Nothing's Wrong

The Middle of The End

The sirens sounded outside for exactly the forty-sixth time that day. Everything seemed to be falling apart. The country was at the point of no repair, and everyone was scared. No one had any money, and jobs were scarce if not completely nonexistent. Maggie's father still had his job, but most of the government men and women did.

Summer was in full swing and Maggie was already bored. Her father advised her on a daily basis not to go out. It was dangerous outside. Everyone was in a blind panic and no one could talk any sense. It was hard to find a person who wasn't panicking or worried about not having enough food to feed their family.

Maggie, of course, had enough food. She'd been storing up food for months. She knew it would happen. And now everyone who thought she was nuts, like Janna the Nefarious-Pig-Tail-Puller and Emo-Boy and his Sort-of-Girlfriend were probably at home starving or out on the streets panicking like everyone else. This thought made a smug feeling grow inside as she sat on her couch watching the news. That was all that was on anymore. TV shows were cancelled, and the only things the news said anymore were things like 'How could we have missed the coming of the end of this great country?' and 'Many people are starving, we need to pull together to survive.'

Maggie thought it was all so stupid. Everyone used to only pay attention to who was dating who or what man was trying to marry another man in whatever state. No one cared what the government was doing and no one cared about the real things that mattered. Now they did and it was too late to stop the dying country from going under.

She was thinking of shutting off the TV when someone knocked on her door. Fear rang through her entire body as she stood up. Her father told her people might come to the apartment for him. Of course they would; he worked for a corrupt government. Opening the door slowly, she found it was only her neighbor, Mrs. Travis.

"Maggie, can I trouble you for a-" Maggie didn't let her finish at all. She took the old woman's hand and smiled.

"It's no trouble," She said gently, "You can have what you need." Mrs. Travis squeezed her hand and thanked her profusely. Maggie stepped aside for her to come in and take what she needed, and she saw Noah unlocking the door to his apartment across the hall. He was looking at her, but she simply closed her door on him.

It had been four months since the Punch Incident. He was still dating Neffie, and Maggie hadn't spoken to him since that party.

Mrs. Travis had an arm load of cans. She was struggling to hold them all, so Maggie grabbed a bag and put her cans and several more inside for her. "There you go." She said handing it to the old woman. Mrs. Travis patted her cheek lovingly and Maggie smiled. "Take care of yourself."

Mrs. Travis left almost immediately and Maggie was alone again. There wasn't much she could do before her father returned from work. She didn't have any idea when he'd be home. He was always late these days. He didn't seem to know what time it was anymore. Maggie was sure sometimes he didn't even come home. This day was different. It was different because the moment Maggie sat down on the couch again, ready to watch some more of the news, her father bursted in through the door. His eyes were wide and his hair was tossed wildly all over his head. He was panting, probably from running up the stairs. Maggie was up on her feet in a moment. Something was wrong.

"Dad?" She asked frowning at him. She was also alarmed, but she didn't allow it to show on her face. "What's going on?"

"Get some clothes. Now." He said shoving her roughly to her bedroom. Maggie did as she was told. She grabbed a stack of clean laundry she had folded hours before and stuffed them in a bag. When she found her father again he was in his bedroom shoving all his work papers into the trash bin.