Tornado

Looking at the sky covered by large cluster of dark clouds, Jing Yi knew that there would be a storm tonight. She rubbed her sore eyes, hoping that she could go home early and comfortably slept in her warm bed.

She stared at the laptop screen in front of her that was still on.

[Still need to finish this sales report before the presentation tomorrow afternoon], she thought.

Glanced to her watch, it was 9.23 p.m. She was the only one left who is still working. All her co-workers had already went home hours ago, leaving her alone in that office room.

Since as a new-recruited sales representative, firstly Jing Yi had to build her foundation. As it would not be easy to maintain a career in a big and famous company that employs many outstanding people, she realized that she couldn't just relax and behaved like a little white rabbit. She must give all of her best efforts, so she wouldn't be too easily crushed in the competition.

And thus, here she was. Working overtime making her weekly sales report. She must ensure that everything was written in detail but could be easily understood.

Giving herself more motivations, she started to struggle with her report again. The faster she finished, the sooner she could go home and rest.

As she typed a sentence, the lightning flashed accompanied by thunderous sound. Drizzling rain started to fell down, but quickly changed into a downpour.

Sentence by sentence poured through the movements of her fingers as they dancing nimbly on top of the keyboard.

Next moments, the phone on her desk rang. Looking at the flashed blinked, she thought that it maybe a call from the security office at the Ground Floor. She immediately pressed the speaker button.

"Yes? Sales Department here, may I help you?", she greeted in courtesy.

"Good evening. We want to inform you that because of the thunderstorm tonight, the building need to be closed in 30 minutes. For your safety, please be ready to leave your office and go to the assembly point at the Ground Floor.", a man's voice was heard from the receiver.

"Okay. Thank you. I'll be done in 10 minutes.", turning off the speaker, she sighed. Seemed like she needed to brought her report back home. Again.

She plugged a flashdrive into the USB slot and saved her unfinished work before shutting down the laptop. She cleared her desk in 5 minutes and then shoved her laptop, flashdrive and another documents into her working bag.

Most of the lights in the office and hallway had been turned off. Jing Yi walked to the elevator at the end of the hallway and as she waited for it to come, she was checking for the messages on her smartphone.

1 unread message. From her mother.

[Are you home? There will be a storm tonight. They said it will be quite big. Please be careful there. I also want to remind you about this weekend. You must come no matter what or your father will be very angry. Don't forget to eat well, sleep early, and keep warm...]

Reading that naggy message from her mother, a faint smile bloomed on her face. She missed her mother so much. It had been 6 months since the last time she met her parents.

As they lived at another city and busy with their own works, she couldn't meet them too often. Every night, after she got home, she wouldn't forget to call her mother, talking about her daily activities and her mother would gossiping about her father or her elder brother.

As she was still reminiscing about her family, the elevator finally arrived and its door opened. She stepped in and pressed the button to close the door. It took approximately 5 minutes for the elevator to reached the Ground Floor.

The moment she stepped out, she saw the dark clouds outside from the glass windows. The floor was so dark and the only light came from the spotlights at the receptionist desk and the occasional flashes of lightning.

As she needed to inform the guard that she had already left the office, she decided to go to the security office.

"Excuse me, I am from the Sales Department at the 9th Floor." From the half-opened door, she peeked inside. All the monitors displaying the images from the surveillance camera were still online and a cup of hot drink placed on top of the desk. But no one inside.

"Where are all the security guards?", she muttered.

Assuming that they were checking another department offices upstairs, Jing Yi decided to wait in front of the receptionist desk.

She looked outside. The storm was raging increasingly fierce and she knew that she had to wait for a long time until it finally subsided.

"What to do...?"

She didn't know how long it would lasted. There was definitely no buses or cabs delivering passengers in such a time. Asking her friend to let her stay for a night was also impossible right now, for she still had to drive to go there.

She was still racking her brain, considering the alternatives, while suddenly she spotted that the dark clouds outside slowly changed its shape.

At the beginning, it was looked like a slender rope that hung downward from its base. But the next moments, it finally reached the ground and slowly formed a large black spinning funnel.

"A tornado!", she exclaimed. for the first time in her whole life, she felt very frightened. It was never happened before. As it became larger, the tornado started to move forward. It sucked everything on its path and then threw it back with high momentum.

Her intuition told her to immediately hiding. She quickly ran back to the security office. She crouched down under the desk and covered her head with her bag.

"Let it pass... let it passed...", she prayed inward. She remembered about the security guards who were still patrolling upstairs and sincerely hoped that they were alright.

Outside, without her knowing, the tornado had became so large in size. Many folds larger. All trees were uprooted, the road cracked, and some buildings were severely damaged.

As it finally reached her office building, it blew and shattered all the windows. The sound was very loud, made her cowered in fear.

All the broken glasses had sucked into the spiraling wind and flying everywhere in torrential speed. Jing Yi crouched down so low. She shut both of her eyes tightly but still she could hear everything outside and felt that the ground under her vibrated.

The building had finally completely swallowed by the tornado. Jing Yi felt that everything above her head was suddenly disappeared. She opened her eyes and saw a very frightening sight. She was in the center of a tornado!

Her body was lifted from the ground and rolling around uncontrollably. She felt the acute pain that piercing her from head to toe, like she would torn into pieces in seconds.

As she realized that she would die, Jing Yi looked up above at the last second. What she saw was truly magical. A sight of bright starry night sky. Although it surrounded by thick wall of numerous dark clouds, it didn't get overwhelmed. Instead, right in the middle, a silvery light shone brightly, making all the dark clouds around it dispersed.

She dazed in awe, watching as the light slowly expanding before completely enveloping her whole body in warm current. It was a very comfortable feeling.

She felt the urge to sleep. The sensation was just like when she snuggled on top of her soft bed, under a warm blanket. At that time, all the pain she felt before was gone instantly.

[Sleep early and keep warm…]

She suddenly remembered that message from her mother. Inside her head, she could imagined her mother smiled at her. The corner of her lips moved upward, forming a warm smile as she finally completely succumbed in a very deep and peaceful slumber.