Above All Else, Evie

I

The air was thick with tension, Evie strained her ears as she listened to the creaking of her old house. Her house made the typical noises associated with older homes, the noises tonight seemed eery and made her blood run cold. Throwing herself into a sitting position, Evie's nightmares slipped through her fingers as she attempted to recall them. Her breathing sputtered in and out as she tried to get heart rate under control. The room was dark, except for the pale orange light escaping from the crack under the door. The wind rattled the windows, causing her heart to pound harder in her chest. Her skin was cold to the touch but she could feel a layer of sweat gathering on top. With small delicate hands she pushed her unruly mass of hair out of her face. She looked around the room. Her eyes wandered from each corner of the ceiling, to the window, and then to the red glowing alarm clock. It blinked 2:37 am at her in very square letters. Evie huffed as she threw herself back down on the bed. Her headache from lack of sleep was already setting in as she reminded herself that she roughly had three hours left of sleep before she had to get up to get ready for work. She closed her eyes and attempted to slip back into the dream world. The attempt was futile, something had her gut twisted into knots, she couldn't shake the feeling of unease.

Evie swung her feet over the bed and onto the cold hardwood floor, her boyfriend's t-shirt she wore blew lightly in the artificial wind of a fan as if it were a nightgown. She shuffled her feet along the floor and fumbled for the doorknob. Evie slipped out into the hallway and made her way expertly to the room at the end. Glow in the dark stars stuck to the ceiling. She made her way around mountains of transformers and dinosaurs before gently sitting on the edge of a bed covered with fluffy blue blankets. She pushed a mop of Jack's curly hair off of his peaceful face. He sighed and shifted. She sat watching for a moment allowing herself to be comforted by the sleeping innocent child in front of her.

The creaking of the front door of the house as it opened and the jingle of keys ripped Evie away from her thoughts. Ever so quietly she tiptoed through the path lined with toys to the door and out of Jack's room. Knowing her mom must be home from her shift at the hospital, she walked back down the hallway and toward the staircase. The stairs creaked with each step she took down them, praying that they wouldn't wake up her sleeping brother.

Katherine Connolly, Evie's mother had only turned one light on in the kitchen; just the small one above the stove. Her hair was pulled up into a signature messy bun resting on the back of her head close to the nape of her neck. Her shoulders were hunched as if she were carrying the weight of the world on them, as she rummaged through the cupboards. God knows she felt like she did.

"Hey Mum," Evie quietly muttered. She jumped, startled.

"Evie, why aren't you sleeping?"

"I just woke up, I wanted to check on Jack."

"Is he asleep?"

"Soundly." She answered with a certain level of contempt.

Katherine turned back around and continued to look for her dinner after a long shift. She settled for some toast and jam, plopping it into the toaster.

"How was work?" Evie asked, her mother looked exhausted. Stress was eating away at her.

"Long." She replied, clearly saying that she didn't want to talk about work tonight. They sat in silence for a few moments as she spread jam onto her bread. The smell of the jam was sickly sweet and made Evie's stomach turn, she couldn't figure out what the hell had her so uneasy.

The house let out a loud creak that sounded something like a moan. Still, Evie couldn't shake the chill that ran up her spine off. The pair decided to move themselves into the living room. Katherine reached for the remote and clicked the television on. It was muted, but the shock from what the two women saw was deafening. Visible on their television was what use to be Washington D.C.  What remained was a pile of a building burning and smoke filling the sky, people ran scattered like scared little ants. The caption in the bottom read, THE CAPITAL ATTACKED. Evie felt her heart stop and her throat close up. Fear was like a bouncy ball banging around in the inside of her head. The toast  Evie's mother was holding fell from her hand landing jelly down on the ground.