Twist+-+Who+Am+I?

=Who am I? = = =  The storm was unexpected. Everyone knew it was rainy season but no one was prepared for what was about to happen. At the time I was sitting on my couch doing my school work. I looked out the window to my right and it was raining. It had been rainy for quite a while but it wasn’t unnatural. When I turned my head away from the window back to my work, it all went dark. I gasped for breath; not knowing what happened. I stood up, letting my pencil case and papers fall to the floor.

I yelled for my mom. At that time I didn’t know where I was standing and what I was looking at. I heard loud footsteps; it was my mom coming down the stairs. Without a word she ran to the kitchen and got a box of matches. I heard a small scream, my mom came running in saying she burnt her hand. I saw a small red mark on her hand and helped her light the candles. By this time my eyes were adapted to the dark so I could see but for the next five minutes we were lighting up the house with candles.

Every time someone stepped near a candle, they made an unusual shadow shape on the wall. To my eyes, those shapes did not look human. Like any kid, I was bored out of my mind and wanted to go explore outside but of course my parents didn’t let me. I let out a big sigh and lay down on the couch wiith my arm across my forehead. All of a sudden a noise made me jump to my feet.

I started to panic; the noise felt close but far away at the same time. I looked out the window and a huge tree had fallen into my pool. I thought I was all safe inside my house but I was wrong. Where I live in Thailand, storms aren’t common. We get rain and wind but never both. My friend called me on my cell phone and said her and her mom are going around the compound and asked if I wanted to go. Of course I said yes, I would do anything to get out of the house.

What usually took ten to fiften minutes took forever that day. While we passed knocked over trees lying in the street, lighting bolts shot from every end of the sky, and rain came crashing down on the cars as if people were throwing rocks. We all gasped. In all the years that I have lived in Thailand I had never witnessed that much disaster. Once beautiful, pink flower bushes before the storm were now crushed, torn apart and ruined.

Houses lost their roof tiles, squirrels lost their trees and people lost their sanity. My friend and I were shocked at how many people were just walking on the street taking pictures and no one was thinking clearly. After about an hour, I went back home where I felt safer.

My family and I weren’t prepared for what was about to happen. We were talking together when the front door flew open ,breaking the lock and making the door bang back and forth. My dad ran toward the door and tried to close it but it ended in no result. He grabbed duct tape from upstairs and taped the door shut. We knew It wouldn’t hold the door for long. When we thought we couldn’t get anymore scared, the window in our living room shattered all over the place. Everyone turned around in a snap motion. The wind was pushing us from all sides.

 If one of us had made one small move, we would have fallen on top of the shattered glass. After that, problems came after problems, they were non-stop. The door flew open again almost hitting me. We were trapped between an uncontrollably swinging door blowing in rain and wind coming after every bang and a living room with a shattered window and glass everywhere. The wind got so strong it blew out the candles. Everything was dark. I heard my dad yell, “Everyone upstairs! NOW” I heard my family running upstairs and then I couldn't hear them anymore. It was so dark, I didn’t know where I was and I didn’t know where I was going. I couldn't see or hear my family. I was so scared. Before I knew it, the door swung open one more time and hit me in the face and knocked me out.

I woke up moaning, with my hand on my head. I opened my eyes and saw that I was lying on the floor of the downstairs bathroom. I tried to stand up, looked in the mirror and saw a big, red bump on my head. I walked out of the bathroom. and saw my mom carrying a cup of water. “Oh you're awake,” my mom said, handing me the cup of water.

“Uh ya...what happened?” I asked, taking a sip of the water and rubbing my head.

“Well we just found you lying here a second ago, ” she said. “What happened to your head?”

“Well last night during the storm I…” I got distracted by the living room window and ran towards it and said, “Wha...Wha…what happened? I thought this window shattered and glass went everywhere!"

My mom looked at me very strangely. “It didn’t shatter, and what are you talking about? There wasn’t a storm last night,” my mom said with a confused look on her face.

//This cant be a dream, I just know it//, I thought to myself. As my mom turned around I grabbed her hand and said, “See you got this burn last night when you were lighting up the candles. Plus, if there wasn’t a storm last night how do you suppose this bump got on my head? Huh?” I let go of her hand and I touched my head, to my surprise the bump on my head was gone.

“I have had this burn ever since I was little and there is no bump on your head,” she said walking away.

I ran to the bathroom, looked in the mirror and saw no bump. //But it was there a minute ago//. //Okay, maybe it was a dream, a really scary dream//, I thought. I went to the living room and turned on the TV. The first channel to appear was CNN. I don’t usually watch news but I had a feeling that I shouldn’t change the channel.

“Here is the latest breaking news. In Thailand last night there was the biggest storm of the century. Homes were damaged but nobody was hurt except for one little girl named Stacy Tech; she was hit in the head with an uncontrollable door and bled to death.”

Then the news showed a picture. I thought I was having a heart attack. That was **ME** on the screen. //I am Stacy Tech. I can’t be dead I am right here,// I thought to myself. Then I looked down. I wasn’t wearing my regular clothes. I turned off the TV and went back to the bathroom.

I looked in the mirror and to my surprise the person I was looking at wasn’t me. It was a different girl who had short brown hair and a really bad fashion sense. I moved my arm up and then down and the person across from me in the mirror did the same. //This can't be my reflection I just know it//. I heard someone yell, “Rebecca! Rebecca! Come and look at this!”

I peeked out the bathroom and saw a lady waving to me to go over where she was sitting, in front of the TV. I walked over cautiously. “Who are you and where am I?” I said demandingly.

“Rebecca what is wrong with you? I am your mother and you’re in our home in California. What has gotten into you?” the lady said. I sat there feeling confused as I looked up at the TV screen.

“Apparently there was a huge storm in Thailand and someone died. How terrible,” the lady said. //Alright is this a joke? How do I get back to my old self? I don’t like this Rebecca, I like Stacy. I like me,// I thought. I stormed out of the room. I ran outside and sat on the porch. I looked up and the sky was dark and it began to rain. The lady that who called herself my mother pulled me inside. I was dripping a bit and ran away from her and ran into the bathroom. But before I shut the door, I slipped and hit my head on the door.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in my bed. I saw my mom again, not the lady before my real mom. “I am so happy to see you, where were you? What happened?” I said giving her a big hug.

“Well hopefully you remember the big storm,” she said with a small giggle.

“Of course, the storm! I remember the storm!” I said with a big smile on my face.

“Well, when we all went upstairs and saw that you weren’t with us, we ran back down and found you lying in the bathroom with that big bump on your head, ” she said as she touched my head.

“Ow!” I said pushing her hand away, “Oh my gosh, the burn! Please tell me you got that burn last night...” I said, holding her hand to look at the burn.

“Yes, I did get it last night and don’t touch it, please, it hurts,” she said, pulling her hand away.

A quick thought rushed into my mind and I turned around to look in the mirror. My normal self was back. I peeked my head out and saw I had no front door and no living room window. I sighed with relief. I finally know who I am, where I am, and what happened. I was happy all that day knowing that I have my life and no one else’s.