Inconvenience

The sky had been dark for a couple of days now, but the people around town acted as if it was normal. Conrad felt as if it was not. 

Conrad’s eyes were constantly flicking from the yellow sky to the people sitting on the grass, laughing and listening to music, as if it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. It wasn’t, and he didn’t understand why people weren’t the least bit concerned.

It was only two days ago when Conrad was on the soccer field, kicking a ball around with his teammates in one of the most important games of the season. 

The stands were full, and there was never a silent moment. Well, not until the game went into overtime penalty kicks. Conrad had been the last to go up, needing to break the tie between themselves and the opposing school. 

As he stood in front of the ball, you could have heard a penny drop on the metal bleachers if someone were to drop one. It seemed to intensify the nerves in Conrad’s limbs, and he wished someone could break the tense air. 

And as he stared at the goalie, trying to figure out where he could kick the ball, someone did. 

x

“Woo! Go Conrad!” 

A small feminine voice rang through the crowd. Conrad turned his head to see his little sister, around seven years old, being shushed by her father who looked more nervous than Conrad even felt. 

The little girl was paying no attention to her father as she clapped and waved at her big brother. A smile broke out over Conrad’s sweaty, concentrated countenance, and he lifted a hand to wave back. 

“We don’t have all day, son.” The ref’s voice reminded the soccer player where he was and what he needed to hurry up and do. 

“Right, my bad.” He nodded, refocusing on the ball and the goal, visualizing success as he backed up a couple of steps. 

He nodded, and the whistle blew, signifying he can kick whenever he felt like it, so he did. He took the couple steps before kicking the soccer ball with all the strength he had, aiming for the top left corner of the goal, grateful when the goalie jumped the opposite way. 

The ball was in. They won the game. 

x

Now as he stands in the park and sees the darkening yellowish sky, his gut tells him something just isn’t right, but he shrugs it off. 

What does he know anyway? He’s a seventeen year old high schooler, who doesn’t know much about the weather. Adults who know much more than he ever could don’t seem worried, so why should he be?

“Conrad!” 

His attention turns from the sky over to his best friend Victor, who doesn’t say a word before kicking the soccer ball his way. 

He reacts instantly, touching the ball with the tips of his toes, causing it to stop. He juggles it around with his feet for a moment before kicking it into the air, back towards his friend. 

Conrad and Victor have been friends since Victor accidentally cut Conrad’s hair in kindergarten. Conrad isn’t sure why he didn’t get mad, but instead took the quiet boy under his wing, and it’s been like that ever since. 

“You good?” Victor calls over, noticing Conrad’s peculiar fascination with the sky. Conrad nods, then shrugs. “Doesn’t the sky look weird? Like something is gonna happen?” He asks, hoping he’s not the only one to see it. 

Victor looks up, but then shakes his head. “Nah, maybe it’ll rain a little later? I don’t know man.” He responds, passing the ball back to his worrisome friend. “Why?” He calls out after a minute of just silent passing.

Conrad looks from his feet to Victor, “I just feel like something bad is gonna happen, but it’s probably fine.” He answers. 

“I hope not,” Victor calls out, kicking the ball up with his knees, “then the final game might get cancelled.” 

Conrad raises an eyebrow, he hadn’t thought of that. Now he really hopes he’s wrong. 

When they won the last soccer game, it was the semi-final. Now they were able to move onto the final game against some school a couple of towns away. Conrad was excited, but honestly his nerves outweighed that excitement quite a bit. 

Even though the opposing school was only a couple of tow

ns away, it was going to take a while to get there. They lived in the Midwest, there weren’t many towns, and when they did travel, it was just miles of nothing, large fields and farms. Conrad hated it. 

When he was able to choose what college he wanted to go to, he was definitely planning on getting out of there. Most possibly to the east coast, maybe New York, or Florida. Very different places, but better than where he was now. 

He just hopes everything is fine, and the blue skies will reappear just in time for the game. 

x

“Bye Dad! Bye Claire!” Conrad called back to his family with his head sticking out of the window as the bus filled with annoying soccer players was on its way to the final game of the season.

He watched his sister and father wave to him, not looking away until he couldn’t see their bodies anymore from the distance put between them. 

He slumped back into the seat, wishing that the bus would drive slower to give him more time to freak out. He was always nervous before a game, and it usually went away the moment he stepped on the field, but this is different.

Conrad had been playing soccer since he was five on a team mixed with boys and girls. He was never focused on the competitive part of it, but he sure did like to win. He concentrated more on the skill of the sport. The way he watched the World Cup, seeing the players twist and turn around their opponents to try and score a goal. 

Even though he’s been on the high school’s soccer team since freshman year, this is the first time they’ve made it to the finals. His senior year of high school. What a great way to end it, if they win that is.

“Dude, stop spacing out. We’re gonna be fine.” Victor’s voice once again cuts through his thoughts and he shakes his head, chuckling slightly and grabbing the bottle of water being offered to him. 

“I know, I’m always nervous before games. I’ll be fine once we’re on the field.” Conrad promises, looking back out the bus window, and up to the sky. 

He lets out a sigh as he sees the darkness, a light tinge of what could be interpreted as a green, and the clouds littering the sky. He still just doesn’t feel right. 

After Conrad went home from the park, he asked his dad about it, but he didn’t seem worried at all. He told Conrad it was probably just going to rain, no big deal. 

That’s the same thing some of his teammates said, and even his coach. Nobody is worried, so it puts Conrad on edge when he’s so focused on what could possibly be wrong. 

Nothing. Nothing is wrong. He scolds himself, turning back to his teammates who decided to play some game to pass the times. He joins in, hoping to take his mind off the darkening sky outside. 

x

About thirty minutes later, Conrad blinks his eyes open. 

The game wasn’t much fun, and he felt as if his thoughts were too much, not letting him concentrate. He fell asleep, resting his head against the cold window, head bouncing on the side of the bus as it traveled over the bumpy roads. 

He looked around, noticing it wasn’t as noisy as a bus filled with a bunch of high school boys. As he saw everyone, they were looking up front, so he turned his gaze to where his coach, the bus driver, was on the phone. 

Conrad leaned over to where Victor sat beside him, deciding to whisper to not interrupt the silence. “What’s going on?” he asks him, causing Victor to look his way, but only for a moment. 

“The bus broke down, just a couple minutes ago. Coach is calling for a new one, and hopefully we’ll still get there in time.” He answers, and Conrad watches him glance out the window. 

Conrad turns his head, instantly feeling his heart thump against his chest as he sees how much darker it’s gotten, as if it was nighttime and he should be in bed. He glances down at his phone to see it’s only two o’clock, and the game is at four. 

Conrad takes a deep breath, his gut reaction a little stronger as he starts to get nervous. He doesn't know what could even happen, but it just doesn’t feel right.

Their bus has stopped in the middle of nowhere, and there is only one building from what Conrad can see from the road, but he doesn’t want to leave the bus for anything. 

The coach ends whatever phone call he was on, and looks up at the bus full of silent soccer players. “There is a new bus on the way, it should be here in about twenty minutes or so. Let’s just wait it out till then.” He tells the team, and they nod, murmuring amongst themselves.

Conrad keeps to himself, eyes glued to looking outside the window. Victor still sits beside him, but his back faces Conrad as he talks to the other team members. 

It’s only about ten minutes later when Conrad sees it. He squints his eyes, unsure of what he’s really seeing, but when it gets bigger his eyes widen and he’s slapping Victor’s back. 

“Dude, wha-” Victor turns around, cutting himself off as he sees where Conrad points out the window, at something forming in the sky. 

Victor instantly jumps up. 

“Tornado!” 

x

The moment the word falls from Victor’s mouth, the entire team including the coach look out the windows, shouting when they see a large funnel forming in the sky, almost halfway down to the ground by now. 

Everybody is on their feet, but Conrad has no idea on what to do, or where to go. There wasn’t much they could do anyway. They were on a bus in the middle of nowhere.

Then he remembers what he saw earlier, and glances out the opposite windows to see the small building only a couple yards away. 

“Get to that building!” He shouts, pointing in the direction, causing everyone to see it. No words are spoken as the bus doors open and the team is filing out of it. 

Conrad glances behind him as he walks down the bus aisle to see Victor following, his face whiter than a sheet of paper. He’s clearly freaking out, and Conrad can’t deny that he is too. 

“C’mon Victor, it’s gonna be fine, we just gotta get there.” Conrad points outside again, trying to reassure his friend, even though he’s unsure himself. 

His eyes are constantly flicking out the window at the forming funnel, and once he gets out of the bus, the wind picks up even more than it already had.

He already sees more than half of his team running in the direction of the building, shielding their faces from some debris of the earth that has already started flying around. 

He turns his head once more before he starts to run, but sees Victor standing in front of the bus, not moving. His eyes are wide as he stares at the tornado in the sky, as if he’s struck with so much fear he can’t move. 

Conrad huffs out a sigh, jogging back over before gripping Victor’s arm, forcefully dragging his friend along before he finally snaps out of it, running just as fast as Conrad on his own. 

Once they finally catch up to everyone else outside the building, they immediately start helping to find ways inside. There’s a large window beside the front door, but it’s boarded up as if the owner knew the storm was coming, or it’s just out of business. 

The door seems to be locked, but their coach is having none of that, backing up until he runs and rams his side into the weak door, opening it swiftly and ushering all the players inside. 

Even if it doesn't seem like much, getting inside of here was better than staying in the unstable bus that could easily be lifted into the air. 

Everyone is inside and the coach slams the door shut, hard enough that it could well possibly be stuck shut now. The building is like a little convenience store. There are snacks and toiletries around, a small register, and two rooms for female and male bathrooms. 

Conrad’s heart is racing so fast, faster than any adrenaline rush he’s ever had from winning a soccer game, or winning anything in his life. 

He sees some of his teammates grab food from the counters of the abandoned shop, everyone seeming to be frazzled and unsure. 

“Get into the bathrooms!” Someone yells, and yes, Conrad agrees with them. He grabs a bag of something to eat before running into one of the bathrooms, at this moment not really caring which one, knowing that no girls are here anyway. 

Surprisingly, the bathrooms are quite nice for a random mini store on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Each toilet has its own door instead of stalls, so they’re like individual rooms. 

Conrad wastes no time in getting into one, locking the door, knowing everyone else is getting in on their own, and now is when he is grateful that soccer teams don’t have a lot of people. 

Conrad sits on the ground, curling into himself, hoping the tornado passes quickly, and everyone remains okay throughout it. He just wants it to be over. 

I knew something wasn’t right. Conrad thinks stubbornly to himself, If only people actually listened. 

x

The End