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As Ethel flipped through the channels on the old staticky box television, she curled towards Willoughby.
“It’s no good. I think the last rain seeped through here and messed with these wires,” Willoughby sighed.
“It was fun while it lasted, I'm surprised that this old place still gets electricity.”
Ethel stretched out along the couch, wondering how long they could keep coming to this old abandoned house before a storm came and eventually blew it all away. For as long as she could remember, it had been sitting on the outskirts of Shady Grove, Alabama, never being occupied except for the occasional drifter, or a group of teens brave enough to have a party in the so-called “haunted” house. She had never believed the rumors of ghosts in the house, and as soon as she could drive, she had started going there alone. Then, when Willoughby came along, she came to be alone with Willoughby. He had been apprehensive about it at the start, still believing those rumors of hitch-hikers who went in and never came back out, but he had warmed up to it after spending a few warm summer nights there.
“Do you think it's going to rain today? It’s pretty muggy outside,” Willoughby said nervously. He never liked the change in weather, always preferring it to remain partly cloudy like how it stayed almost year-round in Shady Grove. Whenever it rained, he would lock himself in his room, refusing to even set one foot into the downpour.
“I don’t think so, it’s been humid like this for the past few days and there's been no sign of rain on the forecast, but we can listen to the radio if you want to see.”
“Yeah that would be nice, you know how I get with rain.”
Ethel stood up and moved over to their radio they had bought a few months ago in their effort to spruce up the house. She was planning to make some blankets for the old couch they had found at a yard sale, and was trying to convince Willoughby to make a nice table for the side of their couch.
As she turned on the radio, a cheesy pop song started playing as Ethel flipped through the channels. “Do you remember the channel for the weather station?”
“I think it's ninety-two point seven.”
As Ethel turned the dial towards the channel, a voice rang out, “WARNING. The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch, effective until tomorrow at 3:00pm. This watch includes the following towns: Shady Grove, Petrey, and Ansley. Remember, a Tornado Watch means that conditions are favorable for the development of severe weather, including tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds, in and close to the watch area. While severe weather may not be imminent, persons should remain alert for rapidly changing weather conditions, and listen to later statements and possible warnings.”
Hearing this, Ethel stood up and walked over to Willoughby, trying to comfort him.
“Don’t worry, these warnings happen all the time, it just means it's a gross humid day, nothing will happen.”
“I don’t know, I have a bad feeling about this one.” Willoughby said as he fidgeted nervously.
“You always have a bad feeling about these though, let's just listen to the radio for a while and if it starts to get worse, we can always go home and shelter there.”
Willoughby sighed in agreement as Ethel flipped through the channels, finally selecting a folk station that started playing “Blowin' In the Wind”. They both settled back onto the couch and resumed what they had been doing before the tv went out, Ethel reading her book, and Willoughby whittling something from an old hand rail that had fallen off the stairs of the house.
A while later, they heard a faint rumbling in the distance, like an old shaky car was passing them by on the road. The sound stayed for a while though, staying too long to be a car.
Suddenly, the radio burst out with the sound of the emergency warning signal and a low voice spoke, “URGENT, FOR ALL RESIDENTS NEAR PETREY, SHADY GROVE, AND ANSLEY. There is a tornado approaching. Get to the closest storm shelter as soon as possible. This is a category EF2 tornado with winds reaching 135 miles an hour. This is very strong and can cause considerable damage, especially to mobile homes and old houses. We advise everyone to get to the safest spot they can and wait this out.”
Ethel looked over at Willoughby who gave her a look of “I told you so” before becoming extremely frightened.
“I’m going to go check if I can see it. If I can’t, we’ll drive back into town and we’ll be fine,” Ethel said as calmly as she could so as to not frighten Willoughby more than he already had been. She walked outside and looked up at the sky, a sickly green color that perfectly captured the way her stomach was feeling. She got halfway around the house before spotting the huge twister a mile away. The tornado roared angrily, as she stared it down, trying to remain unfazed.
Ethel ran back inside and grabbed Willoughby. “Let’s go. Right now. Just drive around the storm. We’ll get back to town and shelter there. If the storm hits this house there's no chance of us surviving.”
Willoughby ran to look out the window and froze. Frightened, he said, “It’s so close to us and it's too close to the road to risk driving away. I think we have to hide here and pray it doesn’t hit us.”
“Where will we even hide? This old house doesn’t have a storm shelter.”
“We can stay in the bathroom, it's the safest place in a house with no storm shelter. I won’t risk driving into the storm,” Willoughby said quickly.
They could both hear the tornado getting louder. The old house started to creak and howl, with a cold wind passing through it, sending the posters they had put up onto the floor and a chill down Ethel’s spine.
“I can’t stay here. Please come with me, it's too dangerous to hide here,” Ethel said. But Willoughby had already curled up inside the tub with his head in his hands.
“No. I’m not leaving. I can’t go out in that storm.”
“Please Will, I promise I can get us back safely. We can drive off the road if the storm gets too close to the highway.” Ethel reached for Willoughby to try and pull him out of the tub but he swatted her away.
“No. I’m not going out there.” As soon as he said that, they heard a huge crack and Ethel looked through the bathroom window to see the small garden shed being lifted from the ground and thrown towards the tornado.
As it crashed back down into the ground, Ethel flinched and said, “Okay that's it. I’m leaving and you can come with me if you want but I can’t stay here and risk dying like this.”
“Please just wait it out with me, I promise we’ll be fine.” He looked at Ethel with petrified, wide eyes,
“Will…” Ethel looked at him, tears welling in her eyes, “I love you but I can’t. If you just come with me I promise I’ll get us home safely but I’m leaving now. With you or not.”
She turned away and walked out of the bathroom, tears streaming down her face, as she sped and got her things before running out the door. When she opened the door, the wind pushed her back onto the hardwood floor, knocking the air out of her. She got up slowly and turned back towards the bathroom.
“Last chance!” she yelled. She waited a second, wishing he would get up and come with her, but with no response, she turned and ran out the door. The wind pushed and pulled her but she made her way to the car. As fast as she could, she put the keys in the ignition and sped out of the driveway. The wind was pushing her to the left of the road and she tried her best to stay on the right side. She could barely see with her eyes full of tears and the wind blowing everything in front of her, almost like a dust storm.
Ethel screeched into her driveway, running into her house and slamming the door. She frantically moved towards the basement, slamming and latching the heavy basement door hoping it would hold if the tornado hit her house. Curling onto the couch, she started to sob, praying that Willoughby would be okay before settling into a restless sleep.
In the morning, Ethel walked upstairs to find her house intact, but as she went outside she felt an eerie silence over the whole town. The tornado had torn through the outskirts and ripped many houses to shreds. She thought of going to the abandoned house, but couldn’t bear to witness what she thought would be there. She resolved to hope that Willoughby would come back to her eventually, and when he never did, she mourned him, never knowing what had happened but eternally regretting her choice.