Tornado Warning

Fuck, fuck, fuck that's all I can think as I pound my hands against the dashboard. I almost made it. I almost did. Tornado sirens blast in the background of my music. Tornado should be making land in a few minutes but my exit is blocked. It's started to flood already and I love my car, but it can't make it through these waters.

My phones rings and I answer agitated, "what," I ask, more yelling than asking.

"Don't say what to me, I'm your mother," my mom demands in a way only a mother could. "Where are you? The weather is getting bad," she flips to concerned mom so easily.

"I'm in Avon, the road is flooded."

"Well, go around," she says nonchalantly as if I hadn't spent the last 15 minutes doing just that.

"I hadn't thought of that," I say with all the sarcasm I could muster up.

I hear here suck her teeth on the other side of the phone before answering, "Well try to find somewhere safe. I heard them talk about Tornadoes over there. It's just thunderstorms here," she says letting my sarcasm slide.

"Alright, I'm gonna try to get out of here," I respond, no sarcasm this time.

"Be safe, I love you," she says before hanging up.

Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck. I hate Avon. All the roundabouts, school zones and even trailer parks. It's the worst parts of the city, the suburbs and country all rolled into one shithole. I hate tornadoes. I've been fortunate enough to dodge them all so far but my luck might have run out today. 

I cross another roundabout looking for a dry spot to cross over. I live East of here but fuck it, I'll go North today if that means I can outrun a tornado. I push my car to it's limits. I don't think I've ever driven 80MPH before but I'm doing it today on a city street, in the rain like a mad man. I keep on the gas and only slow when I go around another roundabout. It's almost as if my car got up on two wheels as I speed around it. For a moment my heart beats fast then it's as if it stopped beating entirely and I was holding my breath. Thunder cracks in the background and I breathe again.

I finally start to slow when I don't hear the sirens anymore. I start to make my way home hoping I had passed the worst of this storm. 

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