Ashlee's first twister

Well.  If you know me, then it's likely that you know my worst fear: tornadoes.  Or at least, one of my worst fears is tornadoes.  So you can imagine my "joy" at living in the Midwest where tornado sirens seem to go off all the time for mild storms.  Let us embark on the tale of what took place last night and today.

Lauren and I left Kirksville and headed for Hannibal.  I dropped her off at her dad's and then went to the house where I live with her and her mom and step-dad to spend a few days by myself.  The plan was for Lauren, Kat, and I to see Iron Man 3 on Wednesday.  I went to Wal-Mart around 5 o'clock after grades were posted to get some dinner.  When I got outside of the store on my way back, I could see that the weather was, for lack of a better word, eerie.  There's a sort of stillness, of strangeness in the air that precedes a big storm.  It just felt off.  I already knew a storm was coming, but I thought it would just be a typical thunderstorm.

I lounged around the house for a bit, eating dinner and watching a movie, when the neighbor from across the street (Lauren and I are friends with his daughter, Lairyn) came over and invited me to come over to their house to be with them during the storm since we knew it was going to get pretty bad.  I declined, saying I would be okay.  I simply didn't think it would get that bad.  When the thunder and lightning started, I lounged on the couch to watch and listen through the window.  

Then I heard the tornado siren.  Despite living in the Midwest for almost two years now, I've only ever heard it go off once and that was when I visited three years ago.  So, naturally, I was scared.  I grabbed my laptop and Kindle and hurried down to the windowless bedroom in the basement.  Almost immediately, Kat (who knows just how scared I am of tornadoes) called me to see how I was.  At that time, I was okay.  I was kind of shaky, but at least I was functioning.  We hung up when I got an incoming call from Lauren, who was at the movie theatre downtown with her dad and step-mom.  Lauren, too, knew how scared I was.  As soon as she told me that it was, in fact, a tornado, I panicked.  I couldn't help it.  It was my worst fear coming to life.  Even though she tried her hardest to calm me down, it didn't work.  She tried to convince me to run across the street to Lairyn's house, and I listened for a moment.  But I stopped as soon as I looked out the window.  All I saw was green.  The air, the sky, everything was green and moving.  It was terrifying.  I'd never seen winds so fast.  Everything was whipping around and rainy that I was frozen with fear and told Lauren that I just couldn't go outside.  I called Deb and David in Kirksville, and they helped to calm me down.  At this point I was hyperventilating.  I knew there was a tornado somewhere and I was alone.  

Eventually, as it started to calm down, Lairyn called me and asked me if I wanted to come over.  Since it was calmer and I was calmer, I accepted.  I grabbed my bear, Sammy, (don't judge) and ran across the street at breakneck speed, at which point a towel was thrown over me and I was let inside.  By this point, things had calmed down.  We hung out in the basement for a little while, but then we went upstairs when it was deemed safe.  It was still greenish for a while, I continued to insist.  After a while, Lairyn's mom needed to charge her phone, so we all got into the car and decided to drive around so she could charge it.  By this time, the winds had stopped and it was only raining lightly.  I couldn't see much at the time, as it was dark and I didn't have my glasses, but it was bad.  We got a couple of scary jags of lightning, as well.

I slept in the basement that night, waking up about every two hours.  When I woke up, everywhere was still without power.  I talked to Kat, and she was fine.  Lauren was fine, too.  They and their families had barely any damage, and no one was hurt.  When David came down, we went out to lunch and surveyed the damage around Hannibal.  Trees everywhere, powerlines down and leaning over, trees uprooted, part of a building taken out downtown.  Officially, the news says it was just very, very, violent, strong winds.  The general consensus among word-of-mouth was at least one tornado, probably more.  Many people were reporting sightings of funnels and things.  The building that was torn up downtown had bricks ripped from it, which leads me to believe that it was a twister.  Apparently, a tornado was sighted up somewhat close to where I was, too, as well as downtown where Kat is.  Yikes.

BUT.  Everyone is okay.  We have all been incredibly lucky.  I know this is nothing compared to Oklahoma City, but it was truly the most terrifying moment of my life.  Not only was it a tornado, but I was alone.  Not completely, since my phone was ringing off its figurative hook with my loved ones calling to see if I was okay.  So I feel both blessed and loved.  Throughout all of this, I know my faith in God has increased, which means more to me than anything.