We Were Everything
by
Tessa Marie Saint Towers
Everyone remembers where they were before the beginning. Jake was home, as usual. The smell of cigars filled the musty room, Jake’s father sitting in the familiar old armchair, puffing away. Jake walked to the small kitchen and opened the fridge in another fruitless attempt to find nourishment.
“Hey Pop, don’t you ever buy food?” Jake looked into the dark room where his father grunted in answer.
“I’m going to the store, I’ll bring back supper.” Jake said as he threw on shoes and grabbed the keys to his barely running car. Grey clouds loomed above his head and he wished he had brought a jacket.
Jake stood staring at the gallons of milk in the grocery store, illuminated by sickly blue florescent lights. He had just moved back in with his father to take care of him. He had been doing alright after the stroke, but in the past few days his health had been rapidly declining from some virus attacking his autoimmune system. The doctors had never seen it before and they were still waiting for the results of more tests to come back. Jake grabbed the closest gallon and hurried his way to the checkout.
It began to rain on his way out to the store, pulling his collar up to his neck, he walked head down to his car; rain droplets collected on his eyelashes. Jake noticed his father looked worse than before as he walked into the house. His father had put out his cigar and was just sitting slumped in his chair, his eyes glassily fixed on the television. His skin hung off his bones with a sickly grey pallor. Jake made dinner although he doubted his father would eat anything in his current state.
Jake slept uneasily that night, tossing and turning and wakening from frightening dreams.
He looked at the lights on his alarm clock, its red numbers blaring that he should be asleep. He tried to close his eyes, but a thump outside his door startled him. Jake hopped out of bed, worried about his father. As he emerged into the living room from the hall he saw his father standing strangely in center of the room staring at the static on the television.
“D-dad” Jake stammered quietly, fear welling in the center of his stomach. Jake’s father slowly turned his head, revealing sunken eyes, glazed a milky white. His skin was grey and rotten and when he opened his mouth to reveal his blackened teeth, a piece of his cheek slipped off his bones and landed on the floor. He let out an inhuman gurgling roar and lunged toward Jake.
X X X X
Peach was riding her bike home from school. They had let school out early that day without telling the kids why. Peach heard a teacher say that the US had declared a state of emergency. The suburbs were surprisingly quiet. No one was home from work in the city and most kids were either picked up or being kept inside by their parents.
Peach left her bike by the front stairs and used the key hanging around her neck to get inside. Her parents both worked in the city and didn’t usually get home until about 6. She locked the door behind her and plopped down on the cream carpet in front of the television. She hit the button on the remote and her life changed forever.
Every channel was blasting with special alerts. Worldwide epidemic, riots, cities in flame. She shut off the barrage of information and sat in shock. What did the news announcers mean about infected individuals attacking people? Peach wondered if she would be safe all alone. If the outbreak was in the city would her parents be safe? Peach closed the thick brown curtains hanging on the livingroom window, engulfing the room in a comforting darkness.
