I walked into the classroom; my hair soaked from the rain.  Our teacher greeted us. “Good morning class. Today we will be reviewing the Water Cycle because as you all know, your science final is next week.” She had to shout, as the rain pounded on the roof of our classroom. “As you all know, this storm has been with us for five days now, even though we are in a drought. Why do you think this rain isn’t stopping?” She kept talking and answering her own questions although no one was listening. This weather is making everyone so tired. As Mrs. Peterson excused us, the classroom telephone rang and she answered it.  “Reese, you are going home for the day,” she said.  I stood up, packed my bag, and left the classroom. “Why am I leaving early?” I thought to myself. As I walked down the empty hallway, my every step echoing off of the walls, my dad appeared. I could tell it was him because of his dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. “Hey pumpkin,” he said as he walked up the stairs. “Why are you picking me up early?” I asked. “You will see,” he responded.

As we emerged from the two doors of the front of the school, my dad pulled out his smartphone and hologram messaged a flying car so we could get home quickly. The flying car pulled up, hovering above the ground a few inches. We both hopped in and zoomed toward our house “This new technology really impacts how we get around places,” I told my dad.  “Yes, it has helped me get to work much quicker! I can leave the house a minute before I need to get to work,” he laughed, “Just don’t tell mom.” The car pulled up to the house after only two minutes and we got out. As I walked toward my house, I splashed through the puddles of rain. I leapt toward my front door and opened it. I walked through the family room and into the kitchen to say hello to my mom. The rain became even louder.  I walked outside and was surprised by what I saw. The ground was covered with a few inches of water. It looked like a mini river.  I called to my dad to come see.  He rushed outside.  Both of us stood there in awe. “We should pack, just in case the rain doesn’t relent,” my dad told me. Immediately I rushed inside into my room and packed all of my valuables. As I was packing, my brother came into my room. “Did daddy tell you to pack too?” he asked. “Yes,” I replied, “Pack everything you need.” I went back to packing and finally finished after thirty minutes. I walked back downstairs and sat on the couch with my family watching television.  I  tried not to think about the negative possibilities. By the time our last show was done, it was 9:30 P.M. and time to go to bed.

When I rose up from my bed the next morning, it was still raining. Thankfully not as hard. I rushed downstairs and put my coat and shoes on. As I walked toward the front door, the floor squished with my every step. After walking across the squishy floor, I opened the door and walked outside.  The water had risen a several inches overnight.   I walked back inside and flipped on the television. Every channel was discussing the theories of this unusual and relentless rainstorm, many saying extreme weather patterns are consistent with human induced climate change. Suddenly, one network flashed,  “ATTENTION! Anyone living in the northern part of California must evacuate! Severe flood advisory!” I jumped up from the couch to tell my dad, but he already knew. “We are leaving for grandma’s house.  We should be safe there.” Once my dad told me that, I rallied up the rest of my family and we left for Southern California.

      Instead of using our normal family car, we took my dad’s expensive flying car in order to get there quickly. As we flew past the deserted homes my brother and I played games. “I spy with my little eye something that is…” I told my brother, but before I could finish my sentence lightning struck the roof of our car. We all shouted with fear as the hovering car fell from the sky to the earth.   Immediately a parachute ejected from the roof, allowing us to float like a feather, slowly and gradually. When we finally reached safety we all jumped out of the car and began walking. My dad pulled out his phone to call my grandma, but there wasn’t any reception.  Things were looking bleak.  After walking for what seemed like years, we passed a sign that said Carlsbad. I knew Cardiff where my grandmother lived was not too far.  I knew I had to remain positive.  Talking to my family made me grateful, so I kept on walking. As I trudged through the inches of rain my legs grew heavier and heavier.  They were so tired. I knew I had to go on. In order to ignore my tired legs, I talked with my family. We remembered all of the happy memories in our house, which made my mom cry. “I remember when Reese said her first words,” she said trying to hold back her tears. As we shared our memories we stepped through the dirty water, hoping to get to my grandma’s house by the end of the day.

“We are about to come into Encinitas. We will stop there to take a break.  Stay positive,” my dad said. He knew that we were close because we visit my grandmother often. As a family we decided to run in order to get there faster. As I began to run, I became more energized, ready to see my grandma. We ran down the streets, toward Encinitas, passing homes that had no sign of life. Then, finally we passed a sign that said Encinitas. I sprinted toward the rest of my family and gave them a huge hug, so thankful that we had finally made it to our rest stop. We walked through town knocking on all the shop doors. We realized that nothing was open and no one in town. We kept walking, the rain still pounding over our heads. Out of nowhere, my dad stopped in front of me.  He looked at me and declared,  “I remember a tiny shop that may be open.”  I knew he felt optimistic, so we followed him. When we arrived, like he had said it was open.  It was a small little store that looked like it was built in 2016. It was a rusty metal building that didn’t look very welcoming, but we still walked in. When I took one step inside, it sent chills down my spine.  Something was very strange. My brother spotted some drinking water. We rushed toward it. The irony was that we had water all around us, yet we haven’t been able to drink it.  Now it was time to.  “Maybe we just stay here until tomorrow,” my mom suggested. “Good thinking Nicole,” my dad told her. So we settled inside and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up to the shop owner smacking us in the face, shooing us out of her building. We ran out the store, away from the grumpy old shop owner. As we walked, my legs felt sore from the long walk yesterday.  I knew I had to go on. As we passed through the streets, the homes were locked and there was no sign of any life, anywhere.   Although this seemed like a bad situation, we had to go on in order to get to our final destination; safety.  After an hour of walking we arrived at 2544 Seaside Drive, Cardiff. I ran toward her front door following the rest of my family and knocked on the door. We stood there soaking wet and shivering for a few minutes before she answered.  My heart pounded.  What if she wasn’t home?   I stepped forward closer towards the door when I heard a lock flipping behind the door. Finally it was opened, carefully and cautiously.  I saw my grandmother as she peeked through the crack to see who it was. She threw the door open when she recognized that it was her son and his family.  She grabbed me and pinched my cheeks, so happy to see that we were safe. She turned to me and told me how climate change created a once in a lifetime rainstorm, all of Northern California(my old home) was under water. Thank goodness for the flying car and a strong family.