2017

The sound of a weather alert blared through the main level of the Reed family residence, the house quiet except for the faint sounds of the local news playing on the television in the living room, and the wind whistling through the trees outside. While this meant the rest of those living in Cave Springs, Arkansas were hunkering down in their basements to wait out the impending storm, the twenty-one year old woman in the kitchen was instead piping icing onto a cake, tongue poked out just slightly between her teeth in concentration as she worked.

Sadie Reed finally set the piping bag down and reached for her phone, cutting off the sound of the alert and once again leaving the house in silence. The lights began to flicker as she studied the cake in front of her, the white icing covering the dessert and adorned with Sadie's best attempt at the YouTube play button logo, accompanied by the words 1,000 Subscribers!

"Storm looks like it's getting pretty bad outside," Ellen Reed mused from the living room, peering out the window to the storm beyond. "Tyler on his way?" she asked, eyeing her daughter standing in the kitchen with a knowing glance.

"Yeah," Sadie confirmed, glancing back up at her mother before looking back to the cabinets as she rummaged through the tupperware drawer, looking for a box to hold the cake. "Yeah, he should be here any second."

"Well, you both better be careful," Ellen insisted.

"Yes, Mama, we'll be careful," Sadie promised, pulling a small box from the drawer and placing it on the counter.

Sadie was putting the cake inside the box as the low sound of a horn blared from outside, a smile crossing the redhead's face as she laced up her sneakers. She picked up the cake and bid her parents goodbye before rushing outside into the rain, where the bright red truck waited in her driveway, engine running and the familiar figure of her boyfriend just visible through the windshield.

"It's about time," Tyler Owens chuckled as Sadie threw the truck door open, jumping inside and quickly pulling it shut behind her, greeting her boyfriend with a small peck on the lips. "We're late, storm's moving just outside of Lowell."

Sadie had barely buckled her seatbelt before Tyler backed the truck out of her driveway, speeding through the subdivision, already devoid of any other cars moving on the road. The sky turned darker as the rain began to fall at a heavier pace, pelting the windshield even harder the closer they drew towards the storm.

"We can catch it," Sadie said confidently, glancing over at her boyfriend behind the wheel briefly before looking back out the passenger window at the gray sky beyond. In the near distance she could just make out the shape of the funnel ahead, the potential for one of nature's greatest mysteries lying just beyond. "What kind of sandwiches did you bring?"

"The usual," Tyler said, before glancing over at where the camera was mounted on top of the truck's dashboard. "Ready?"

"Ready," she confirmed, looking back over at him with an excited smile.

Tyler reached over for the camera, hitting the button to start recording, the two of them being met by a red light in the corner of the screen. A wide grin spread across Tyler's face as the footage began rolling, the persona of the Tornado Wrangler taking over his features.

"Hello everybody, welcome back!" Tyler greeted, glancing at the camera briefly before looking back up at the road. "I'm Tyler, this is Sadie, and we are your Tornado Wranglers."

"It's a beautiful day outside," Sadie said to the camera, and as if on cue, the hail began to rain down from the sky, mixing in with the rain as small pellets started to hit the truck. "Tyler, what are we doing today?"

"Today is a very special day." Tyler continued, his smile shifting to that of a proud one. "Today, we are celebrating the Tornado Wranglers channel hitting its first thousand subscribers, and we're so thankful to those who are watching. So today, Sadie and I are going to have a picnic. Where are we having the picnic, Sadie?"

"Inside a tornado, of course," Sadie said, picking up the camera and angling it towards the windshield as the funnel continued to drop from the sky, closing the gap between the clouds and the ground below. "There's our tornado now, closing in fast. Isn't she beautiful?"

In response to the tornado touching down on the ground, Tyler's foot slammed on the accelerator, causing the truck to jolt forward. The two twenty-one year olds laughed in response as the truck roared through the open field outside of town, growing closer and closer to the tornado. Ahead of them, the winds roared as the cyclone grew larger, and the wave of hail shifted from its tiny pellets to the size of baseballs.

"We are answering a very important question today, folks." Tyler continued. "Can you have a picnic inside a tornado? We are going to find out."

Tyler's right hand found the volume button for the truck's radio, and he cranked the knob, the opening chords of a Luke Combs song blaring through the vehicle as they raced closer to the cyclone. "You ready?" he asked, glancing back over in Sadie's direction as the two made eye contact, a smile forming at the corners of the redhead's mouth.

"Ready," she confirmed with a nod, leaning over and swiftly kissing his cheek.

Sadie watched eagerly as they reached the outskirts of the tornado, the visibility of the fields around them fading into nothing as the gray of the cyclone covered their vision. Tyler slammed on the brakes, bringing the truck to a stop before pressing the button on the lever in front of them, and instantly Sadie could feel the rods below the truck anchoring them to the ground.

She set the camera back down on the dashboard, facing them as she now moved the cake box off of her lap, handing it to Tyler. "For you," she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out two forks as he lifted the lid, taking in the sight before it.

"One thousand subscribers," Tyler read the words written in icing before looking back up at Sadie with a grin. "Thank you, baby. We did it."

"Yes we did," Sadie said proudly, passing Tyler a fork, and they each reached down to grab a forkful of the sweet dessert before raising them up in a sign of cheers.

"Here's to us," Tyler proclaimed, glancing at the camera briefly before looking back at Sadie, the two making eye contact as he continued his toast. "To all of the tornadoes we've chased, and the ones out there just waiting to be wrangled."

Sadie smiled in agreement, chuckling at his words. "Here's to us." she echoed, the only things on her mind of the smiling boy across from her, the cake in front of them, and the wind whistling against the windows from outside.