The Journal

Three • Maeve • February 29

Everyday for the past four days I think I've been looking sneakily out through the security cameras around Grandma's property, waiting for O.J. or Kayla to show up. I thought I was, at least, until one day at breakfast when it was just the two of us, Sarah slammed down her fork on the kitchen table.

"They aren't coming," she grimaced.

"Says who?" I sneered into my oatmeal.

"Says the lack of their presence for the last week, almost," Sarah got up from the table and took her dishes to the sink, where she started washing them.

I ground my teeth together. What right did she have to be rude to me in my grandma's house, where we so graciously accepted her and her dad into? Sarah and I had wanted to be roommates when we went off to university, so I'm just glad we had this little experiment to show it wouldn't have worked out.

"Fine." I took my bowl and left her in the kitchen, deciding to eat my meal in peace elsewhere.

I ended up in the sunroom, curled up asleep in one of Grandma's big plushy couches, the oatmeal forgotten on the coffee table, when Mom came in and found me.

"You okay, hun?" she sat on the ground at my feet. "Mr. Samberg told me you and Sarah had an argument?"

"It's none of your business," I mumbled, her reminder of Sarah put me instantly into a crabby mood.

"Excuse me?" Mom leaned away from me. "Don't talk to me like that. I came here to help and all you do is give me a snarky attitude. Give me your phone."

"What?" I sat up, outraged. "I didn't do anything!" It's not fair!

"I am sick and tired of you treating me with no respect. From now on, if you continue to give me this attitude, I will take things away," Mom was standing now, positively fuming, which added to my own quick temper.

"No," I quirked an eyebrow. "You can't make me. I'm seventeen—"

"Yeah, well, until you're eighteen and out of my house, you can do whatever the heck you want. Until then, you're stuck with this. Now hand me your phone."

I had to try really hard not to roll my eyes at her as I stood and placed my phone into her outstretched palm a little too forcefully. "Happy?"

"Do you want your laptop taken away too?"

Before I could give a snarky respond, Grandma came bursting through the wooden doors.

"It's The End."

Both Mom and I froze mid-argument. Saved by the crazy old lady, I thought bitterly.

"Alice?" Mom stood and headed over to my grandma. "What are you talking about?"

"Hurry! It's on the news!" Grandma hustled out of the room and Mom snapped her fingers for me to follow. I always hated it when she did that.

I was right on Mom's heels as we entered the kitchen, where everyone was seated around the large wooden dining table, listening intently to a radio that sat in the middle.

"...epidemic is rapidly spreading," a woman's trembling voice came through the speakers, "turning into a pandemic as travellers from the Pennsylvania area who didn't realize they'd become carriers of the disease researchers are now calling Mortem Ossa, or Skeleton Death. Multiple cases have popped up in Canada, mostly concentrated at main airports and in a few small towns along the Canada-US border. It is spread..." she took a deep breath before continuing, "it's spread through direct contact of their saliva and quite possibly also through a scratch from them, although the latter has not yet been confirmed. Highly contagious. Might also be transferred between the sweat of an infected who has not yet turned and someone trying to help said infected.

"The symptoms include sore muscles and jaws, pain in the joints, nausea, heightened senses, and discolouration of the skin to a pale almost blueish tone, appearing pearly." A longer pause filled the kitchen as we waited in the smothering silence for more information on what was going on.

"Everyone is warned to stay at home and do not travel until assurances of the breakout being contained can be verified by officials." Background mumbling and static started up, before the announcer came back on. "This has been Emily Sharpe, CBC radio. Tune in every morning at ten to hear the latest in news."

Then it was over.

And we were still crowded around the table, just gulping in the static, as if waiting for someone to come on air and tell us all it was just one long horrible sick joke, and that kids could return to school and parents to work and one day when we look back at this we'll all have a good laugh.

But no one did.

Eventually, everyone seemed to wake up one at a time and leave, going back to whatever they were doing before the announcement.

I remained where I was, shocked, frozen, stuck to the cement floors, my mind reeling from the information overload it just received.

Sarah came and sat next to me, her pink highlights flashing into my vision just long enough for me to recognize who it was when a hand grabbed my own and forced me to look her in the familiar chocolate brown eyes.

"Maeve," her voice was sure, strong, and helped bring me back to the ground, "we're safe here. I'm sure wherever Kayla and O.J. are, they're safe too."

I should've known; the idea of safety was too much to ask for.

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A/N

I know this chapter was a little short, sorry my dudes.

Maeve's got a bit of an attitude, eh?

At least we know what to look for in an infected individual, so that's good news?

What's your opinion on Grandma Alice?

Thanks for reading! ♡