Storm

Storm


Panic. Confusion. Fear. These were a few of the emotions racing through my mind during a sudden emergency procedure in my school in Dubai. The teachers who usually guided us to our classes just herded everyone out of the building. As an eight year old, I was unaccustomed to being alone. Neither was I comfortable being in the center of a chaotic scene involving the entire school. Students of all ages darted in all directions and sheets of paper flew around. There was no supervision since there was no sign of any teachers or staff. Indeed, this was pandemonium. That’s just when the clouds appeared and the wind picked up.

Breathing heavily and visibly worried, I walked out into the open, trying not to become a victim to a stampede of children. I overheard a conversation between a few prefects who believed a tornado was heading our way. Being a resident of Dubai for all my life, I knew that tornadoes never occurred around there. My thoughts abruptly changed after hearing yells such as “Tornado!”, “There’s a major storm coming!”, and just to make things worse, “We’re all gonna die!”. I felt a lump grow in my throat and a chill ran down my spine.

I frantically tried to find some of my friends or people I that I knew. The wind was blowing much faster and the trees struggled to hold on to their roots. Lightning illuminated the sky, and heavy rain was imminent. Fortunately, I saw a group of people from one of my classes and rushed to join them. I was getting scared of the booming thunder and desperately wanted to seek shelter. Finally, one of the prefects directed us to the auditorium and all two thousand of us were crammed into a small area.

We stayed inside for three hours and I just wanted to go home. I was tired and hungry, and wanted this all to end. Our principal, along with a few of the teachers who “disappeared” earlier, decided to make their appearances during the end of this madness.

They announced, to our relief, that the tornado was no longer a threat, and that no one was going to die. Our parents were also alerted to the situation, and they would shortly arrive to pick us up. I breathed a deep sigh of relief and eagerly waited for my mother to come.