down the road. Shayla pulled out her laptop and began searching in for the predicted path of the tornado. The next thing she did was call her friends and tell them to get the hell out of town.
She surveyed the path of the tornado with an eerie feeling that something was wrong. Tornados did not come this far in land; it just did not make sense. The tornado was not following the land. If anything, it was fighting it, going over hills instead of through valleys, taking a straight line. Nature did not fight itself. There was no logical reason for any of this.
“What are you doing Shayla?” Nicole asked nervously, hearing the frantic typing.
“I am comforting Shayne, working on a few things, and calling a few friends.”
“You’re not hacking are you?” she asked quickly, no longer even pretending to watch the road.
“Actually, it’s all available to the public. Shouldn’t your biggest concern be getting out of the path of the tornado and not me and my computer?” Shayla asked, rudely.
“Answer the question.”
“I did. The answer is no…car….CAR!” Shayla shouted and Nicole turned around. Only milliseconds later, the car in front of them came to a dead halt at a red light.
Nicole swerved to miss the car before her, with no plans to stop. About ten miles later the car stopped, out of fuel. Nicole cussed vividly for a few minutes as she banged on the wheel in frustration, and then told them not to repeat anything she had just said in any of the languages Nicole had said them in. After a few seconds, Nicole turned to them and demanded that they get their stuff out of the trunk. Shayne held Shayla’s little black stuffed puppy tightly to his chest. He was terrified and every time mom spoke, he got more and more terrified. He grabbed three of the bags and ran ahead and Shayla followed silently.
Not very much later, they could see the tornado over the grassy hill. Dark clouds spread over the clear sky like a virus, spreading out and infecting everything in its path. Shayla stopped to secure Shayne’s bags, taking care of her own as she ran. The tornado began to move forward faster as if it had found its target, as if it has a mind of its own. Shayla looked over her shoulder and stopped momentarily in shock. She could see her bed hanging in the wind of the twisting black funnel, spinning quickly. Shayla could hear it, a deafeningly loud roar that consumed everything. She could not hear, even though she knew Nicole and Shayne were probably calling her. Looking into the tornado, she could see nothing else. All there was was the vortex, starring me back. Goodness, the wind sounded as if it was mocking her because it knew it was too late. It knew it would have her. Shayla tore her gaze from the tornado and searched for her family. After a moment, she saw the pair of them in a small cave, halfway into the darkness already. She hesitated too long and began to feel the tornado’s pull.
She ran towards her family, even though she knew in the back of her mind that it was already too late. Shayla continued to struggle, refusing to leave her mother and Shayne. Shayla could not leave her little brother. His dirty blonde hair fell in lime green eyes as she choked up. Shayla knew she would not make it as her mother slowly pulled the struggling boy into the darkness and her feet came off the ground. Her hair whipped at her face as she saw the tears forming in her brother’s eyes.
Shayla screamed for him, but her voice was lost in the roar of the vortex. Even though she could no longer hear him over the roar of the wind, she could see the exertion in his face as he turned red calling for her. His entire figure went blurry as her eyes filled with tears. She felt her body go cold as she was dragged up and into the tornado with its own will. Shayla slipped deeper and deeper into the black, crying for them, wondering if they would be able to identify the body when the time came.
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BloodWings ~~ Chapter 4
