Dead Horizon

(Each name is a new chapter)

EMBER

       A foggy morning in Acushnet mass, 2022, mid-July. With everyone asleep, the loud yet silent clock ticks and tocks and ticks and repeats the same motion, over and over and over again. Young Ember walks step by step down the creaky staircase and almost wakes up her sister Sophie, whom she cherishes. Ember switches the living room light on and opens the curtains as she finds herself not being able to sleep past two in the morning. This has lasted for a week now, almost as long as the war between Russia and the U.S. has gone on so far. She grabs the remote to turn on a channel for noise so she can try to go back to sleep, but something disturbing catches her eye. The first thing that she saw was the news reporter.

“And with that being said, most of the citizens of MA have either evacuated or found refuge, while our low populated towns such as…” 
Ember has seen this on her television for a while now, so this does not strike a concern in her teenage mind, that is, until she heard a familiar word come out of that lady’s mouth.
“Medway, Wayland and Acushnet have not been evacuated due to poor travel resources and power outages.”
What she was saying did not make sense. We had power and resources! Ember thought as she stood up and walked slowly into the kitchen, trying not to fall. Her green eyes looked greener than ever, while the red and purple of the eye bags underneath played a big role in her appearance. The fridge did not work, or at least the light did not. Ember got worried and went back to her bed, forgetting why she even went downstairs in the first place.
     Sophie, the “charming brat” as her family would call her, tiptoed down the stairs only to see the living room light on and the disturbing pictures on the television that Ember did not shut off. Sophie was frightened from what she had just witnessed on the tv, bombs in Canada, people dying, blood and refugees hiding in bushes. The fact that the tv was a big screen did not help. Little Sophie stomped upstairs and ran to Ember’s room and let out a soft cry. Ember knew why she was crying and planned to bring Sophie into mom’s room after she fell asleep, but they both fell asleep, back to sleep in the quiet town with barely anyone around. But there were people around. As the morning sun hid behind gray clouds, mourning of lives began. Ember heard a woman’s voice screaming for help in the distance.
      The startling noise woke Kate, Ember, and Sophie’s mother. But she did not see where the noise was coming from when her turquoise blue eyes looked through the window screen. It was cloudy and not because there was a rain storm coming, not because the clouds were making a quick stop to water and refresh the almost-dead flowers. But the clouds were not clouds. It was the smoke, disguising itself in the dead horizon. Smoke from the bombs, coming from the northwest, it was time to act fast.

   JACKSON                          2022, Western TX,  (July)

     During this time, wouldn’t you think to yourself that because the world is becoming a dangerous place to exist, everyone would be at their most conscious level? Jackson has always been a little unconscious, but never like this. It is almost like he flipped a switch, as his mother would say. He has never once brought up the recurring gory and disturbing news from Russia, even when he was sitting right in front of it.
     In western Texas, the air had a cold touch to it. The sun did appear, but only until everyone awoke. With little to no one around, even before the world crisis, Jackson felt lonely. His sister had passed well before he turned seven. He only got to see her for one year, which was when his family learned she had severe muscular dystrophy, which, in her case, had gotten worse every day. It started out as muscle ached and turned into severe paralyzation. When Jackson lost his big sister, Sara, he was sad, but not depressed and in agony every hour of everyday, like his mother felt when Sara passed. Jackson’s mother was a businesswoman and knew she had to act fast about the situation.
     His mother, Evelynn, booked a flight to New Bedford, Massachusetts because her favorite talk show said that Massachusetts is not getting any trouble with bombs at all, and as the fool she is, she gave in.  Jackson knew it was not right because of what he had seen from videos on his tablet in Massachusetts, but he did not say a word. Jackson watched his mom pack up clothes, food, blankets, and an old picture of our family when we were at our finest moment.