Twinsters: The Moore Tornado

May 20, 2013

1:30pm

Kira

Kira could not believe their luck. A tornado watch had popped up about ten minutes ago, and currently, Lyra had parked the car off a small road just southeast of the center of a town called Moore. 

Lyra was focused on the computer in her lap, where she was making adjustments to some sort of financial spreadsheet; whereas Kira had perched herself onto the roof of the car, taking pictures of the dark clouds beginning form to the northwest.

"Look at the intensity of the formation, shit, I'm getting goosebumps!" Kira vocalized, rubbing one of her bare arms. Both Kira and Lyra had on matching jeans that Kira had brought with. Riding jeans made of thick denim with genuine pockets. Lyra had originally protested, but gave in when Kira mentioned the perks of having good pants on.

"Does that have some sort of science behind it?" Lyra asked, not looking up from her computer. Kira rolled her eyes before rubbing her arms again.

"No, I'm just ridiculously horny."

Lyra looked at her sister in confusion.

"Seriously? That got your atten-YES, IT HAS SCIENCE BEHIND IT." Kira snapped, before turning back towards the clouds. "It means that a front is starting to move through. The change is pressure is causing the temperature to become unstable." She added, Lyra making a noise of interest.

Kira turned her attention back to the dark, foreboding clouds. The longer she looked at them, the more uneasy her stomach became.

"Lyra, we need to get closer to this." Kira ordered, climbing off the roof through the open sunroof. Lyra opened her mouth to argue, but when she saw the turbulent clouds rolling in the sky, she shut her mouth and saluted Kira.

Climbing into the driver's seat, Lyra turned on the car and pulled out into the road to head west, into the quickly intensifying storm. The further they drove west, the stickier the air became. The wind started picking up, throwing leaves and small rocks against the car windshield and windows.

"Something isn't right," Kira mumbled, looking over the radar on her computer screen and then looking at the storm. "This is intensifying faster than the radar is picking up."

Lyra sent a worried glance over to her sister, one Kira didn't return.

"Why do you have that look on your face?" Lyra asked Kira suspiciously, (and a little nervously.)

Kira looked back at the storm, which had now begun to form a mesocyclone beneath it, leaving an ominous shelf cloud before it. The rotation of the mesocyclone was starting to wrap itself in rain and wind, which caused the visibility to greatly diminish.

"Damn it, it's starting to cloak itself in rain!" Kira snapped. Rolling down the window, Kira rested her camera on the rim of the window and zoomed in on the lens. Kira could feel the warm and cold air battling for dominance outside the window. Peering into the zoomed-in lens of her camera, she focused on the lower half of the enlarging mesocyclone.

"I think we have the beginning of something big!" Kira yelled to Lyra, who startled and swerved the car momentarily before regaining control.

"You had better be kidding!" Lyra responded anxiously, before looking at the storm and paling. "Oh god, I think you're right." 

Kira nodded excitedly.

"Drive woman! Onward ho!" She commanded and then returned to her camera to film and take pictures of the growing rotation.

"You want to drive towards the danger?! Is there any other option? Perhaps around? Or away??" Lyra screeched at Kira, who was ignoring Lyra's worrying like usual. Kira then began scrambling out of her seat and standing up on the middle console of the car to stick out of the sunroof.

"Yeah, baby! Keep rotating! Come on, mama!" Kira encouraged the storm, quite loudly to Lyra's chagrin. Lyra was chanting 'You're fine. This is fine. Everything is fine.' to herself in the front seat as she sped along the side street, careful for oncoming traffic or potential police officers. 

The closer they got to the storm, the louder the thunder became, from a gentle rumble to a cacophonous boom; so loud that the thunder shook the car. Kira whooped, adrenaline coursing through her body.

*Bringggggg*

What was that?

*Brinngggggg*

Was that- oh come on, that couldn't be.

*Brinnnng*

Kira fished her cell phone out of her pocket. The phone was both ringing and vibrating, with the caller ID 'BirthGiver' laying across the screen. Kira picked up the phone.

"Hey Ma! Why are you calling?" Kira yelled over the wind. Lyra looked up at Kira on the phone.

"Is that Mom!? Why is she calling us?" Lyra yelled over Kira. Kira rolled her eyes.

"Honey?" The voice on the phone said, "What are you two doing?" Kelly (the twins mother) asked curiously. 

"Oh, you know, same old, running towards imminent death, why do you ask?" Kira responded, swatting Lyra's hand away from the arm in an attempt to steal the phone.

"Oh, fun! Well I was just calling to let you know that Grandma and Grandpa are going to be in town this weekend, and you and Lyra are in charge of bringing desert." Kelly told Kira, who barely heard her mom over the increasingly sharp winds.

"Grandma-desert-weekend-got it!" Kira yelled before yelling at Lyra to stop yelling at her.

"Is your sister screaming from terror or excitement?" Kelly prodded, as she was well aware of her worrisome daughter's reactions to Kira's adrenaline-seeking antics.

"Little bit of both! Love you! Bye!" Kira hung up before tossing her phone into the backseat, almost hitting Lyra in the temple.

"Kira! You can't just hang up! That's bad phone etiquette!" Lyra snapped at Kira before slamming on thee brakes to a surprise stop sign. Kira flew into the side of the sunroof, letting out a  loud wheezing noise to the impact.

"Bad phone etique-wheeze- woman, are you-wheeze- serious?" Kira laughed at Lyra, who huffed before turning north onto the road. "Just drive you worry worm."

"Oh sure, I'm the problem!  Let me just talk to our mother while hanging out a sunroof while I'm going 50 in a 35!"

"You're going 50 in a 35?"

"That's what you have a problem with?"

"I was gonna congratulate you on your dedication to your storm-chasing."

"Oh, well I-"

"LET'S GO AGAIN!"

Lyra groaned before slowly starting to speed up, unknowingly bringing them closer to the storm that was about to create a monster.