The Opposite of Paradise

Look Grinchy, this isn't really up for debate.

Yep, I'm back. You're welcome. 

//

Ana heard it first.

It's not that I wasn't paying attention or anything but I think the dead body in the room was affecting my hearing.

We were sitting on the floor, talking lightly about our lives. With the memories fresh in our minds, the last thing we needed was an interruption from that small piece of normality.

But the universe seemed to hate me so why stop now?

We had exchanged names, ages, schools, favourite colours. Anything to pass the time really. I discovered that her name was Ana Thompson, she was seventeen and had recently graduated from Mercedes College as one of the youngest in her year 12 class. Her favourite colour was green because it reminded her of a rainforest, she didn't like winter because her ears always got too cold, and her favourite meal of the day was breakfast because it gave her an excuse to have pancakes. The more we talked, the more I came to like Ana. She seemed strong and independent, much more than I had been at her age, and extremely friendly. Whether that had to do with the fact there was nobody else around, I don't know.

"What was that?" said Ana, interrupting my speech about how cats were definitely better than dogs.

"What was what?" I replied looking around.

"That noise." She was staring straight up at the roof of the cabin.

I strained my ears to hear what she was talking about but I heard nothing but her breathing.

"What noise Ana?" I asked disbelieving. A part of me thought maybe she was going crazy as a result of the grief and hearing voices. Another part of me thought maybe I was the one going crazy since I couldn't hear anything.

"Wait for it. It'll happen again," she whispered absentmindedly, her focus still on the ceiling.

I leant back on my arms and tilted my head back. My neck cracked and pain rushed through my body at the movement, causing me to let out a gasp.

"You okay?" asked Ana. Her eyebrows were scrunched together in concern but before I could answer, something fell on my head. Hard.

The initial shock lasted long enough for me to say my final prayers and write a mental will giving everything I own to my cat.

You think I'm kidding.

"Mia!" yelled out Ana. I pressed a hand to my forehead, feeling a lump form already but thankfully no blood.

"What the hell was that?" I said dazed. My head really hurt but it wasn't internal, just badly bruised.

"It came from th–" she started but a loud crack from above prevented me from hearing the end of it.

We both looked up to where the noise came from to see the metal ceiling splitting down the middle. Another bang echoed through the empty cabin and the split turned into a bigger hole as the entire ceiling began to cave inwards.

You know when you're watching a movie and you're watching something come towards the characters but they just stand there and stare? And you're screaming and yelling at the screen for them to move but they just don't seem to have more than three brain cells?

Ana seemed to be quite the actress because she did exactly that. As the metal above us fell closer and closer her brown eyes wouldn't budge and neither would her legs.

I pushed myself up, ignoring the pain rippling through my body, and wrapped my hand around her wrist. I pulled her out of her daze and dragged her away from the cabin before there were any more dead bodies inside.