The App: App-ocalypse (1)

Day 10 - Weirdest waking up ever

Today I had the weirdest wake up ever.

We finally arrived to Mary's parents' house in the middle of the night. We decided we should let them sleep - and by "we" I actually mean mainly Anna & Georges, while I was waking up and taking care of Michael.

Instead of sleeping in the car - which was really not comfortable - we decided to sleep in the barn - and by "we" I actually mean I strongly suggest this idea even if Anna & Georges were hard to convince. We broke into the barn quite easily and slept there on the straw like animals. Believe it or not it was the most comfortable place to sleep I had for a week and I slept really peacefully. Michael had a nightmare in the car so he asked if he could slept in my arms. It was like having my own teddy bear.

I never had any siblings - that is, besides Cassandra which I now know was nothing more than my bestfriend - but I imagine how I feel about Michael is how you usually felt about your annoying-but-so-cute little brother. It only took us a few days to get there, but it has been a hell of a week for both of us. I don't want to get into that but I think I won't see my parents again. I'm so far from home now - and I don't have any way to contact them or to go back. I sometimes cry alone but we have such eventful life that I don't think about them as much as I should. It's like I started a brand new life ten days ago - like I never really lived before. So much has changed ! I won't even know where to start if I had to sum up all that happened the last few days.

It really feels like more - way more - than ten days.

Anyways, I was talking about my wake up and it sounded like that : "Oi you! W'at arre you doin' her'?". When I opened my eyes I faced a 20-something boy with a strange accent and a rifle in his hands. Directed at Michael and I. Of course. Weirdest wake up ever.

I barely knew what to say - so I didn't say anything at first. Then Michael woke up and started to cry. Anna and Georges came to check on us. The boy pointed his gun at them. Georges introduced himself as calmly as he could - and I'm still amazed by that. He kept his coolness in front of the gun, it was so brave of him. He explained why we came here and ask where were Mary's parents.

The boy hesitated but finally told us with his accent that felt unnatural to follow him into the house. Mary's parents were in the kitchen, taking their breakfast and were truly baffled when they saw us coming into their house. Mary's father also had a riffle beside him. He had barely seen us that he had already took his gun. Now that's a crazy house and a terrifying morning - it was all I could think about.

I was never aimed by any gunshot in my life before our meeting with Georges and Michael and I intend to make that the last time I was ever aimed by a gunshot. So it was kind of scary - crazy scary - to be in front of someone hesitating to shoot you. However when he saw Michael Mary's father lowered his riffle and looked at him with a kind of pity in his eyes.

Georges explained he was Mary's boyfriend - and he couldn't say anything else. Mary's mother was already standing up looking for her daughter in the garden. I looked at Anna stressfully. We had a conversation about this moment in the bus. Mary's parents had never seen Georges before. They only knew him through some phone calls.

When we talked in the bus, we knew we had to broke the news of their daughter's death and we knew it would be a hard moment to live for everyone. We couldn't think of the way to tell them that and we hoped we would fade away somewhere in the house while Georges would speak to them. So much for that now... Michael took my hand.

"I'm so sorry she couldn't make it. She was... She was killed by robbers on our way."

So that's a way of breaking the news, Georges ! There was a long painful silence in which Mary's parents looked at each other, scared as if the world had ended there - and it sort of did since they called it the App-ocalypse after all. To our surprise it was the boy who found us that broke the silence first. He burst into tears and fleed out of the room, slamming a door behind him.

I looked at Anna but all I saw is that she was as confused as me. Who the hell was he?

Finally, Mary's mother also burst into tears and Mary's father sat down at her side, embracing her. Georges was also crying - and so did Michael. I had myself tears in my eyes even if I didn't knew Mary.

Weirdest waking up ever.

After a minute or two Mary's mother looked at us and saw Michael. She stood up again and started cooking, talking mainly to him to take care of him. Michael looked at me, looking for approval when she asked him to sit down at the table while she was making breakfast. Of course I gave it to him - nodding not to be rude to Mary's mother.

We had a real breakfast for one, with bacon and eggs and orange juice and everything. It was our best meal in a while and we ate in silence. Mary's father was still crying and Mary's mother looked at us eating as if it was the most wonderful thing she had ever seen. Creepy and weird. I think she was only trying to forget the awful news of her daughter passing away. It must have been really hard to hear something like that from strangers.

Mary's father finally broke the silence. He asked if she suffered. Georges - who had not eat anything as I noticed at this exact moment - looked at what should have been his father-in-law and tried to speak. All he could do was crying again but he nodded "no". Anna told them what happened - the whole story of Mary from the moment the App-ocalypse started. When hearing the story of Michael, Mary's mother hugged him as if he was her kid. I felt a little bit jealous and my first reaction was to protect him from this hug - but he seemed to like it.

Mary's father then asked Anna to tell them more about her and I. So she explained her story and I explained mine. Mary's mother hesitated a moment then she hugged me too. And it felt so good. When she embraced me something broke inside of me and I started crying - I had never cried in public before so it should have been weird but I couldn't think at that moment. I just felt exhausted even though I slept and I cried in her arms. I supposed she was surprised by that but she didn't say anything.

When I finally stopped I realized no one has spoken since I told my story. They were all staring at our hug - except Georges who was still crying, his hands covering his face. Mary's mother finally turned to him and thanked him to have take care of Mary in the best way he could. Then she also hugged him. Both of them cried.

Mary's father looked at Anna and I. It was so strange being here in what should have been a private moment for them. We were all crying or hiding our tears. He finally asked us if we wanted to stay in the farm for a while. Of course we did.

We finished our plates and he drove us upstairs. He gave Anna and I a room, which was old Mary's bedroom. For the first time I had a glimpse of her in a picture - she was a redhaired beautiful girl, just like her mother. However Mary's father took the frame in which the picture was - she was with a blondhaired girl laughing and with the boy who woke me up - and went out of the room with it. Georges was still in the kitchen with Michael - who insisted to stay there - and Mary's mother.

Anna and I started to unpack our things again, but we didn't want to touch at anything that was Mary's. So basically we didn't do a lot of things and I started writing, sitting on the floor. Anna is on the bed behind my back, looking blankly at the roof. She asked me what we were going to do now.

My answer was as honest as I could : "I don't know".