Stormy's POV:

The storm raged outside, the thunder rolling and vibrating the ground followed sharp streaks of lightning, waking me up from what had been a restless sleep. The wind howled, making the brick house seem like it was about to fly from its foundation. Rain came down in sheets, pouring so hard at times that you couldn't see out of the windows. The fact that it was the dead of night only made my anxiety about the storm raging outside even worse. I usually made out okay during the daytime if a storm rolled in, but at night, it was like my worst fears and the one memory I wished I could say had all be a bad dream came crashing back to me like an angry wave crashing onto the shore.

Ever since I was a child, I had always feared thunderstorms that came at night, especially those that came in the spring, bringing with them tornados and hail the size of baseballs. It would be easy to blame my fear of thunderstorms and tornadoes on watching Twister at a young age, but that wasn't why I feared them. Not when you had your own story to tell. Not when you could have very easily been the little girl in the movie who watched the father get sucked from the underground shelter because he was trying to keep the storm that was raging outside, on the outside.

Only we had not been in an underground shelter since those were rare in Eastern North Carolina. I'll never forget that day for as long as I live, mostly because that day was the day that I learned what it meant to lose someone that you loved. That was the day that not only did my life change, but so did so many others'.

The date was April 16, 1993, and it had started out just like any other day. Mama had made pancakes and bacon for breakfast -something that I can't eat to this day because it makes me think of that day. After a hearty breakfast, mama and daddy had loaded my sister Windy and I into the truck, off to go spend the day that the spring carnival about 45 minutes away. Windy and I had sat in the backseat, playing I spy while mama and daddy had sung along with the country songs on the radio.

I remember the buzzing alert coming through the speakers, scaring me and making me pay attention since we had just learned about tornados in school this past week and how when one was near, the local radio stations would send out an alert. I listened as the computer-generated voice came though the speaks, dad turning it up so that he could hear it better. In more ways than one, I wished he had not done that because even now at 35, I could remember that message word for word.

"Form the National Weather Service in Wakefield, a tornado warning has been issued for the following counties in North Carolina until 10:23 a.m.: Halifax and Northampton. Locales that could be impacted are: Rich Square, Jackson, Weldon, Garysburg, and Roanoke Rapids. It is important that everyone in the storm's path immediately seek shelter. If you live in a mobile home, please get to the nearest sturdy structure immediately. Again, a tornado warning has been issued for Northampton and Halifax counties, expiring at 10:23 a.m."

I remember thinking how odd it was to have a tornado warning with the sun shining but I'd learned in school that weather could change very quickly, often in split second. As if to prove what I'd learned as correct, the sky grew dark, and rain started to pound over the roof of the truck. I remember the wind picking up. But it was the worried look that had been on Mama's face that told me that we were in trouble. I remember her telling daddy that we had to find shelter and soon, something that was easier said than done since the stretch of road we are on only had the occasional house every couple of miles. And between those houses were acres and acres of open fields, the perfect place for tornados to build their strength.

A loud crack of thunder and the sharp flashing of lightening from outside my bedroom window pulled me from my thoughts of that day, making me jump from the bed as if it was on fire. I'd been so lost in my thoughts that I had not realized that the wind had picked up and the rain had begun coming down harder, if that was even possible. Another loud crash of thunder sounded though the night, followed almost instantly by a streak of lightening that momentarily brightened the sky from pitch black to almost daylight. I'd just lifted my phone from the nightstand to check the radar when the alert came though about a tornado warning. My heart stooped in my chest for a second before the instinct to protect my daughter and my life kicked in.

Running through the house as if I was a track star, I ran to my daughter, Sadie's room, flipping the lights on and filling the room with light. Lifting her from her crib, I cradled her in my arms as I turned on my heel and ran for the little linen closest that was in the hallway. Slinging the door open, I sank to the floor and slammed it shut, hooking the latch that I had installed when I moved in this house 6 months ago.

Cradling my now crying six-month-old to my chest, I held her firmly as I rocked back and forth, sending up a prayer to the lord above to protect us both from this storm. I know God didn't make mistakes and that whatever happened was just part of his plan for me and Sadie, but I sure hoped that he did not think that today was the day that our stories came to an end.

As cliché as it may sound, the wind went from howling to sounding like a freight train, making me think that all my praying had been for nothing. To reaffirm my doubts, the sound of glass breaking sounded from somewhere in the house at the same time as the train sound grew louder. The door to the linen closet began to bang, pulling on the latch. I watched in horror, praying that it would hold. The sound of the wind mixing with the sight of the door pulling on its latch took me right back to that scene in Twister. I was just about to reach for the door to try and hold it when I heard a voice that sounded just like my daddy, telling me not to do it, to hold on to Sadie with both hands. It was a voice that even after all these years I knew as well as I knew my own.

Doing as the voice told me, I buried Sadie further into my chest as I back more into the corner. This would be over soon. I would make it out of this alive. I had to. For me and for Sadie. We had to be okay. With tears streaming down my face, I prayed that I was right.

Matt's POV:

The flashing lights of the first responders on scene revealed the damage that the tornado had done to the town that I now called home. And it was catastrophic. Not a single home was left untouched, most of them nothing but piles of debris looking nothing like the homes that had been there only moments before. Seeing how easily things could change -how easily your life could change- left a pit in the bottom of my stomach. But I was no stranger to this sort of destruction. Having lived in the Midwest until I was 12, I'd been through my fair share of tornados, seeing those people that I called my friends and family lose everything that they had in a matter of seconds. And these people were no different.

Having lived in Joplin, Missouri until I was 15, I was no stranger to this type of weather. I'd seen my fair share of destruction when I'd been there. Was even the victim of it when I was about 5 years old. That tornado had been one for the history books, having been the most destructive tornado to have hit the town since the 1800's. Held that title until the 2011 tornado had ripped through the town, leaving not a single building left in its wake. So many people had lost their lives that day. Some of my family included. Don't go there Matt. Now is not the time to think about her...

Forcing myself to think of anything but what I'd lost that day, I went back to searching, hoping that someone inside one of these fallen structures would hear me and call out.

"This house is clear Lieutenant." Yelled one of the firefighters, pulling me back to reality.

"Just keep searching, Mark. Someone must have survived this."

Two hours later, the hope I'd had of finding survivors of this tragic storm was so dangerously low, that I was ready to just throw in the towel and call in the cadaver dogs. 20+ bodies had already been pulled from the debris, none of them alive. I'd worked my way down one side of the road, working through the debris in quadrants and was about to start on the other side when the sound of a baby crying tore through the night. At first, I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, but when one of my team members looked as me and asked did I hear it, I knew it was not my imagination. I knew that I had in fact heard it.

With a renewed sense of hope, I raced in the direction of the sound, it growing louder and louder the closer I got. The baby's wails pulled at my heart strings for more reasons that one. Once more, the memory of the 2011 tornado ripped though me. Only unlike other times when it would nearly cripple me with sorrow, it spurred me on, pushing me to save the baby, telling me that I was this child's only hope. Tossing splintered wood from my path, me and my guys worked tirelessly to get to the child.

"I need a medic over here!" I yelled as the guys and I lifted the last piece of wall.

There, in the arms of what I assume was the mother, was the baby, still wailing but so far looked to be fine. Tears rolled down my cheeks unchecked at the sight. Slowly, I lifted the baby of the arms of the woman and began looking it over as the guys tended to the woman. Peeling back the muddy blanket, I was a pink onesie that read Tough like Mama. I hope your mama is tough little girl...

"She has a pulse." Said Mark, his joy evident his voice.

Things happened fast then. The guys helped the EMT's pull the woman from the debris, placing her on a backboard before checking her over. Cradling the now quiet baby in my arms. I watched as they worked on the woman, praying that we had found her in time. From all outward appearances, she looked to be okay. But that didn't mean that she had not sustained some internal damage.

"Is she going to be okay?" I heard myself saying as I slowly rocked the baby in my arms.

"BP and heart rate are stable. She has a knot on her skull. Pretty sure she was hit in the head with something. We'll need to take her to hospital to make sure it's nothing serious." Replied one of the EMT's.

"I'll go with her since the baby needs to be examined too." I said.

"Sure thing." Said the EMT.

Making my way over to the waiting ambulance, waiting while they placed the injured woman onto the stretcher before climbing in. The drive to the hospital was about 15 minutes. And in that time, I sent up countless prayers that the child and the woman would both one day be able to look back on this day and proudly say that they survived the 2022 Jackson, North Carolina tornado.