8 Months of December

Iridescent

Broken glass was scattered along the road where the cars lay like crumpled paper. Ivy walked towards them, slowly, trying to see if anyone was inside. As she edged closer she realized it was a family who was hit, at least in the one car. Of course, both vehicles were empty of people, but she could see tiny bits of items that looked like they belonged to a family in the blue car.

She saw an mp3 player, the screen cracked and stained red from blood, maybe a teenager. She saw a pair of glasses and two rings scattered below the windshield, maybe parents. She even saw a cake, newly frosted, in pieces, maybe a family. She wondered if they were celebrating something, if they were happy when they died.

In the other car, it seemed devoid of personality. It was gray and empty, practically begging to be hit. "I guess it got it's wish." Ivy thought.

She became infuriated. Everywhere she looked, no one was around. She knew she couldn't find life, and apparently she can't find death either. She punched a side window of the blue car and instantly regretted it.

She screamed out of frustration and grabbed her hand, now bleeding.

Blood.

She's bleeding.

So she's not dead?

She was in pain, she knew that.

But she was in pain before she ever picked up Holly's letters.

Ivy stared down at the broken glass on the road, even more broken now that she punched it. When she tilted her head a little, the dusty glass gave off a rainbow glow and became iridescent. She looked at it for a while.

How could something so destructive be so beautiful?

A drop of blood falling on the glass pulled her back into reality. She looked at the cars sadly, once a symbol of hope, they were now a symbol of her, broken.

Ivy started to run back to her house, not caring to knock on any more doors, she just wanted to go home. But it wouldn't matter, her home isn't even her home anymore. Everyone is gone and no one is going to come back, she's going to be alone and sad and no one will ever hold her again and tell her it'll be okay. She ran inside and slammed the door behind her while all those thoughts filled her head. She fell against the door, still holding her hand, and stared at the wall across from her.

She was alone.

She tried to calm down again, but it wouldn't work. She knew something was wrong and she couldn't just try to act normal. She stood up and walked into the bathroom, grabbing a first-aid kit and bandaging her hand.

Ivy's phone was still broken on the floor nearby, but regardless, she still heard Holly calling at least every few hours. She decided to go back into Holly's room, it had to have some sort of correlation to whatever was happening.

She went to Holly's desk, staying away from her letters, and opened up Holly's laptop. She skimmed through everything, trying to find something, anything, to help her out. When she tried to search something, the internet stopped working. "I guess I'm not doing that." Ivy thought.

After searching through the entire computer and finding nothing, she decided to close it, but before she did, she remembered to check one last thing, the date. Her phone, broken even before she threw it, hasn't helped in many aspects, including that, and she wanted to know if the date was even close to what it said. She looked up at the corner for the digital text, and TUES DEC 6TH 2016 was there.

Of course. It's been two, maybe even three days, Ivy couldn't pay attention with everything going on, and the date has stayed the same all the time. The clock on both devices were working, but the date has remained stagnant.

Is this what this is? Is she reliving the same day over, and over, and over again? Was she dreaming? What was happening?

She glanced over at Holly's letters, she had to read them. If anything was going to tell her what's happening, it was them.

It was her.