A Different Person
By Finlee J
Fall 2019 ? 6th Grade

I have school tomorrow and I hate school. There are these two mean girls named Anna and Jessica. They think they are so pretty and think all the boys like them but really the boys just talk behind their backs. I would know because I?m not friends with any of the girls. They are to peppy and girly. I would consider myself as a tomboy because I like to skate and I have never worn a dress or heels in my life. They are simply weird. My best friends are my big sister, and Cayden. He likes to skate too. Cayden and I have been best friends since pre-school and now I?m in seventh grade.

?EERR?! ?EERR?! ?EERR?! It was the morning of the next day. I heard the tornado warning go off on my phone. It didn?t say anything about a tornado on the news yesterday. I was getting kind of scared, but I didn?t think it would actually hit. So, I got ready for school, but then my mom came in and told me she got an email from the school saying we didn?t have school that day. I was excited but at the same time a little scared because the school send any notices unless something actually happens.

It has been a few hours since the warning went off, and nothing has happened. I?m relieved but concerned because if it hasn?t hit yet that means it could happen any second. I started to prepare. I grabbed my flashlight (just in case the power goes out) and all of the goldfish in the house then stuffed them in my backpack.

?BOOM?! I heard a loud thump coming from downstairs. I ran down to check what was going on, but it was just my mom. She dropped a pot when she was trying to find something. Everything was fine though.

The television turned on and the news broadcaster started talking. ?The tornado is in Orange County and it?s about to hit Sacramento.?

Okay so maybe I was right when I said it could hit any second. I grabbed my skateboard and my cat and ran downstairs to my mom. I texted Cayden and asked him if everything was ok and luckily, he said yes so I didn?t have to worry about him.

I grabbed my cat, Luna, and brought her down to the basement so she would be safe. I told my mom to watch her while I got my stuff. ?Boop, boop.? I heard the garage door open and i ran to it. It was Olive, my big sister. I was so relieved, and I gave her a big hug.

?What?s all this for?? she questioned. I told her about the whole tornado thing, but she said she already knew so that is good.

I felt shaking in the ground. I ran down to the basement with olive. We felt the shaking again. Olive, my mom, Luna, and I all hid under a table. The shaking got even harder and harder and the fur on Luna?s back stood up. I started to stroke her cheek so she would feel better. Stuff started falling off the shelf and I got really scared.

?Everything is going to be ok.? said Olive. I texted Cayden and asked him if he was okay again. He offered us to come over and hide in their tornado shelter. It was safer than our basement. He is our neighbor, so we did not have to walk far.

We grabbed everything we needed and ran out of the house. Luna jumped out of my hands. She ran away two blocks down and I went to chase her.

?Kayla!? ?come back!? yelled mom.

I could not leave Luna. She was my best friend since I was born, I can?t let her go now. So, I kept running. She ran across the street. I didn?t see the car coming when I chased after her.
?KAYLA!? Olive screamed.

It all went black. The tornado was over, and I was in the hospital. I had a bunch of chords connected to me. The doctor walked in. she had my reports. I only had a week left to live. Cayden, Olive, and my mom were in the room. They were all upset, and my mom was crying.

Six days later?

It?s my last day and I?ve only been stuck in the hospital. All I wanted to do on my last day on earth was to skate with Cayden. He has stayed here with me in the hospital even when my mom and Olive left, he stayed.

The chart stopped moving. It happened. I died, but for some reason I feel like I did not. I looked at my hands and they seemed real, but they could not have been real. I have heard about dying and becoming a different person in movies, but I didn?t think it was real. I was a different person, but I?m a baby. It does not feel any different than I was before, but I couldn?t speak…only in my head.

I lived on a beach house in Florida. The people I live with, or I guess they are my parents now, are super rich. My room is the biggest in the house, and I am only a baby. But I don?t have Olive, or my mom, or Cayden and Luna. This is going to be different, but I get used to it.

11 years later?

I?m 13 again and it?s my birthday so I?m going to be 14. We got a bird and I named him Cayden after my best friend. My new dad?s friend is coming over today. I have never met him before and I am excited to.

?Ding dong.? I heard the doorbell. I went to go answer it. My dad?s friend looked oddly familiar. He said his name was Mr. Cayden. I told him my name was Kayla. He came inside and sat on the couch and told me stories.

?I used to have a best friend named Kayla when I was about your age. Sadly she died in a car accident,? Mr. Cayden said.

I thought to myself. That is exactly what happened to me. It was him. Cayden my best friend. Except now we are 36 years apart.

After that we always hung out, but I never told him that it was me.