The End of Her World

Chapter One

Jason was in the building where the first of many bombs were set off. Was it intended to kill Jason? No. Jason was just another father shopping with his daughter. He was just another victim. But now he is so much more than another father. He is a hero. And this is his story.

The older girl sat quietly at her desk, her fingers tapping out a tattoo on the grainy brown wood. The other, younger girl clung to Jason's leg, her eyes wide with glittering happiness. She was all dressed up, with a shimmering pink dress that looked like a salmon's underbelly. Jason looked down. He could see himself in those pools of melted chocolate.

"Are we going to the mall?" she asked in a bouncy voice.

A smile as wide as Florida spread across Jason's features. He opened his mouth just as the other girl entered the room. "Oh, look at you!" She knelt down by the little girl and picked her up and twirled her around the room as the little girl squealed in delight. "You look so fancy!"

"You look good, too," Jason added.

"But not as good as Sarah," said Katrina, speaking of the little girl.

"I wouldn't argue with that, lion," Jason laughed.

"D-aa-d! That is so ridiculous," complained Katrina, but a stray smile edged at her upper lip.

"Let's go," Jason nodded at the coat tree. Katrina slipped into her blue jacket and handed Sarah her bright pink coat as Sarah ran over, attempting to keep up with her long legged older sister. As Sarah grabbed her coat, her smile was brighter than a beam of sunshine. Jason turned smoothly, and with a jangling of keys swung the door open for Katrina and Sarah.

Jason picked up his black coat and snuggled into it, comforted by its warmth. With a deft practiced movement, he unlocked the car. Katrina hopped up into the front seat and Sarah prompted leaped up into the car and into her car seat. Jason laughed silently at the sight of her in her car seat. She looked like a fuzzy pink bird nestled in a black nest.

Jason slipped the keys into the ignition and the engine coughed and rumbled, and then the whole car purred like a giant cat. He backed up carefully and turned onto the road. For a while silence prevailed, until a small voice piped up from the back, melodically, quite like a flute.

"Daddy, will you please turn on the radio?"

Jason nodded, and obliged. There was a slight hiss that issued from the speakers, than a burst of static. Mere moments later, the deep, rolling baritone of the radio announcer broke the white noise. The man's voice was shaking with badly concealed fear.

"Food shortages at a year's record high and devastating illnesses are spreading rapidly through the West. Eastern ranches have been severely depleted by ranch thieves-''

Katrina reached forward and flicked the radio switch, shutting the radio into silence. There had been to much stress on Sarah this year, with the food rationing and the threat of nuclear war. Too often, Sarah was unable to sleep, because she was plagued with nightmares, and often, Katrina would have to climb into bed with her and ease her to sleep. Now Katrina would not let her get scared by the new, deadly, illnesses spreading through the US.

Silence resonated for a while, until, Katrina heard the soft sobbing of Sarah. An ache spread up in Katrina's chest, the way it always did when Sarah was in pain. She unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed into the backseat. She eased Sarah out of her seat and held her little sister to her chest, as tears cascaded down Sarah's face. "It's okay, Sarah. It's okay. The diseases aren't even close to us. Calm down. Think of Grandma, and the beach. Don't think of the radio or the diseases."

Sarah's breathing slowed and she hiccupped. "There, see, you are calming down already." Katrina took off her coat and placed it around Sarah's shoulders. "Okay, I'm going back up to my seat."

Jason pulled up to the parking space and turned off the car. "Come on girls," he encouraged.