No Place Like Home

by Erik Schubach

stopped shaking, and everyone was scrambling to me and Miss Sommers, we were tangled up in each other. I was panting and panicking, but I seemed to be ok.

  One student, Darrin, was running down the stairs, but I'm pretty sure it was a self-preservation thing, and he wasn't going for help.

  Of course, we never got to listen to the lecture as it was canceled, even though I didn't seem to be hurt in any way. Though my clothes were singed. Miss Sommers had me stay put on the stairs. “We're not moving you until we know you are ok.” I get that it was probably a liability thing, not concern for someone who had just been hit by green lightning. It was all so surreal.

  Both Toto and Molly kept poking me later that night when I got home to the dorm where

  Antoinette showed up for another tutoring session... and pizza. I had finally burst out, “Whaaaat!?”

  They chuckled, and Toto shrugged. “Just checking to be sure you aren't going to fall over. It isn't every day you live through a quake and lightning.”

  I blushed. “Not lightning. It was... I don't know like static or something. The people at the capitol are all up in arms, the Oz manuscript was charred to ash.”

  Molly took the piece of pizza off my paper plate and started munching on it. “Hey, that was the last piece!”

  She grinned. “And I thank you ever so much for protecting it for me, so it came to no harm.”

  I growled, “Witch.”

  She countered with a grin. “Bitch.”

  Toto was chuckling at us when she said, “Girls, I'm here to get some learnin' in my noggin or I'm going to fail English Composition... again.”

  My smile faded. If that happened, she would be booted from the cheer squad. And for some unfathomable reason, she really loved it. I didn't like her frown, I liked her smile. I liked her.

  Probably more than I should have for friends.

  I mean you're not supposed to imagine yourself snuggling sensually with your friends and inhaling their scent as you read a book together in front of a fire... are you? But if you are, then I had a perfectly normal friendship with the owner of those crystal blue...

  “Earth to Dot. Come in Dot.” Molly had a mischievous grin as she pulled me out of my fantasies again as she chomped my pizza slice, handing me the crust. “You were in dreamland again.” She flicked her eyes from me to Toto in prompt.

  I felt my cheeks burning and shook my head once. She has been on my case to tell Antoinette I had a crush on her. Especially since Toto's teasing had been turning almost flirty lately. I knew I was misreading the cues and there was no way was I going to blow our friendship.

  Toni paused as she reached for her textbook as I nibbled on the crust of my purloined pizza slice.

  “What's goin' on girls?”

  Then I almost died on the spot, wishing the green lightning had just killed me then when Molly shrugged and said as she moved to her laptop to surf the web, “Nothing, Dotty is just scared to tell you she likes you.”

  My lower register voice kicked up three octaves, and I squeaked out in mortification, “Molly!”

  But instead of every possible response to that, Antoinette just grinned almost smugly and scooted over on the bed closer to me, so our legs were touching as she said playfully with a lilt in her tone, “Is that so?”

  She just ignored the fact that I was dead. I had died from embarrassment right there. No such luck.

  My whole body was on fire from my head to toe blush as she opened her textbook and placed it across both our laps.

  I didn't know if she were teasing, or you know, teasing... when she shrugged and said with humor,

  “Eh... I could do worse. Besides, I love that brain of yours.” And she kissed the top of my head and just started into the lessons she was having problems with, “So I still don't get the difference between passive voice and active voice. Why does it matter?”

  I glared at Molly who looked back at me with a wide smile on her face. What the hell was she thinking? And I didn't know how to take Toni's reaction. I was even more confused than I had been earlier, and oh my god our legs were touching!

  I realized that breathing could be a beneficial thing just then, so I decided to take up the habit again.

  I rasped out, “Well when you are using active voice, the subject of a sentence is performing...”

  It was a good night, the last, perfect night of my life before Oz. Toni was extra flirty as we studied, and she was always making physical and eye contact with me. It made me feel like it was almost possible someone like her would be interested in a plain Jane like me.

  Molly gave us a smile when she left the room to, “I left my fish in a dixie cup in the infirmary, be back later.”

  Toto asked after she left? “She has a fish?”

  I shook my head. “No, and the infirmary closed at six.”

  Toni smiled at the door then me. “Oh really?”

  God, I loved Molls. Antoinette took the opportunity to give me my first kiss that night, and I was hers forever.

  But it was the only kiss I got. I couldn't believe how such a gentle, tender kiss could build up such a dam of heat and passion that was about to burst. But we both jumped, startled by the sudden frantic

  knocking at the door. “Dorothy, let me in! We have to go. You've unlocked the doorway. If we don't go now, it may get impatient and come for you.”

  God damned Baum! Toto had kissed me, of her own volition and it wasn't one of my late night fantasies. Then the lunatic shows up and ruins it all! Wait, how had he gotten into the dorm?

  I looked longingly at Toni then stood up and stomped to the door, yanking it open, “Baum! How did you get in here? For the last time, I'm sick of the joke. You've gone too far this time. I am never going anywhere with you so just drop it!”

  Toto stepped up beside me. “Is there a problem here?”

  Frank looked at the two of us, hesitated, then his cheeks reddened, and he took the silly top hat he was wearing. Who the hell wears a top hat? “Oh, my. Bad timing on my part. Please accept my sincerest apologies ladies.”

  Then the man turned to leave, just like that. And he whispered to me, pretending to be discreet, even though it was plain for her to hear, “I'll find you later. But we really must go soon, or the doorway may get impatient. Nobody wants a persnickety doorway getting impatient, bad things can happen.”

  Toto moved in front of me and asked, sounding hard and protective, “Is that a threat, mister? Do we need to call campus police?”

  He shook his head emphatically. “No, no threat. I'll take my leave. Good evening, ladies.”

  Toni and I shared a look, and when we looked back where Baum had been, we were both startled to find the man was nowhere to be seen.

  We looked both ways in the corridor then pulled back into the room and closed the door. I shrugged, and she asked, “So that's the man stalking you, claiming to be Frank Baum?”

  I nodded, feeling sheepish, “Yeah, a high school prank gone way too far.”

  She had me tell her everything about the man and the odd things he says. I'm happy to say that I somehow wound up falling asleep in her lap that night as we talked far past curfew. I woke up with my head on her lap and her reading a book on my pink uni-pad.

  Molly looking down from my upper bunk at us. “Good, you're awake. Get out of my bed.” She looked so very proud of herself. I realized that Antoinette was holding one of my hands with her free hand, our fingers laced.

  I mouthed to my overly perky roommate, “Thank you.”

  She just inclined her head then hopped down to the floor to shoo us off her bed.

  I found myself in the almost empty bleachers at yet another football game that night for some reason. Molls said it was because the string Toto led me around on was pretty short. Brat. But she

  was right. I craved that kiss, it felt as if I had finally connected with someone on both an emotional and physical level for the first time in my life and I wanted more. More of that sharp wit and captivating smile.

  Toto
even gave me a quick peck on the lips when she took off from our dorm room and said she'd see me at the game. Were we... something? Like, I don't know... dare to dream, courting? She was all flirt and seduction that morning before she had gone and it left me with a need to relieve myself of the sexual tension that had suddenly built between us. Damn, there was no privacy in a dorm with a roommate, and only a shared bathroom down the hall with the showers, I'd get no relief, and it was beautiful torture.

  I had to chuckle when Molly pouted after I got my kiss, Toto grinned at her and gave her a peck on the cheek. Molls grinned at that and went about her morning routine.

  So there I was in the bleachers, working on my coursework as our team got slaughtered by the Topeka Community College team. My attention was split between my papers and the overly cute bulldog cheering the team on, doing backflips and somersaults with the other two cheerleaders of the squad. I knew all the sexy that that mascot uniform contained inside.

  My heart would beat faster every time the bulldog would wave up at Molly and me up in the corner of the bleachers or blow me a kiss.

  The score was 52-3 in the fourth quarter, and Molly was yelling out and pointing in an animated manner to our guys, “Who's team are you on? Our goal is that way you lumbering dorks!”

  Oh yeah, she had team spirit.

  That's when the tornado sirens started wailing.

  Everyone's heads turned to the cloudy night sky. And even in the darkness beyond the floodlights of the field, we could see the familiar ominous funnel shape stretching down from the sky off in the distance. Like a black specter that promised nothing but mindless destruction, it was heading our way, churning in the odd silence that always preceded them until they got close enough for the chaos around them to deafen.

  Chapter 7 – Oz

  After the moment of recognition seeped into the collective minds of those around us, people started getting up and headed quickly toward the campus, and the emergency shelters in the basements there.

  That same familiar fear on their faces that I was sure was on mine.

  It took me a little longer to start moving. My blood had turned instantly to ice, my heart was in a vice, and there was a huge pressure on my chest. I had always feared tornadoes as a little girl, and they turned into something that was simply terrifying after one took my parents from me.

  It took Molly touching my arm and looking into my eyes with concern painting her expression to break my momentary paralysis. I exhaled a shaky breath, and my eyes automatically started sweeping the area to find Antoinette. She was there, down on the field with the coach, directing people toward the buildings a hundred yards away.

  That's when I finally went into motion. As one, Molls and I started toward the field instead of fleeing immediately to safety. Toni was down there, doing the right thing, and we were going to help.

  She was there in that silly dog suit, calmly directing spectators to shelter as the first howls of the chaotic winds of the funnel cloud reached us. Everyone turned to glance at the force of nature which seemed to be bearing down straight for the college, tearing a dilapidated barn into splinters in agriculture department's cornfield less than a quarter mile away.

  We had to shout to hear each other by the time we reached Toni. Molly called out, “It's huge!” It was, the base of the funnel had to have been over a mile wide! It devastated the cornfield and threw around the farm equipment which the students trained on like toys.

  Toto took the dog head off and tucked it under an arm and yelled, “Come on, we've got to get inside!”

  The coach sprinted off, scooping up the last person hobbling down from the bleachers, and headed toward the college buildings, leaving the girl's crutches behind.

  We started to follow, grabbing hands as the winds picked up to a frightening level. I could feel the tornado at our backs and knew if I looked behind us to see how close it was, I'd probably seized up in terror again.

  It was something primal that drove us, an ancient fear that triggered the fight or flight reflex, and this was an enemy we couldn't fight. I was nothing but a being of adrenaline and fear as we sprinted, the hair on my arms standing on end in response to the feeling of the funnel looming at our backs.

  One of the cheap folding chairs from the sidelines which the team sat on, came tumbling through the air in a gust of that whipping wind and flew into my side. The impact sent pain jolting down my

  arm and back, and it sent me tumbling to the ground, losing my grip on Antoinette's hand.

  A gust of wind had me tumbling along the field until I spread my arms and legs wide, remembering all the emergency tornado training from grade school. It stopped my tumbling and then I curled into a ball to give less surface area for the winds to push me around with.

  Then the girls were there, running past, their hands reaching toward me. I grasped them both in a white-knuckled grip, and they yanked me to my feet as they passed by, and we were running again.

  We looked back, and my eyes widened, the leading edge of wind and debris of the funnel was already tearing apart the bleachers at the far end of the field, and the monster was gaining speed.

  Like a bad horror movie, I believed my fall had cost us our lives, there was no way we could outrun the thing. But Molly was yelling into our faces as we ran, “Over here!”

  We turned with her as she dragged us in a chain. She was towing us to the equipment storage and field maintenance building on the edge of the field! It was a big, metal sided pole building, maybe forty feet square, and twenty feet tall. It wasn't ideal, but it had to have tornado anchoring; though I doubted it would be able to withstand what was coming. The big city hadn't been terrorized by a tornado this size since the big one in '66, and they weren't as prepared as we were in Sylvia.

  My mind was threatening to shut down, urging me to curl up into a fetal position and wish the world away. I was involuntarily replaying the visit from the sheriff and my aunt and uncle. A cyclone just like this had taken my family from me. Now it was finally coming for me, to finish the job it had started years ago.

  We could barely keep our footing in the wind, and we were being hit by all sorts of debris. Even the little splinters and pebbles being thrown around felt like bee stings all over my body. The floodlights were being torn from their poles in great explosions of sparks, robbing us of what little light we had. The maintenance building was only a dark shadow in the chaos. A dim bulb burning above the side door was a flickering beacon to us, our only hope of salvation.

  Molly let go of us as we reached the structure, and flung the door inwards and then turned back to us and her eyes widened in disbelief and terror. She grabbed our hands and yanked us past her. I craned my head back as we tumbled inside and onto the hard packed gravel floor, only to see Molls swallowed by the wind and debris that hit the building like a runaway freight train, and – she was gone...

  I cried out her name, not hearing my voice over the cacophony of sound assaulting us, and the vacuum caused by the winds sweeping past the door slammed it closed, causing the structure to shudder. I was in too much shock to even scream. We just stared at the door as my ears threatened to burst from the sound of the wind howling beyond it, the debris hitting the building, and the creaking

  and shuddering of the metal building as the full force of the tornado slammed into it.

  I found myself scrambling to my feet, to run to the door. The beast had taken our friend! I was frantic. Toto had to tackle me as I was reaching for the door lever. She was yelling in my ear, and I could barely hear her voice over the ringing deluge of sound beating on the building like a steel drum,

  “Dot, stop! She's gone!”

  My vision was blurred by the tears streaming down my cheeks, she was pulling me to her as she untangled us from the ground. And we sat there, holding each other as we cried.

  Molls...

  Then we both scrambled to the doorway of the little office off to the side of the door when the whole structure shuddered and tipped slightly,
causing the wind to howl under the far end. We sat in the doorway, our backs against the jam. It was the safest place to be in a structure if you were caught in a cyclone. But we knew nothing would save us as the building groaned and moaned in protest over the chaos around us, then tilted up at a fifteen-degree angle.

  We tumbled into the office, which was the only part of the building with a wood floor, the door slammed behind us as we slid into the desk which was already against the wall.

  The entire structure shuddered again, and I looked at Toni. We locked eyes as I asked,

  “Antoinette?” Just as a terrible shuddering accompanied the sound of breaking timbers and tearing metal as the building seemed to surge into the air, throwing us violently against a wall as we started spinning like a top. The last thing we did before losing consciousness was to reach out to each other and lace our fingers. At least I was going to die with someone I was pretty sure I was starting to fall in love with.

  # # #

  It was the sound of – monkeys? Which woke us. We both were moaning as we slowly pulled ourselves to a sitting position. We... weren't on the floor, and the world seemed to be tipped at a forty-five-degree angle. I realized we were sitting on the wall. The maintenance building was sitting at an angle.

  Toto was checking me over for injuries before I could even speak. I gave her a sad smile, we were alive, we survived – Molly hadn't. How could she be such a big part of my new life at college one moment and just be gone the next? It was like my parents all over again, and it physically hurt my heart, like my chest had been crushed. Tornados seemed to be my personal boogyman.

  I hissed when she touched my back and shoulder where the chair had struck. I was sure it was heavily bruised.

  I pulled the strap of my bag over my head and off my shoulder, it felt like it was cutting into my skin. Then I asked, “Are you ok, Toto?” I reached out to brush some splinters of wood from some matted hair stuck to a bloody cut on her cheek.

  She just nodded as we both paused in our examinations of each other at the sound of fingernails being dragged down metal as something slid down the metal siding, accompanied by the sounds of monkey screeches. Had the Topeka Zoo been hit too? Were the animals loose?