Carlos laughed when he thought

about how scared he was in the haunted

house at the carnival last year. He had no

way of knowing he was about to face a

fright that wasn’t meant to be fun.

Cassie paused at the end of the

diving board, ready to plunge into the

water. Suddenly, she was five years old

again, standing on the edge of a dock and

falling backward, unable to control her

fall, and unable to swim.

Suddenly, Timothy noticed that all

the birds had stopped singing. The air

was very still, and not a single branch

moved on a single tree. He looked up at

the sky. In the distance, he saw a funnel

cloud forming. He thought he might have

about ten minutes to get home before

getting caught in the tornado. He began

to run, his feet pounding on the

pavement. He could hear the wind begin

to howl behind him. Finally, he dove

through the front door of his house and

tumbled down the stairs.