Breathe For Me

CHAPTER 1

SARA

It used to be, after the the thickness of night had fallen, that the entire sky would fill with a multitude of stars. A celestial miracle that would grace the world with its unconditional beauty simply because we coexisted in the same universe. The Greeks believed that if a person died having lived a legendary life, their image would end up in the stars with all the other heroes of the past. They called these constellations- patterns in the sky representing images that told the stories of these fallen heroes. I look out my window, wondering what those constellations must have looked like. Mom says that light pollution has prevented us from seeing the stars in their full glory for centuries now.

Though lately it's been changing. Less lights. Less smoke. Dad tells me that the city is trying its hardest to prevent the Disaster from reaching us. Especially with the shipments coming so soon. I can't help but wonder how all these new people are going to fit. I know we've been clearing out the house to accommodate a new family, but that many....

I wonder how the Balshoys are going to cope. They have seven children and Mrs. Balshoy is pregnant with her eighth. Maybe the Balshoys will get lucky and only have one person join them. Maybe the mandate to make preparations for an additional family in our homes won't apply to them seeing as how their family is so large.

Mom says I'm too young to remember when the shipments started. My grandparents were part of the first group that immigrated to the Everest with their families. They say they came up here shortly after China became the least populated country in the world because that's where PoMast hit first.

I can chalk up my earliest perception of the changes happening around me to one specific incident. I remember, when I was younger, how Mom and Dad used to cook in the kitchen together while listening to their big, clunky radio. The radio that Dad himself had put together from a bunch of random spare parts. I still have a distinct recollection of being six years old and watching Mom lock herself into her room after hearing the radio spokesperson saying, "North Carolina has now been sanctioned. No one is allowed into the State of North Carolina. After the designated evacuation time, North Carolina will be officially cut off from the States."

It took Dad two hours of talking through the keyhole to get her to open the door. When she eventually did, she was clutching a red, white, and blue cloth. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had very obviously been crying.

That night, I heard Dad dragging the large radio outside, and something shattering. When he finally came back in, I heard their bedroom door open and Mom walking out. They began talking and their voices started to rise. I caught some of the conversation;

"You were seventeen Sarah. For all you know, Daisy moved out of North Carolina. Besides, she's not stupid. She wouldn't have stayed. Staying is suicidal."

"You don't understand Tommy." Mom's voice went up an octave. "Her sister caught the PoMast last week. She sent me a message. They would never leave without her."

"Honey, you know what happens to someone who catches PoMast. They have ten days at most. Anyone in that vicinity will catch the disease too. Pollution is out of control. Daisy knows that. She wouldn't stay-"

Their voices got lower.

I got out of bed and snuck closer to the hallway to hear what they were saying. I saw Dad holding Mom and rocking her back and forth.

"What if it reaches us, Tommy?" Mom whispered. "First China, then India, and now the U.S. How much time until it reaches us?"

"Shhh," Dad said soothingly. "You can't talk like that. What if someone heard you?"

"I don't care anymore, Tommy." She half-whispered fiercely. "They keep telling us everything is fine, but it's not. You and I both know-"

She stopped talking abruptly as she caught sight of me peeking into the hallway. She disentangled herself from Dad and held out her arms to me. I ran into them. After a few seconds, I asked, "What's pollution Mommy?"

"Something that will never reach you, sweetie." She squeezed me slightly, pulled back, and kissed me on the forehead. "Now go back to bed."

But that was a really long time ago. Before Dad got his Government job. Before the shipments got so large that there weren't any more houses for people buy or apartments for them to rent. Before we began being pressured to make room for others in our homes.

I close my eyes. In the distance, I imagine I hear the drone of the airplanes coming our way. I take a deep breath and let it go. The window fogs over. Before the vapor fades, I write three words onto the glass.

Here they come.