Our ~Not-So-Great~ Escape

 “MOM!” I shout, annoyed. “Zack’s at it again!” Mom sighs, and comes up the stairs.

“What now?” She asks. I turn around, point at Zack, glaring daggers at him. I could feel my crystal blue eyes shining. Mom tosses her short blonde hair. “He stole MY journal!” I stomp, furiously shouting. Zack grins mischievously. “Ooh, now I can read all your secrets!” He says, in his usual stupid way. I look at Mom, who rolls her eyes, while Zack’s.. READING MY JOURNAL OUT LOUD?!? “‘Jack’s super annoying. He always follows us around; Claire’s sick of him. She actually PUSHED him off the monkey bars yesterday! His face!!!! LOL!!’” Zack reads. He looks befuddled. “These aren’t secrets! It’s just JUNK!” He says, flipping through the pages, disgusted. He throws it away, making barfing sounds. I catch it just in time. “Well, I have OTHER things to do.” Zack says, sassily. Mom and I roll our eyes.

I stare into space, bored. My pastel blue walls started to get boring to look at. BEEP! My iPad! I check for any specific notifications. Ooh! A text from Amelia!

What?! She says, ‘Hey! Mom closed down her restaurant! Look outside 😉!’ And I reply with, ‘What? Really?’ 

I fiercely spin to look out my window.

“MOM! MOM!” I shout. I hear Mom slowly coming up the stairs. She stops at my door, laundry basket in her hand, a FULL one. She looks SERIOUSLY worn-out. “Honey,” she sighs. “it’s not the end of the world if Zack knows who your secret crush is.” I look at her, confused and disgusted, which makes me stick out my tongue. “No, no, no! It’s about your—’ RUMBLE! “TORNADO!”Mom screams. My eyes widen with panic and fear.

“ZACK! Mom, where’s Zack?” I shout. Mom’s eyebrows furrow. “He’s not with you?!” She shouts back. “PHILIP?!?” I run up the stairs. No, BOLT. I’ve never run that fast. (Or at ALL.)

“ZACK?!” The tornado was coming closer. I kicked his door down (not LITERALLY). I was almost in tears. I saw him, under his desk, crying. I grabbed his backpack and took him by the arm, bolting down the stairs. “ZACK! CHRISTINA! QUICK! GET IN THE CAR!!” Mom yells. We hurry into the car. Mom drives, pasting the speed limits, ignoring the traffic lights. But everyone ELSE was doing that, so… Suddenly, a blood-curdling thought popped into my mind. “Where are we going?” I ask. Dad looks at me, half-apologetically, half-edgy..ly. “We-we don’t know. Just away from this tornado. Away from here.” He smiles. I look back, and see the tornado smashing our home to pieces. I’m crying, because I can’t hold it in. It’s too much. I look out the window, gazing at the cloudy, tornado-y sky. Mom slows down the car. My head moves so fast you could’ve thought my head was Flash.

“Is there the police telling us to pull over? Mom?” I question. Mom shakes her head. “Are we there yet?” Zack asks, looking at the bumpy, black road. “Where is ‘there?’” I ask. Mom lowers her head. I sigh. It starts to rain. Not soft, soothing rain. Hard, harmful.. HAIL. And even worse: rush. Hour. Traffic!!?!??! We can’t go ANYWHERE!!! So, Mom goes through one of her ‘shortcuts’. Which leads to the beach. Just my luck. *sigh* 

We rent a (not too) small boat and some life vests. We get our stuff from the car and put it in the ‘extra storage’ part, and some other stuff with us, where the driving part is, and fortunately for us, it’s indoors! Mom relaxed while Dad took the wheel. It was quite soothing, actually. We all sat down, relaxed but still upset and anxious. Where would we go? Would we ever go back to our home? Was it even still our home? No one could answer these questions. They … were just for US to find out. 

Around 1pm, we were as hungry as… hungry wolves. I mean it! I felt like I haven’t eaten in weeks. Months, even. Mom must’ve noticed. Zack and I weren’t exactly the best at hiding our feelings. “Here are some snacks,” Mom smiles, handing us 2 juices, apple and mango, some yummy chips, and 2 delectable, homemade grilled cheese sandwiches! Instead, we drank water and ate some nuts. And some salad. Who knew how long our journey was? Well, it was a migration, I guess. A forced one. Where we had to leave our only home. Where would we go? Where? I felt like crying but I knew I couldn’t bring everyone down and make them cry too. So I held them in. We were full now, at least. Thump. Huh? Must be a fish or something. Thump. Ugh, that’s irritating! “Do you guys hear a—” Mom starts, but gets interrupted by a THUMP! OK, that’s no fish. Whale? No, it would’ve made a louder noise. Dolphin, maybe? Hmm. Shark? Oh no. Dad and Zack nod at Mom. I nod too, chewing my lip. All of a sudden, a gargantuan, no, Brobdingnagian fin popped up. “That’s no dolphin,” Dad whispers. 

“Do. Not. Move.” Mom whispers back. Dad slowly stops the boat. “Let’s hope we’re not going to be shark food.” I whisper, and I hope no one heard me…

I go out, not knowing whether it’s still there or not. And I slip. I think the sharks have spotted me…

I’m drowning! I can’t swim in deep waters! Mom helps me back up while Dad tries to get us away from them by moving the boat. Which makes me stagger backwards. One of the sharks opens its mouth and snaps it closed. Thank God I managed to get out of there! Dad makes the boat swift so Mom and I go back in. 

After a couple minutes, the sun shines brightly. Sort of like a diamond.

But, unfortunately, the rest of our journey is just stormy seas. Ugh. I mean, like, I’m glad we’re dry and (kind of) safe, but I just wish we were home. Like, HOME home.

THE BOAR IS SINKING!!! ABORT! ABORT!

I wake up. Phew. Just a night— “IT IS?!?!?” Zack shouts. I get up. “WHAT?!?” I scream. “Quick, get your life vests!” Dad shouts. And I don’t worry, because I’m very calm under pressure 🙂 

“AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!” I yell from the top of my lungs. Yes, very calm. 

We swiftly swim away. I look back at our (rented) boat. The sharks look at it too. Like we’re still there. They just leave it, when they find out no one’s there. Wait, no they don’t. They munch and crunch it down to fun-size (which is a really small size if you ask me). I just lay there, looking horrified. “Christi, let’s go!” Mom says, nodding her head to where Zack and Dad were. 

After *so much* swimming, we stop, and we’re on an island! Well, a country – that wasn’t an island, actually – and it seemed like we were in… “Hello, there! Welcome to CANADA!” Says a friendly-looking woman. I knew it! Wait. Canada? THAT far?!? I’m shocked, star struck, SPEECHLESS! Mom was, too. *Well, not speechless* “Excuse me? Could you please repeat that?” Mom inquires, dumbstruck. “Canada! Welcome!” The woman repeats. Mom’s eyes are SO WIDE that they look like they’re about to POP! out. 

“Hello!” Dad says, shaking the woman’s hand. The woman smiles warmly, and leads the way! “Come, come!” She says, when she realizes that we’re not following her. Zack’s not fazed, though. “Does it rain and snow and is there hail and sunshine and do you have water and food and a house and what are you eating tonight?” He asks quickly, smiling. I feel bad if you have a 7 year old brother too. The woman smiles back. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, and whatever we have!” She says. Whoa. How’d she catch all that? “I’m Ann,” She says, still smiling. “I live here, and I have 2 daughters and my husband, Matthew.” I smiles back, and so does Mom and Dad. But Zack frowns. “Do you have any sons?” He asks. Typical. I roll my eyes and sigh. Ann frowns too. “No, sorry.” She whispers. 

We soon arrive. “Wow, that’s a gorgeous house.” Mom exclaims, gazing at Ann’s house, bedazzled. Ann smiles merrily. “Um, did you lose your house?” She asks. Mom nods, slowly. Ann smiles sympathetically. “A tornado broke it.” Zack says. “Hey, how old are your daughters?” See? Totally NOT fazed. 

Ann brings us in, to where Matthew is (a redhead with hazel brown eyes). “Hi, I’m Matthew.” He smiles, shaking our hands. “Rosie! Ivy!” He says. Two redheads (well, orangeheads) girls come down a flight of Brobdingnagian flight of stairs. They have sky blue eyes (baby blue) and glossy orange hair tied back in ponytails. For me, they look about.. mm, say, 7 (Rosie) and 10 (Ivy). They look as friendly-looking as their Mom! *That’s very friendly-looking*

Ann – who has toffee hair and lime green eyes – is SUPER NICE! She lets us live there, eat, bathe, sleep, you name it! 

We still live there, with them. Mom has opened up a restaurant nearby, with Ann’s help. She’s making big bucks! And now we live an awesome life. Me and Zack still go to school, just in Canada, and I still keep in touch with my friends who are still in London. And plus, I made new friends! So did Zack! He and Rosie get along REALLY well, and Ivy and I are best friends! 

But, tonight, we were all in for a surprise…