I wake up and yawn. I stretch. Great, another school day. I pull myself out of bed and walk to my closet. Pink, pink, pink, pink, and more pink. Did I not have anything that wasn't pink? Oh, I am so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Fay Soto. I'm 15 years old. I live in the small town of Haywood, Kansas. You've probably never heard of it. Anyway, I have to get dressed for school. I flip through my shirts. I gasp. A lovely blue shirt! I throw it over me. I dig around for a matching skirt. I find one in a nice black that matches my shirt. After I put my skirt on I put on my socks and shoes. I run to the bathroom. I straighten my hair and I put on my makeup. Ooh, Melody will think I'm so cute! Melody is my bestest friend in the whole world.

    "Fay, hurry up," I hear Mom call from down stairs, "You don't want to miss the bus." I hurry out of the bathroom and back to my room. I hastily grab all of my school work and I throw it all into my bag. I run out of my room and down the stairs. I toss my bag onto the couch and I run into the kitchen for breakfast. I pour me a bowl of cereal and milk and I wolf it down. The bus will be here soon. I hear the TV in the living room.

    "And a look at today's weather. It should be a nice and beautiful day today with a high of 74 degrees with a nice breeze out of the south at about 5 to 10 miles per hour..." Yeah yeah, just say it's a good day. After I'm done with breakfast, I hurry out the door.

    "Bye, Mom!" I say into the house. I run to the end of the driveway just as I see the bus come over the hill. It stops and I get on. I walk down the aisle and I sit down in the back with Melody.

    "Hey," she says.

    "Hey," I say, "You ready for school?"

    "Nope." I laugh. After we pick up some more kids, we finally arrive at the school. I walk in and I head straight to my first class of the day. Math. Ugh, I hate math. The reason why I come early is so I can get it over with. After math, or Geometry, to be specific, I have English class. We're reading Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Oh, how I love this book, dying for the man you love, (sigh) how romantic! I hope I get a prince like that. Anyway, back to reality, cuz face it, nobody wants me. (sigh) After English, I have lunch. After lunch, which I actually didn't bother with, because we had some burrito thing, I have History class.

    "Now in the 17th century," Mr. Holt lectured, "the Spaniards went to-" he was interrupted by a sound that has always struck fear in my heart. The droning of the towns tornado siren. I look out the window, the sky is black and dark. I thought today was going to be a good day. Then, another fear struck me. This school doesn't have a basement. My house does, though. I start to hyperventilate. Luckily, Melody is here with me.

    "Fay, calm down," she says over the sound of students walking into the hallway. They have us in the hallway.

    "Cover your heads!" I hear a teacher say. Melody yanks me into the hallway and we sit down outside the door. She covers us with her jacket. I hear a muffled crash.

    "What was that?!" a teacher yells.

    "A window broke!" another says. Then we hear the pelting noise on the roof. Hail. I scream in fear. Melody hugs me beneath her jacket.

    "Fay, we'll be fine!" she says. Then, as I remember, everyone who's been in one describes it the same way: it sounds like a freight train going by... right on top of you. And now, I'm the one who's hearing that sound. A tornado. I hear more crashes and bangs. Kids are screaming. Teachers are screaming. I'm screaming. Melody is screaming. Haywood is screaming. I feel the wind and suddenly, Melody's jacket is thrown away. We hug each other for dear life. That's when the loudest noise of all came into my ears. The sound of the F-5, ripping through Haywood High. Then, it all stopped.

    I wake up. I'm laying in the ruins of Haywood High school. I look around. People are franticly searching through the debris of what used to be classrooms. I look around some more. I see rescue services working as hard as they can. I see a piece of a broken mirror. I look at myself. I have a bruise on my leg and a bleeding cut on my cheek. But for some reason, I don't feel any pain. I walk up to a rescue officer.

    "Excuse me," I say to him. He ignores me. "Hey!" I yell at him. He still doesn't see me. But, why doesn't he? I see some magenta fabric fly by in the breeze. I recognize it as part of Melody's jacket. I follow the ruined fabric through the breeze, around rubble until it falls to the ground... by my mother. "Mom?" I ask. She's crying on the ground. I walk up to her. "Mom?" I put my hand on her shoulder. I look at what she's looking at. I gasp and my heart sinks. I'm looking at myself. My body. It has a bruise on its leg, and a cut on its cheek. "Mom?" I say again, this time crying. "MOM!" I fall to my knees, crying over my own body. I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up. It's a man in a white robe. he has a bit of a beard, his eyes, shining with light. I recognize who he his. I know who he is. I stand up and I face him. "Take me back," I tell him. At first he does nothing, and that just makes me even more angry. I cry angry tears now. "Take me back!" I yell at him. This time he shakes his head. He gives me this look. Then, I have to face facts. He takes my hand, and we walk toward this light that I do not remember seeing.