Scars from the Tornado (6 page)

I heard a
humming noise and yelled at
Kaley
to turn the TV off.
It was a tornado siren. We hurried to gather her sister and our phones. Without
shoes on, we ran across the street.

It was awful.
Strong winds were blowing and the sky was a grayish black. We ran to her
neighbor’s house to figure out what was going on.

Tornadoes had
been spotted. My mom called, telling me everything was okay and not to worry,
then the second siren sounded.

It was very
green outside and the weather was horrible. Mom told me to seek shelter and
everyone in
Kaley’s
neighbor’s house ran across the
street. At this point, the raindrops felt like baseballs hitting me. I went
into shock, not knowing what to do. We arrived at the next house and banged on
the front door.

No answer.

We went around
to the garage door and opened it. I didn’t know any of these people. Everyone
was freaking out, but we went down to the basement. We were running and that
was when the tornado hit- one of the worst tornadoes in history.

A radio was on
and I was listening to all of the devastation that had happened. I heard
reports of damage by my house. I began to worry. “Are my parents okay?” My
phone had died and I had no contact with anyone.

Luckily,
Kaley
had her phone. My mom and dad were just fine. They
came to pick us up. The way back to my house was the worst ride of my life on
the worst day.

There was so
much
damage,
I couldn’t tell where we were. So many
people were walking and crying. I had never seen this, not even in the movies.
My life was forever changed.

Abigael
Killinger
was an eighth grader during the 2011-2012 school year.

A SCARY
TIME

BY
A
LEXANDRA
S
TELTS

I walked out
of East Middle School on Friday the 20th thinking I would see all my friends on
Monday the 23rd. There were several different ways I could have been in the
tornado, and I’m going to share them with you.

One of the
ways that I could have been in the tornado is that it could have been a weekend
that I was with my dad. He would have had to drop me off at my mom’s at six
o'clock. That would mean that I would have been going across town and getting
caught right in the tornado’s path. But, it turns out that I was with my mother
that weekend, so I didn’t get caught.

On the other
hand since I was with my mom, we were going to go out of town. We were planning
on going to see our family that lives six hours away in Nebraska. On the way up
I took a nap, while my mom drove. As my mom was driving, she was feeling worse
and worse. So she decided to turn around. I woke up when she was turning
around. We had driven just about two hours. If we would have kept going on into
Nebraska. We were planning on leaving at noon on Sunday, so we could get home
about six o'clock. As we were turning around and heading home, my mom was
feeling better and better, but she still decided to keep going home.

To make up for
not going to Nebraska my mom took me to Springfield instead. We went to the
mall. Then we went to Branson and went to the racetracks. It was fun. I had to
talk my mom into it though.

We had just
gotten home right before the tornado hit. My mom was talking to her friend that
came over to the house, after a little while she left. Not soon after the
sirens went off. My mom and I rushed to the bathroom. I grabbed my comforter,
blankets, pillows, my tennis shoes, Bible, phone, and a flashlight. My mom came
in shortly after with my radio. We plugged it in, sat in the tub, and listened.
We heard on the radio that there would be a watch until six.

Once six hit,
we waited a little bit longer before we went outside. I heard the birds
chirping and I told my mom, and then we decided to look out the window just to
make sure. I was scared the whole time. I had always been scared of them, but
after this I probably will always be scared of them.

My mom’s
friend came by after the tornado just to make sure that we were okay. I thought
that was really nice. We let them watch the T.V. to check out all the damage.
My mom’s friend brought her daughter with her. It turns out that her daughter
gave her shoes to some lady who lost everything, so I gave her an extra pair
that I never wore.

When I was
watching the television, the people were talking about how they thought that
St. John’s was going to blow up, so I texted my dad and told him not to go,
because he was planning to go and help. During this whole time I was worrying
about so many different people: my sister, my dad, my stepsister, my stepmom,
my stepdad, and my mom and I.

It was a very
scary time for me, and probably the rest of the town. On the bright side, my
dad and mom finally were talking again for the first time since they got
divorced!

Alexandra
Stelts
was a seventh grader during the 2011-2012 school
year.

TORNADO
WARNING

BY
D
ONNA
T
OMLINSON

“We need to
leave right now. Your mom called and said there’s a tornado warning,” my dad said
frantically in the parking lot of the 15th Street
Walmart
.

“Oh, well.
Okay. It’s not like there’s going to be a tornado. There are warnings all the
time,” I replied, walking sluggishly to the car.

We were
halfway home when the tornado sirens went off. “Oh,
my gosh
,
dad, those are the tornado sirens,” I said, freaking out.

“Yeah, I know.
I can hear them, but we’ll be fine. We just need to get home and get the rest
of the family,” he said, trying to be calm.

When we
finally got home, my mom and I walked up to make sure we were okay and that’s
when I saw a funnel cloud and I heard the loud noise. I can never forget how I
was feeling that day. I felt a complete terror washing over me. I did not know
whether to cry and hug my mom or scream and run in a different direction, but
instead we gathered up the children and rushed to MSSU for shelter.

When the
tornado was over, I got a phone call from one of my friends,
Shyann
Long.

“Donna, are
you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, fine,
you?”

“Um, yeah, but
our school is gone
;
it got hit by the tornado and so
did 15th Street
WalMart
,” she said.

“What no. I
was just there like 30 minutes ago.”

The tornado
changed our lives forever.

Donna
Tomlinson was an eighth grader during the 2011-2012 school year.

CHANGE OF
PLANS

BY
M
AGGIE
B
AKER

I imagined my
summer lying on the beach, drinking a
pina
colada,
but no, instead a few months ago, my family, my town and I experienced the most
terrifying thing that has ever happened

It started out
at Missouri Southern State University waiting for my sister
Breanna
to get her high school diploma, when all of a sudden the sirens went off. My
sister Molly and I were waiting in the car when my mom and sister got to the
car. The sirens had been going off for a while and we did not think anything of
it. The traffic was so bad it took us about 30 minutes to get out of the MSSU
parking lot.

When we were
driving by
Macaroo
Gyms, we were listening to the
radio and heard that there was a tornado. Then about 30 seconds later, my dad
called and said there was another tornado!

We were in
between the two tornados.

We were on
20th Street and just ahead of us was just a black wall. So we decided to take
cover in
Walmart
.

When we got
into
Walmart
, the electricity had already gone out
and the tiles were shaking. A few minutes after we had found a place to take
cover in electronics, a man said, “It’s coming!” Everybody ducked down and that
was when
Walmart
got hit.

All I could
hear was
me,
my mom, and sisters praying. We were very
fortunate that we did not get buried like other people were. There were so many
things that we had to climb over. After we got out of
Walmart
,
we thought the whole town was gone.

My family and
I were fortunate that we did not lose our house or any family members. The last
few months we have been working to repair the damage to our house. And we have
been doing great since the tornado.

Maggie
Baker was an eighth grader during the 2011-2012 school year.

IT ALWAYS
GETS BETTER

BY
C
AMDEN
S
ANDERS

The May 22 tornado
was devastation. Even if it did not affect everyone in Joplin, Missouri,
physically, it affected
them
emotionally. Even if you
did not lose someone or you did not have much structural damage to your home,
you still had to see the damage around town and hear the stories.

My family and
I were affected. My room had a lot of water from the next day after the
tornado. When it rained so much, the ceiling in my room collapsed and the water
leaked down into one of my walls. In my room, we had to replace the carpeting,
ceiling, wall, ceiling fan, bed, insulation, texturing and paint.

No matter
where you live in Joplin, Missouri,
the devastation of the
EF-5 tornado was experienced by everyone in some way
. Everyone, not just
in Joplin, needs to remember, “It always gets better; it may have to get worse
first, but it always gets better.”

Camden
Sanders was a seventh grader during the 2011-2012 school year.

THERE WON’T
BE A TORNADO

BY
K
ALEY
M
OSER

I remember the
day of the tornado as if it were yesterday. My mom was at the Cardinals vs.
Royals game, so I was babysitting my seven-year-old sister.
Abi
Killinger
was with me and it was very crazy. We
tanned and played in the sprinkler. We even had a water right and a mud fight.
Abi
was obsessed
with this song by
Rhianna
called “California King
Bed.”
All day, she sang that song.
Abi
and I
decided it had been the best day of our lives. We kept saying that over and
over again.

It was around
five o’clock when
Abi’s
mom called and said a storm
was coming.
Abi
started
spazzing
out, but me, the calm person I am, was shrugging it off as nothing.

“
Abi
, there won’t be a tornado. There never is; it’s fine,”
I told her.

Little
did I know I was going to eat those
words.
We started
to make macaroni to eat while my sister watched TV.

Suddenly,
the sirens sounded. At first, I couldn’t believe it. I even muted the TV.
Abi
was hollering while I grabbed my phone. Without even
putting my shoes on, I ran to my neighbors’ house, with
Mylee
and
Abi
running behind me.

I
remember the wind blowing so hard and hail hitting me, which stung. We were
finally able to go into the neighbor’s
basement.

Mylee
had gas, lucky
us!

Kaley
Moser was an eighth grader
during the 2011-2012 school year.

MAY 22,
2011

BY
A
MBER
F
LEMING

This day
started off like any other normal day.
People going to work,
eating with family, sleeping in.
My day started off at 5:30 a.m. My
family was going to Silver Dollar City. It was Me, Kiefer (my brother) Victoria
(my sister) Lori (mom) Will (dad) and then my dad’s best friend James, his wife
Jennifer, and their daughter’s
Kallie
, and
Jaelyn
Jo Nicole.
Their
other
daughter,
Emmaleena
, three months, stayed with a
babysitter in Joplin.
Jaelyn
was 4 and
Kallie
was 6. Kiefer is 15 so he got to take us where we
wanted to go.