'I'm going to be late for work if I don't catch this bus!' a young man inwardly exclaimed as he was leaving his house with a backpack containing his work uniform.
This young man's name was Lewis Byrne and his home was located on the outskirts of a town in the state of Indiana. Indiana was a state located in a region nicknamed Tornado Alley that experienced tornadoes regularly every year. Lewis had a cellar below his house that he knew he could escape to when a tornado occurred, so he felt confident in his safety.
His house was certainly not the best house among the ones nearby since it was relatively small and fairly old. However, he felt fortunate to own a house at all considering the amount of income he received monthly. He also preferred the fields and patches of woodland that surrounded his house as opposed to the busy streets in town. One downside to living in such an area was loneliness, but Lewis didn't mind much as long as he invited his friends over once in a while to play video games and have paint ball matches.
His family rarely sent financial support since they were struggling to have enough money to pay expenses as well. His mom struggled as a single parent with two jobs and was financially burdened with raising his two younger siblings who were both 8 years younger than him.
When he was a few years younger and was still living with his family, he would try to fill in the empty gap of not having a dad for his siblings. When his siblings were sad, he would make faces at them to make them laugh. When they wanted to go somewhere, he would accompany them. He also helped his mom around the house by doing chores and doing odd jobs around the neighborhood for small fees.
Throughout his high school years, he received slightly above average grades. He was not one of the popular kids in school, but he still managed to have friends. Often, he would take on the role of class clown in his classes when he was bored which would anger his teachers. But they could see that he was fairly intelligent when he actually applied himself, though he mostly didn't.
At the age of 18, He had decided to move out from his family's home to earn his own income. One of his friends from high school had a father that rented out real estate. His friend had offered a place for him to stay temporarily for reduced rent, which was how he obtained his current abode.
Within one month, he settled into his new home and had obtained a job working as a bag boy for the town's local grocery store in order to make enough money to attend a nearby university in the near future. That was the plan he had in mind, however, he struggled to earn enough money to pay for the expenses of his own home and began to resent his boss who he considered to be an idiot that should visit an anger management counselor. He also became more disconnected with his family as he neglected to visit them and instead hung out with his friends.
After jogging several kilometers, he saw the bus stop along with the parked bus. He began to sprint towards the bus. His current face could give one the impression that he was having a heart attack. He knew that if he were to miss this bus, he would have to wait 45 minutes for the next one to arrive at the stop and would ultimately be late for work.
'I have to get on this bus no matter what! I have to get on this bus no matter what!!!' he repeated to himself while sprinting and flailing his arms around madly.
Strangers walking nearby paused in their tracks to watch him run by.
"Crazy kid."
"Look at him. He must be running late for something important to be running like that."
"Maybe he's having a seizure?"
The last passenger boarded the bus and the bus driver shut the doors. Despite seeing this, he did not stop sprinting towards the bus. The passengers in the bus watched him chase the bus's tail end.
"Hey bus driver, do you think you can stop for that guy chasing us?" asked one of the passengers.
"No, tough luck for him. I'm on a tight schedule and can't afford to delay for some punk who can't even make it to the bus stop on time."
Soon Lewis was far behind the bus and the passengers could not see him anymore. They believed that it would be the last time they would see him. After turning at the next intersection and stopping at another bus stop, the bus soon passed below a bridge for pedestrians.
Suddenly, there was a loud thump on the roof of the bus. All the passengers were startled by the noise, including the bus driver.
The bus soon arrived at the next bus stop which was crowded with people.
The bus driver exited the bus and walked a few paces to see what might have landed on the roof.
'Geez, I hope it wasn't some crazy schmuck attemptin suicide, that'd ruin my day.'
Seeing nothing on the roof from where he was standing, he scratched the back of his head in confusion.
"Can we get on the bus or what?" One bystander asked impatiently.
"Yeah, yeah. Let me get back on first so I can check your tickets."
He reentered the bus and allowed the people waiting to enter the bus, after which the bus departed from the bus stop.
Lewis, lying prone on top of the roof of the bus, breathed a sigh of relief. He was clutching the rims of the bus's emergency roof hatch exit when the bus began to move.
'I made it on the bus! Luckily that dense bus driver didn't bother to climb the bus to check. Now I just have to pray for all traffic lights to be green.' he thought satisfyingly with a smile while panting heavily.
------
The bus soon arrived near his destination. Instead of waiting for the bus to park at the bus stop that he usually gets off at a block away, he decided to jump off the bus as soon as possible. Lewis knew that he would likely be injured if he were to simply jump off and land on the sidewalk. He waited until the bus neared a flower patch and then jumped off with the intention of landing in it. The soft dirt that he landed on had completely broken his fall to the extent of not having a single scratch on him.
The passengers that were looking out the window had faces filled with surprise. They were even more surprised when they noticed that it was the same person whom they had thought had not boarded the bus.
Lewis had been completely aware of how dangerous it was to jump off the bridge and the moving bus. He did not care for his recklessness at all because he loved to show off to others and feel the rush of adrenaline. He did it despite knowing that he could have died if he had jumped off the bridge at the wrong time or if he had fallen off the bus while clinging to the emergency hatch. Work was really only a secondary reason to him for doing such actions and yet he still eagerly wanted to avoid facing the consequences for being late.
Partially covered in dirt, he started running towards the grocery store which was only a bit farther from where he was.
------
At the grocery store where Lewis was employed, the employees stood in a line facing the store’s manager as he was doing roll call for this morning’s shift with a pen and clipboard. Many of the employees had sleepy expressions as they had gotten up fairly early this morning to be at work. The manager had started calling out last names in alphabetical order.
“Baker” (manager)
“Here” (employee)
“Browning” (manager)
“Here” (employee)
“Byrne” (manager)
" ..."
“Well, it seems that Byrne is late for the third ti-”
“I’m here! I’m not late!” shouted Lewis upon opening the store’s doors.
“No...you are late,”the manager replied.
“You should know my policy of punctuality just as good as everyone else here. If you are not present the first time I call you, then I will mark you as late. As I was saying earlier, this is the third time you’ve arrived late. You’re aware of my other policy right?” the manager asked sternly.
"…"
Some of the employees standing in the line started snickering under their breath.
“If an employee is late three times, then they're fired. Byrne, you’re fired.”
“Fine….but can I at least keep my job here until I find another?” pleaded Lewis with a worried tone.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Nope, you’re fired effective immediately. Now get out of my store punk,” grumbled the manager.
At this point, he felt that talking to him any further would get him nowhere, so he decided to leave the grocery store.
------
Sitting with two of his friends in the town's diner, Lewis dejectedly told them about how he was fired after being late for the third time while they were drinking beverages.
“Cheer up Lewis, it's not as if you lost the best job in the entire world. Besides, you should know better than any of us how strictly that store manager treated his employees. You’re better off looking for another job even if you did screw up by being late,” said one of his friends while sipping soda from a straw.
A waitress approached their table with a pen and notepad to take their order.
“What would you like to order sirs?”
“Are you still serving breakfast?”
“We sure are sir.”
“Then I’ll have the Early Bird combo with sausages.”
“Alright sir, and what about you?” asked the waitress as she turned to the other friend.
“Umm...I’ll have a cheeseburger with french fries on the side please.”
After the waitress was finished writing their orders on the notepad, she looked at Lewis.
“I’ll just have a refill...I’m not that hungry,” mumbled Lewis who was still feeling depressed.
The waitress took his empty glass and left their table.
Both of his friends felt concerned for Lewis's current mood.
Lewis did perceive the manager to be strict, but he knew it wasn't the reason why he was fired. He had been late two times prior and wasn't fired, so to that extent, the manager could actually be perceived as lenient despite his tone towards his employees. It was his fault in being late that made him lose his job.
“Hey, I think I know what would lift your spirits.”
------
At a large lake surrounded by patches of woodland and sandy banks, many people were enjoying themselves with recreational activities such as swimming, kayaking, and fishing. Concession stands were busily selling fast food as customers flocked to them.
A middle-aged man and woman were setting up their picnic blanket on the sandy banks under the shade provided by overarching tree branches.
“Honey, I’m going to go buy a cheeseburger for myself, do you want anything?” asked the man who was was shirtless and wearing swim trunks.
“A hot dog please,” replied the woman who was wearing a bikini.
As the man left to go buy the food, the woman applied sunblock to her body. Afterwards, she put on sunglasses and laid herself down on the picnic blanket with her head placed on her crossed arms.
After a while, she began to feel a slightly tingling sensation on her back which she began to scratch, relieving her of the itchiness she had felt.
The tingling sensation reoccurred once more on her back. She thought that maybe something might be touching her back. She lifted her head from her crossed arms and turned to see what it was.
There was nothing in the woman’s sight as she looked over her back. She guessed that it was merely the sunblock that had made her feel that way.
She turned her head back to her crossed arms only to press her face against something that felt rubbery as she did so.
Startled, she looked at what it was and saw that it was a floating one-eyed snake that she had pressed her face against.
“EEEK!!!” the woman screamed as she hurriedly jumped up and bolted in the direction of her husband who was waiting in line at a concession stand.
Many people had heard the woman scream and some had even thought she was being attacked which caused them to go see what happened where she was resting.
------
Up in a tree near where the woman had been resting, Lewis and his two friends were struggling to suppress the urge to laugh at the scene that unfolded as a result of their prank.
Lewis and his friends had managed to pull off the prank successfully by using a fishing rod, nearly invisible fishing line, and a rubber one-eyed snake.
They descended down the tree while still feeling giddy with laughter at just recalling how the woman reacted to the floating one-eyed snake.
“So Lewis, I bet you don’t feel depressed over losing your bagging job anymore. Am I right?” asked one of his friends.
“Yeah, you were right in suggesting that doing a prank was exactly what I needed to get over it," replied Lewis with a smirk on his face.
He felt the nostalgia of his childhood experiences after doing this prank. He and his friends had often pulled pranks all the time when they were younger. However, nowadays they hardly ever did them as they were now older.
For the rest of the day, Lewis and his friends played volleyball and also went swimming in the lake.
When the sun was starting to set, they decided to head back to town where they said their goodbyes and parted ways.
------
By the time Lewis had reached his house that evening, it was nightfall and the sky seemed to be covered completely with dark clouds while there was also a slight breeze in the air.
‘Looks like there will be rain later on tonight. I'd better check that all the windows are shut.'
He entered his house, shut his open windows, and went to his bathroom upstairs to take a hot shower.
After showering, he changed into his bed clothes and sat on his bed with his back supported by the backboard behind his bed. He then turned the TV in his room on and turned the lights off.
While watching the TV, he pondered how and where he should begin looking for another job tomorrow.
Lewis had soon fallen asleep while the TV was still on.
A while later, the TV was still showing the channel he had been watching until the screen suddenly turned gray. Then a message was displayed on the TV in white font:
“EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM
National Weather Service
Issued a
Tornado Warning”
Exhausted from the day’s events, he continued to sleep comfortably despite how the TV was also making beeping sounds while displaying the message.
The message soon stopped and the TV resumed displaying the channel it was initially on.
------
Awoken from the howling wind and thunder outside, Lewis got out of bed and went to the window as he was curious to see how severe of a storm it was outside.
The landscape was pitch black and he could not see anything outside until a flash of lightning brightened up the landscape for one second.
Within that one second, what he had seen instantly made his face’s complexion turn pale.
A giant black tornado that was quite possibly an F-5 class (261-318 mph wind) was approaching his house.
His house started to shake violently as the wind started to pound against the walls like fists.
In a panicked frenzy, he was trying to figure out if he could make it in time to the cellar below his house, but believed it was already too late. One side of his house was instantly torn off by the force of the wind.
He dashed for the door knob of the door to his room. By the time he grabbed ahold of the door knob, his body became weightless as the tornado’s pull became stronger and stronger. His ears popped as a result of the decreased air pressure.
Terror-stricken, he desperately clung to the door knob with all his might as he was being pulled by the tornado.
'I don't want to die yet, not like this!’ he cried inwardly.
At this moment, his life flashed before his eyes. He thought about the good times and the bad times he had throughout his life. He also thought about his family, his friends, and even his ex-colleagues at the local store.
His grip around the doorknob loosened as the tornado’s pull became too strong to bear.
Suddenly, the hinges that held the door in place had broken off and Lewis was sucked into the tornado.
He rose higher and higher into the air as the vortex swirled him around like a rag doll while being pelted by flying debris.
“Even if I die. I-I have no regrets,” he affirmed to himself.
Feeling severe pain all around his body and having difficulty breathing, he soon lost consciousness.