The Last day on Earth

A shock

Everyone wakes up exhausted, barely sleeping from the craziness outside. Ava sits up squinting, looking around the darkness not knowing a thing. She rubs her hands on her face and eyes, trying to remember where she is. She looks around at Izzy and Rachel who look like they're half asleep still as she regains her consciousness. Ava gets off of her bed and stumbles across the small room to the lights. She hits the light with aggression and turns on the blinding yellow tinted light on the ceiling. Izzy and Rachel groan and hide their faces from the light. "Get up." Ava demands, in an annoyed tone. Rachel gets off her bed and walks over to the door looking like she would kill you if she wanted to. Rachel opens the door and leaves the room. Ava and Izzy follow her to the outside to see the dark sky filled with clouds. "It looks like it's going to rain soon." Ava says, looking up at the night sky while breathing in the strong humidity in the air.
The cool breeze that rushed through the air gave everyone a slight chill, waking them up. Ava grabs her arm and runs her hand up and down them, trying to warm up.
After a minute or two, it starts raining lightly, making everyone's clothes covered in small wet dots. "I knew it!" Ava shouts. Izzy laughs at Ava's successful expression. The wind picks up and blows everyone's hair in their faces. They all move their hair out of the way and turn to face the wind so their hair blows behind them. Rachel walks over to Ava and opens her bag. She takes out a bloody cloth and tears a strip off of it. "What are you doing?" Izzy asks, looking over at Rachel. "You'll see." Rachel says, putting the rest of the cloth back in Ava's bag and closing it. She takes the strip and gets her hair all together in her hands. She ties her hair up with the cloth so her hair won't get in her face anymore. "Smart." Izzy says, feeling a bit idiotic for not thinking about bringing any hair ties with her when she had the chance. Ava walks over to the side of the boat and looks at the water, wondering where Lucy could be. The day seemed to replay in her head over and over, and the only thing she could think about was Lucy's kind heart and warm smile. Rachel and Izzy join her at her sides and look at the water, seeing the reflection of all three of them. It still felt weird to them that there was one less person there, but they were starting to get used to it slowly. Rachel stops looking at the water, trying to distract herself from thinking about Lucy. She walks to the center of the boat and looks up at the moon which is now very close to the earth. It felt like a dream, but it wasn't. "Get your head out of the clouds or you'll miss the present." her mother would tell her if she noticed her zoning out.
Izzy and Ava turn around and look at Rachel to see her hair sticking up with static. Izzy could only think of one thing, "Oh no! "Rachel, look out!" Izzy says, running to her as fast as she can. Rachel turns around frightened and not knowing what's happening. Izzy gets to Rachel and shoves her out of the way right as a lightning bolt comes out of the sky and strikes Izzy. Rachel hits the ground with a thud and a shocked look. "Izzy!" Ava shouts, running over to Izzy now on the ground in intense pain. Ava gets on her knees and turns Izzy on her back. Rachel looks at them breathing heavily. Izzy winces as electricity pulses through her flesh and vanes. Ava grabs Izzy from her back and lifts her up. "Help me, Rachel." Ava says, starting to drag Izzy to the door to get back inside. Rachel quickly gets off the floor and takes Izzy out of Ava's hands. Rachel carries Izzy back inside quickly while holding her in her arms. Ava rushes inside with them and closes the door behind them. Rachel sets Izzy on Ava's bed as Ava sits on the floor on her knees, digging around in her bag for any pain killers. "I don't have anything!" Ava says, pressured. "Well, get anything that will help!" Rachel says, grabbing Izzy's hand. Izzy crushes Rachel's hand in pain as her body jerks around still being slightly electrocuted. Ava gets out a red and white cloth and goes down the trap door. Rachel looks at Izzy and sees her burned skin in the shape of lightning going all over her body. She looked pale but she was still breathing.
Ava comes back into the room quickly with a now wet cloth. Rachel gets out of the way as Ava starts wiping the cloth on Izzy's burns hoping the cold water would make it feel better. Izzy's eyes squint from the pain as Ava touches the burns, but the cold water did help. "Are you okay?" Rachel asks, worried for her. Izzy nods slightly, not wanting to move much. Rachel goes silent for a second. "Thank you for that." Rachel says, feeling bad about Izzy getting hurt because of her. "I'm just glad you're okay." Izzy says, weakly. Rachel smiles, as Ava stops and puts the cloth away. She goes back downstairs looking for more supplies as Rachel and Izzy stay there hoping tomorrow would be better. "What a way to start the night." Izzy says, pained. "Yeah." Rachel says, laughing slightly. Izzy inhales sharply as another wave of pain kicks in. Ava bursts back in the room looking happy. "I found something!" Ava shouts, holding a medkit. Ava rushes over to Lucy and opens the medkit to see bandages, rubbing alcohol, a needle and thread, and pain killers! She takes out the syringes of pain medicine and takes the cap off of the needle. "You're not scared of needles, right?" Ava asks, squeezing some of the liquid out of the syringe. Izzy shakes her head no and looks at the syringe. "Okay, good." Ava says, setting down the syringe and getting the cloth back. She wipes Izzy's upper arm with the cloth and puts it down. She picks up the syringe and injects Izzy with the pain killer. "It should start working in a few minutes." Ava says, picking up the medkit and setting it off to the side. "Try to get some rest." Rachel says to Izzy, calmly. Izzy nods and closes her eyes. "Tell us if you need anything." Rachel says as Ava flicks off the lights. "Okay." Izzy says, quietly.
Ava sighs while looking at Izzy. "I'll be outside if you need me." Ava whispers to Rachel. "Be careful!" Rachel whispers back. Ava nods and carefully opens the door, trying to not make any noise to disturb Izzy.
She exits the room and goes to the outside, closing the doors behind her. Ava looks around the boat to see a small hole in the floor where the lightning had struck. There were burn marks all around the hole and broken wood that was now dangerous if you weren't being smart around it. Ava approaches the hole and kneels down next to it. "That's not good." Ava mutters to herself, trying to think of a way to fix the boat. She looks down the hole to see the wooden table below. She gets the idea of patching the boat with the wood from the table, but how would she do it? How would she do it alone? "Rachel could probably help." Ava thinks to herself.
She gently grabs onto the wood on both sides and slides herself toward the hole. She jumps down into the lower area of the boat and lands on her feet with a loud thud. She walks to the stairs and climbs up to the trap door. Ava opens the trap door to see Rachel sitting on her bed staring at Izzy. "Rachel!" Ava whispers to her sister. Rachel doesn't look away from Izzy, she hadn't heard Ava's call. "Hey, Rachel!" Ava says again, louder. Rachel jumps and brings her attention to her sister. "How the hell did you get down there?" Rachel whispers, startled. "That doesn't matter, I need your help with something." Ava says, quietly. "With what?" Rachel asks, not moving. "Follow me." Ava says, going back down the trap door. Rachel looks back at Izzy and gets off her bed. She goes down the trap door with Ava and meets her at the hole in the ceiling. "I need you to help me get the wood from the table and patch the hole." Ava says, normally. "Oh, okay." Rachel says, not whispering anymore. When it was just Ava and Rachel alone together, they would speak in Russian to each other because it was a lot easier for them.
They walk over to the table and look at each other. "So, how do we do this?" Rachel asks, confused. "Here," Ava says, grabbing one end of the table, "Grab the other side." she continues. Rachel goes to the other side of the table and grabs the corners. Ava slightly shakes the table to see if it were attached to the floor or not. The table did not budge to move off the ground. She looked under the table to see the table was slightly broken on one side on the bottom. The wood was unattached on one side and could be separated from the table leg with enough force. Ava stands back up to face Rachel. "On the count of three, lift the table to the left." Ava says, grasping the tabletop. "Okay?" Rachel says, unsure what Ava's plan is. "One, two, three!" Ava says as they rip the wood completely off at the number three. They set the wood down for a second. "Huh, that worked well." Rachel says, not expecting that to happen. "Exactly, now help me up." Ava says, walking to the hole and pointing to it. "Mhm." Rachel says, following Ava once again.
They get to the hole and look up at the sail and the sky. "Ready?" Rachel asks, connecting her hands and lowering them to be a step. "Yeah." Ava says, stepping on Rachel's hands and grabbing onto the wood above. Rachel brings her arms up, lifting Ava up to the hole in the ceiling. Ava starts pulling herself up to the upper area of the boat. Then, her hand slips and her arm scrapes against the sharp wood, making it bleed badly. "Ah!" Ava shouts, in pain. "What happened, are you okay?" Rachel asks, clueless. "Yeah, just a small scratch." Ava says, grabbing the ceiling again and pulling herself up. She rolls over on her back and grabs her bloody arm in pain. Ava closes her eyes tightly and exhales. She opens her eyes and gets up. She leans over the hole with bloody hands looking at Rachel. "Can you lift the table up to me?" Ava asks. "Yeah." Rachel says, walking away and coming back with the wooden part of the table in her arms with it towering over her. Rachel lifts the table up with a grunt and gives it to Ava. Ava pulls herself back with the heavy table in her arms, trying not to let it take her down. She pulls it up and sets it to the side. "Do you need anything else?" Rachel asks. "No, I'm good. Thanks!" Ava responds with a thumbs up. Rachel stares at Ava's hand to see it was covered in a red liquid. "Are you bleeding?" Rachel asks, staring at Ava's hand, remembering her getting hurt. "Oh, uh. Kind of." Ava says, looking at her hand and arm. "How about this. You go inside and fix yourself up and I fix the boat with some of the supplies in your bag?" Rachel asks, not wanting her sister to get her wound infected by not doing anything after it was too late. "Fine, what do you need?" Ava asks, getting out her bag. "I need two cloths and a knife." Rachel says. "Two cloths and a knife?" Ava asks, getting the items out of the bag. "You'll see." Rachel says, confidently.
Ava shrugs her shoulders and tosses the supplies down to her sister. "See you later then." Ava says, getting off the ground. "Bye." Rachel says, looking up at Ava.
Ava walks away from the hole with her bag and goes back inside as her sister starts fixing the hole in the boat. Ava sits on Rachel's bed and gets out some medical supplies, like rubbing alcohol, a needle and thread, and a bloody cloth. She screws the cap off of the rubbing alcohol bottle and pours some of the strong smelling liquid onto the cloth. Ava sighs and places the rag onto her cut. She winces as she feels the burning sensation of the alcohol going into her wound. It was a deep cut, four inches long going down her forearm. She wipes the cloth on the cut and dabs it against her arm a few times before setting it beside her on the bed and picking up the needle and thread. Ava unwraps some of the thread and grabs the tip of it. She slides the small piece of thread through the small hole at the end of the needle and ties it. She looks at the needle with fear, remembering what her father had taught her what seemed to be forever ago. She crosses her legs and sets her arm down flat on her lap. Ava sighs and sticks the needle into her skin. She winces quietly, trying not to wake up Izzy. She pulls the needle through her skin and pricks it back through on the other side of the cut with it feeling the same as last time, painful. She does it over and over again until she gets to the end of her wound. Ava takes the thread at the end of the stitching and pulls it to tighten it and closes the wound. She takes out a knife from the bag and cuts the thread at the end so it won't stick out. Ava sets everything aside and catches her breath from holding it for so long while she tried not to make any noise. She takes a few minutes only thinking about the stinging pain that will surely last for a while longer before cleaning her bloody hands and putting everything back in the bag. A little bit of blood had gotten on the sheets of the bed, but she knew Rachel wouldn't care. At these times, no one seemed to care about anything as small as that anymore. She gets off Rachel's bed and climbs up the ladder to the one above it. She hangs the bag on the side of the bunk by the strap as Rachel walks into the room. "Did you fix the hole?" Ava asks. "Yes, how's your arm?" Rachel asks. Ava lifts up her arm to show Rachel the stitches. "Mhm." Rachel says, opening Ava's bag and putting the knife back in. Ava gets in her bed and lays down on top of the blankets so she won't overheat when the sun comes up and makes the boat burning hot. Rachel gets in her bed and they all drift into a deep sleep after a long day of pain and work.