On my way inside, after trudging through knee-high swedes and battling with electric fence string, I am ready to call it a day.
Exhausted and frozen to the bone, I make my way down to the house and start taking off my heavy drenched farm clothes.
Meanwhile, moving up above my head in an ever so sluggish and yet deadly way, the pitch black clouds start to hide the sky and block out the already dull sunlight.
I hear the sound of rolling thunder and high-voltage lightning in the near distance.
Out the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of a darting lightning bolt lighting up the dark and gloomy sky.
The wind begins to pick up and I vaguely look over my shoulder.
Double-taking and staring in disbelief, I watch as the whirling black tube of death makes its way over the brow of a hill and down a ridge, heralding its way through the swedes, ripping up the fences I had just put up.
Not prepared to take any chances, I run back up to the shed and with half numb fingers, I clumsily unclip the dogs and start my motorbike, getting ready to escape certain death.
Getting the dogs to follow wasn't hard because they didn't know what else to do.
Gunning down the driveway with the throttle wide open, I think about what could happen if the tornado gets us and what it would be like - would it hurt?
At the end of my driveway, I think to myself, which is the best way to go?
Down the hill, the dogs will run faster, but we would have to cross over in front of the tornado.
Up the hill, the dogs are slower, but if timed right, we may sneak by.
Making the decision faster than an eye blink, I turn the handlebars uphill and start ripping up the road behind me, with the dogs hot at my heels.
I release the full power of the bike.
It feels like everything is in slow motion; dogs running behind me and birds in the sky being sucked into the tornado, possibly being torn to shreds in the process.
Coming out of my fantasy land, I snap back into reality with the tornado approaching and my bike screaming.
I look over my shoulder to see if the dogs are still behind me.
Out the corner of my eye, I see my house being destroyed as the swirling black tube rips through the walls and crushes it like an ant under a boot.
Standing at the top of the hill, away from the doom spiral and with shaken dogs by my feet, I watch as the tornado moves on over the next ridge and finally disappears.
It's out of my sight, but never out of my mind.
• By Bradley Benington, Year 10, Lawrence Area School
