The Package

The Wisp

The bell rang as I left.

My feet pounded the pavement. Tucking the box under my arm like a football, I kept going. I didn't bother to look back. I wanted to be done with my father, for once and for all.

I ran through the empty city. New York was once full of people and glittering lights.

But that was before.

Now, Times Square only had a few working lights. All of the taxis that once sped through the streets were now parked and abandoned, left to rust. Most windows are broken or missing and the ball that once dropped every new year is now stuck at the bottom. The last year that was celebrated was 2016, four years ago.

I don't have time to reminisce though. I have to get back to Amanda. This wisp is our last hope. I can't loose her, too.

It's been four years since I lost my family. When my father learned about the disease, he ran, taking the wisp. He had worked at the Labs when it started. Well, when it ended.

Working at the Labs allowed him to prepare, and he was selfish. He only prepared for the disease to strike him. He left his family.

The disease took my mother, Carla, and my two brothers, Chris and Marley. I escaped its grasp, and Amanda did as well. My father survived, purely because he had stolen the wisps.

So I stole one from him to save the last of my family.

Amanda will survive if it's the last thing I do.

Even if the disease strikes me next, I want Amanda to live. So I keep running. I head to the hotel where we've been camping out. There's extra food there, and still running water.

Being four years older than Amanda has caused me to become protective. She's so young, only 14 years old. She's had to deal with loosing an entire family.

And I keep running.