Tornado Emergency

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The final level warrants no number. Perhaps the irony is too great to link the luck of seven with the inevitability of “emergency,” which only follows “tornado” when an algorithm predicts a powerful storm with 100% certainty.

 

This is the nimbostratus, the continuous rain cloud. It is the only cloud dense enough to blot out light from the sun. There is no silver lining. It engulfs its surroundings in grayed diffusion.

 

This is upheaval; this is the storm that tips homes upside down. This is her boarding a plane and choosing a life over her daughter and her first love.

 

This is evacuation.

 

It is being put on a plane to live with grandparents in a different country because home can no longer pretend to be stable. It is adventure, it is danger. It is loss. It is devastation.