Chasing the storm, p.1
Chasing the Storm, page 1
Chasing the Storm
Jessica Madden
Copyrighted © 2020 Violet Hearts Publishing
All rights reserved.
First published 2018
The right of Jessica Madden to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the Publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All characters in this publication are fictional and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
Cover design by Amygdala design
Table of Contents
Also by Jessica Madden
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Acknowledgements
About The Author
Also by Jessica Madden
Right Here Waiting For You
The Jet Lag Diaries
Silent Love
For my niece, Sophie
Prologue
There was no warning for the approaching tornado. No sirens at all to warn us to get to safety. The only warning we had was the sound of the roaring freight train.
The hotel staff ran around the lobby like headless chooks, unsure what to do as they scramble to get people on the ground floor to take shelter. With the power out, the manager was unable to alert the ones who weren’t in the lobby. No one is prepared for this or train to know what to do. There was no safe place for us to take cover. Not in the little time we have. We follow the staff orders to stay away from doors and windows, crouch down against the wall, cover our heads, and hope for the best.
I stay close to my parents as we huddle together with other guest staying at this hotel. No one says a word as we wait for the tornado to hit us. You can literally feel the panic in the room.
Debris can be heard as they thump, scrape and slam against the building as the funnel cloud gets closer. Glass shatters. A roaring sound fills the room. The air is suck out. I’m unable to breathe. I couldn’t hear myself think as the roaring wind rips through the building. The nails rip out of the walls, tearing apart the floors above us. Objects shatter as they are used as missiles. Screams of terror are heard over the loud whooping and roaring noise. My own screams drown in the noise.
I squeeze my eyes shut. Something hits my back, a throbbing pain shooting up my spine. The wind tugs on me, threatening to pull me along. I hold on tightly as my knuckles turn to white, my hand hurting from gripping so hard. I loosen my grip a little to ease the pain, but only to hold on tighter again as the power of the wind pulls on me. Its strength was much stronger than me that I feel myself slipping from my mother’s grip.
Chapter 1
The plane lands on the tarmac of Kansas Airport. I rarely pay any attention to the scenery outside my window, except for the clouds. They are a charcoal colour, looking as if it may rain at any second. I didn’t mind the rain, as long as a storm didn’t form out of it.
The passengers and I stay in our seats until the pilot instructs us to get up. I unbuckle my seat belt and get up to grab my backpack from the overhead compartment. The man I sat with during the flight, and who had helped me to put my backpack up there earlier, gets it down for me. I thank him, saying goodbye and then join the line to the exit.
Inside the terminal, I grab my suitcase from the baggage carousel and wheel it towards arrival. I didn’t have to declare anything so I walk straight through quarantine.
I glance around the crowd where people greeted friends or family as they walk through arrival. Wheeling my suitcase behind me, I search the crowd for my mother’s face. I don’t see her round face and brunette hair that she always ties in a ponytail. The excitement of seeing my mother for the first time since she and Dad divorced three years ago ran through my veins. At the same time I knew I shouldn’t get my hopes up, my heart sinking with disappointment when I don’t spot her.
I tell myself not to think she has forgotten to come pick me up, especially when I had spoken to her on Skype the other day, reminding her about my visit. If she did forget, it wasn’t anything new. Ever since she began studying meteorology before she and Dad had broken up, she started to forget everything – special events, Christmas, and birthdays. It was like Dad and I didn’t exist in her life anymore or was never a part of it. To her, we were strangers.
Before I could worry about Mum forgetting me, I hear her calling out my name as she pushes her way through the crowd. She smiles brightly, waving. I don’t return the wave or smile. I couldn’t decide whether I should be happy to see her or not. She abandoned me. I didn’t even want to come visit her in the first place, but she begged my dad to allow me to come see her. Dad said I had a choice in whether I wanted to see her again. I wasn’t going to forgive her at first, but then I decide to give her a second chance. Maybe she has changed.
I stroll over to her, rolling my luggage behind me. She continues to smile, holding her arms out for a hug. I stare at her, debating in my head whether to hug her. Was I making the right decision to be here? I still had a lot of anger towards her for leaving, but at the same time it was great to see her again.
I notice how much she looked different in person than when I chatted to her on Skype last night. She has aged, looks slimmer and her eyes are weary with bags under them. No matter how mad I was with her, she was still my mother and I should be thankful to have this chance to reunite with her.
Putting my hatred towards her aside, I let go of my suitcase and embrace her.
“It’s good to see you, Mum,” I reply. It wasn’t a lie. I really was glad to see her, despite what may have happened in the past or how mad I have been with her.
“Oh, Charli, you have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that.” She pulls away and strokes my hair. I notice happy tears in her eyes. “It’s so great to see you, too.”
She moves her hands away from my hair and touches my face and then takes my hands, taking in every inch of me before meeting my eyes. “Gosh, you have grown so much.”
I let a smile cross my face, unsure if I need to thank her for the compliment.
“How was your trip?” she asks.
“Long and tiring.”
Mum laughs. “I know the feeling, sweetie.” She grabs my suitcase. “Come on, let’s go.”
I follow Mum out of the terminal to her car. She leads me towards a black SUV in the far back of the car park. Mum unlocks the vehicle and opens the back door, placing the luggage in the backseat.
I open the front passenger door and hop in. I eye the video camera on the dashboard as I put on my seat belt. I have seen in documentaries of storm chasers where they attach video cameras to their dashboards to capture footage of the storm.
I turn my eyes away from the camera as Mum climbed into the seat beside me. I don’t want to think about my mother’s job. I still don’t understand why she abandoned Dad and me to pursue a dream she says she had always wanted. To me, why didn’t she do it in the first place before marrying Dad if she was just going to leave him later on?
Mum puts on her seat belt. “So tell me what has been happening with you. There is a lot we need to catch up on.” She starts the car.
“Where do I start, Mum?” I ask as she pulls out of the parking space. “You missed three years of my life.”
“Well, you have two weeks of your vacation to tell me all about it.” She straightens out the car and then drives towards the exit. “Tell me, do you have a boyfriend?”
I shake my head. For the last remainder of school, my exams were mainly what I tried to focus on the most. When I first learned my parents were getting a divorce, I had accidentally walked in on their conversation. I still picture my Dad’s heartbroken face, wondering why Mum had made the decision to leave the both of us. I understand she wanted to pursue her dream, but why wait to do it when your own child is sixteen and needs her mother more than anything? I skipped my school formal even though Dad and my friends encouraged me to attend it. I didn’t have the spirit to go. I felt I had the responsibility to help my father get through the divorce. He was a mess once Mum left. There was no time for a boyfriend. There was no room to enjoy the remainder of my teenage life. All I had time for was to make sure Dad didn’t go off the rails and fall apart. While I helped him, I often wondered if it was my fault Mum left, and I still think it.
“No, I don’t have a boyfriend.”
She pulls out onto the road. “So how did you do in your HSC?”
“I did well, thanks.”
“Are you studying anything?”
I shake my head. I basically put my life on hold after high school
“What kind of work are you looking for?”
“Retail. It’s very hard to find something when employers ask for experience.”
“You will find something soon.”
I nod. That’s what everyone keeps telling me.
We drive a little while longer, continuing to discuss about myself. I still didn’t want to talk about the last three years of my life that Mum missed out on, but I did. Surprisingly she listened and doesn’t tell me to stop talking. She never liked me interrupting her or telling her what was going on in my life when she was studying to become a meteorologist. Mum and Dad had a few arguments over her selfish behaviour.
Before I could ask her anything about what’s going on with her life, she pulls into a motel parking lot. I look around in confusion, wondering what we were doing here. I was sure she lived in a house or an apartment, not a motel room.
“What are we doing here, Mum?” I ask her as she parks the car.
She switches off the engine. “I’m just picking up my storm chasing team.”
I stare at her. Is she seriously thinking of working while I’m visiting? Mum knows I have a phobia of storms and there is no way I wanted to spend my vacation chasing them. She promised me when I come to visit that she wouldn’t work. We are meant to catch up the last three years of our lives, not chase after tornadoes.
“Mum, I thought you said you weren’t going to let your job interfere with my visit.”
“It’s not. Charli, sweetie, I’m not doing any storm chasing. My team and I were out storm chasing yesterday, and we spent the night here so I could come pick you up in the morning. Why don’t you come up to the room and meet them?”
I was going to say no. I didn’t want any part of Mum’s team or her career. Instead I kept my mouth shut and my thoughts to myself. I didn’t want us to fight on my first visit.
I climb out and follow Mum upstairs to the second floor of where she was staying. She knocks on the door. The door opens to reveal a tall man with dark hair standing there. He greets my mum and moves aside for the both of us to enter. I enter to find another guy in the room. He looked to be my age. He was sitting on the bed, watching something on his video camera. I can hear a male’s voice all excited about a tornado; follow by my mother’s voice on the video footage. The guy looks up for a second at us as we walked in before turning back to the video.
“Tommy, this is my daughter, Charli,” Mum introduces me to the man who answered the door. “Charli, this is my storm chasing friend, Tommy.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Tommy holds out his hand for me to shake.
I stare at his large hand before shaking it, giving him a half smile.
“And this is Blake,” Mum continues on, turning to the guy sitting on the bed. He pause the video and looks up at us. His dark brown eyes meet mine. “Blake is Tommy’s friend’s son who is doing an internship with us. He is the same age as you so I’m sure you two will get along really well.”
Blake gives me a small smile. I return it. He seemed cute, but I told myself silently that I won’t get too close to him. I probably won’t be seeing him again after today once Mum drops him and Tommy at home. I remind myself too that this trip is about spending time with Mum, not having summer flings with someone who I probably will never see again once I head back to Australia.
“April, are you sure you don’t want to go out storm chasing today?” Tommy asks Mum, sitting down at the small round table where his laptop sat. “The radar is showing a lot of storm activity around Oklahoma. I reckon if we leave now, we could possibly see a tornado by the afternoon before it gets dark.”
My stomach twist into knots, knowing my mother will be interested in going on this chase. The thought of all the storm activity made my head spin.
“Tommy, I have my daughter here. I promised her I wasn’t going to do any chasing while she was here.”
He looks at me, disappointment in his eyes. I feel the tension in the room, like I wasn’t wanted and I was interfering with their work by being here. He turns his gaze back to Mum. “Are you sure, April? The activity around Oklahoma looks big.”
“Even if we go ahead with this chase, Oklahoma is five hours away. Do you think we would have enough time to get down there?”
“Yes, I do. It’s just after one. The storm may hit by late afternoon.”
Mum walks over to Tommy, and glances over his shoulder. She places her hand on her chin as she stares at the radar on Tommy’s laptop, thinking hard. I couldn’t see the radar because she was blocking my view. Blake puts the camera down on the bed, and gets up to join Mum and Tommy. Meanwhile I stood near the door, waiting impatiently to leave this motel. As Mum thinks, I sense she was going to give in to her team mate’s request. I didn’t even have to ask my Mum what she was thinking. I could feel her thoughts, knowing she was going to go along with this chase even if I was here. She worships storms. As long as I could remember before she decided she wanted to live her passion, she was always outside watching a developing storm. She encouraged me to share her passion, but storms were something I never enjoyed. There was no way she was going to miss out on this opportunity. Definitely not for me anyway.
“You are right,” she says. “This storm cell looks huge. It may even produce multiple tornadoes.”
“What do you say? Should we chase this storm or do you want to leave it so you can spend some time with your daughter?” I hear the annoyance in his voice of my present. I already get the feeling we weren’t going to get along very well, and that Tommy will not forgive me if Mum doesn’t take his request with following this storm, like it was the only thing that mattered. “We could collect incredible data for this storm.”
Mum smiles, nodding as she looks at Tommy. “You are right. This storm is too good to miss out on data.” She turns to me, giving me an apologetic smile. “What do you say, Charli? Do you want to do some storm chasing? You will be able to see a tornado. It will be an amazing experience.”
I frown at Mum. Did she really think that this will be an amazing experience? From what I have seen in footages of these storms is devastating. Doesn’t she remember the last time we had an encounter with a tornado? I couldn’t see this as an amazing experience. I saw it as suicidal. This is not what I came here for. I came here to spend time with my mother, not chase after tornadoes and collect data or put my own life at risk. Dad would never allow Mum to put me in this kind of danger.
Without answering my mother, I leave the room.
Chapter 2
Mum calls out to me, but I only ignore her, walking swiftly towards the car. I struggle to get the passenger side door open, unsure why it wouldn’t open at first until I realise it was lock. I let out a small frustrating scream as I slam my palm against the door.
Mum stands beside me, reaching out to me, but I quickly pull away before she could lay a finger on me.
“Keep away from me, Mum,” I warn her. “I don’t want to speak or see you again.”
I see the hurt in her eyes from my words. “Charli, please. Don’t say those things.”
I threw my arms in the air, not giving a damn with how rude I was to my mother. “Why? You don’t really care about me. You left me, Mum. You left me so you can come here to pursue your dream as a storm chaser. And when you asked Dad if it was okay I come visit you, you were excited about it. You said you wanted to catch up and spend some time with me. At first I wasn’t really sure if I should have come here, but Dad said to give you another chance. You said you won’t do any storm chasing while we are here.”
Mum nods. “I know, Charli, and you are right. Listen, let me do this one job today, and I promise you that tomorrow we will do something together. We will catch up on everything.”
