As we walked out the door, my little sister asked me where we were going. I never thought we would be standing where we are right now.
My name is Aaron Simonsen. I am 15 years old. My six-year-old sister, Emily, and I are leaving the city. We are never going back. The parents of the city are going missing left and right and nobody knows why.
We started out on the dry, flat, red Tulsa road, our bags full of supplies we would need for the escape.

“Aaron, I’m thirsty!” Emily whined. “Emily you have to wait, we only have two bottles of water and we need to save it for later.” I said. We had walked for what seemed like forever. I look down at my watch to reveal that we have walked for only forty five minutes.
“Emily, here.” I told her as I gave her the water. “Three sips only.” She did as I told her. What have I done, I thought to myself. The bad thoughts came to mind again- we could die. My little sister could die, I thought. I did my best to push those thoughts away and just walk.
It had been two hours now. “Are we there yet?” Emily asked. “Almost.” I responded. In reality I don’t even know where we are going.
“I’m tired!” Emily cried. “Ok lets be done for the night.” I said while I pulled out the blanket from my bag.
I woke up to Emily crying. “Emily, what’s wrong?” I asked her. “I want Mommy!” She said between sobs. I did not know how to respond. “Me too, Em. We will find her and Dad.” I said wishing it was true.
The next morning, it was storming. Just great, I thought to myself. Luckily, I was prepared for this- I brought ponchos. The one I gave Emily was far too big on her, she kept tripping over it. Living in Oklahoma, we are used to storms.
It was hailing now. Chunks of ice hit the ground with strong force. I didn’t know where we could go to be safe from it. We found a spot under a tree that protected us from the hail. “I’m scared!” Emily said with a terrified look in her eyes. “We will be fine, it is just a storm.” I told her.
The sky turned a strange green color. I knew what this meant. Tornadoes. I had to think back to fifth grade when they told us what to do in the case of a tornado. They forgot to tell us the part when you are running away from your town with your little sister and stuck outside with nowhere to go. Emily was too young to know what was happening and I wanted to keep it that way. My dad always said if you are in your car that you should find an overpass or get in a ditch.
Emily and I huddled together in the ditch while I saw the funnel cloud brewing in the distance. I tried my hardest to stay calm so Emily would do the same.
There was debris flying around everywhere. It sounded like a train was whizzing past us. A piece of wood came flying at us. I heard Emily scream. I look at her and see blood running down her face. Crap, I think to myself. I go into panic mode, taking off my jacket and wrapping it around her head. I try to console her but the crying doesn’t stop. I myself want to cry, this could not get any worse.


When the tornado vanishes, every single tree is collapsed. “Come on, Emily we need to keep moving.” I told her. “But I’m tired!” She said. Emily begrudgingly gets up and starts walking again. “How’s your head?” I asked her. “Hurts.” She said. It wasn’t bleeding now which was good.
“Emily, get up we need to walk!” I yelled back at her. I look back at her to find that she is unconscious. “Emily! Emily wake up!” I yelled at her. I went over to her, shaking her arm. She was breathing, thank goodness. I picked her up and carried her. I wish my parents were here, they would know what to do.
I saw a man walking in the distance. “Help! We need help!” I screamed at him. He came running over. “What happened to your sister’s head?” He asked. “In the storm, she got hit by a piece of wood.” I responded.
“What brings you out here in the middle of nowhere?” He asked. “We are running away from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where our parents went missing. How about you?” I said. “Oh same, I don’t really want to go missing very badly.” He said with a chuckle. I began to cry. “Sorry, I don’t usually cry, I can be a little weird. He responded, “Yes me too, I am a little weird. I seem to have this urge to kidnap parents. Would you like to see yours?”