by Thomas Hayes
EPILOGUE
“We’ll see you later, Emily,” my friend Rachel told me, as she turned down the street toward her apartment building. “You’re coming out bowling tonight, right?”
I crossed my arms as a cold wind whipped by. The December air was already so frigid.
“Yup,” I said. “I’ll be there. What time are you guys going?”
“Sam’s meeting me around eight, I think. We can swing by your place, if you want?”
“Nah, that’s okay. I’ll take the subway or something.”
“Okay, see you then.”
As Rachel continued toward her place, I picked up my pace, eager to get out of the cold. Cutting through Central Park, knowing it was the quickest way to my apartment, I heard footsteps behind me. No big deal. As usual, the park was filled with people. But then I heard a guy’s voice.
“Emily. Emily.”
It was urgent. For a moment, I thought it was Peter.
But it wasn’t.
I turned around to find Wes. He was wearing sunglasses and a black hoodie, his face hidden in shadow.
“Wes? What the hell? What are you doing here?”
“Never mind that.” He took me by my arm. “We need to get you out of here.”
He led me back the way I came.
“Why?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain when we get to Never Land. Right now, we have to move—”
The wind picked up. It whipped violently around the park, cold and raw. Closing my eyes, I turned, my hair battering my face. My ears were filled with the WHOOSHING! of wind, like a howling ghost.
“What on earth?” I shouted. Other people in the park were just as shocked as I was, covering their faces as they headed for the street, the wind pushing them back and forth. Within seconds, it seemed there was a hurricane in Manhattan. But I knew there hadn’t been anything like this in the weather forecast. Plus, it was December. Hurricanes only occurred in the summer.
“Wes, what is going on?” I yelled. A gust of wind nearly knocked me over, and Wes lost his grip on me.
“Come on!” he shouted. He raised an arm to guard his eyes so he could see where we were going. “We gotta get to the roof! We have to move—”
A giant tree limb CRACKED! off its trunk and fell to the ground, not far from us, its branches slamming to the earth. I heard a warning siren, blaring, and then looked to the horizon.
There was a tornado, to the north of us. A black, swirling, violent tornado, tearing up the ground and thrashing through trees. It was maybe a mile away, but speeding closer. I could see it sending cars flying like they were pieces of paper. People around me screamed. It was heading our way. As if it was drawn to us.
“Wes, what is that?” I asked. “Where’d it come from?”
Wes stared at the tornado. “She found us. I don’t know how, but she found us.”
“Who?”
“The witch. The witch from my land.”
Frozen, my legs unable to move, I watched the tornado come closer. I could hear its swirling nightmare of a roar and the crashing, crunching sounds of the destruction it was causing.
Soon, the storm was so loud I could barely hear the people around me. But one voice cut through.
“Emily!” Wes shouted. “We need to get you to Never Land! Come on! You need to be where we can help you! It’s the only place you’ll be safe!”
My mind was torn—do I leave with Wes, back to the craziness of Never Land? Was he right? Was that really the safest place for me right now?
But then, I didn’t have a choice.
The wind was upon us. I could no longer see the tornado on the horizon, because it was here. We were in the middle of it. A street sign whizzed by my ear, and the roof of a garage building was torn in half.
“We still have time!” Wes shouted. “Grab my hand! We can—”
Wes was ripped from the ground, pulled away from me. I heard him yell as he tumbled wildly, flung into the swirling cloud.
I felt my own feet leave the ground. I covered my ears and clenched my eyes shut. The air was filled with sounds of crashing, ripping, and destruction. Then, it was silent.
