My Side of the Story

Or Was It?

     I woke up covered in sweat. "This isn't real. This isn't real!" I said to myself. I turned to the bed on the other side of the room Mike was still asleep. "Sleep as long as you want, dear. You don't want to see me when you wake up," I said to the sleeping Mike. I got up out of bed and examined the room.
     It seemed to be a room shared by two kids before the apocalypse. There was a dresser against one of the wall. On it were two hairbrushes, hair ties, deodorant, and several bottles of perfume. I grabbed on of the hair brushes and looked in the mirror. I don't think they'll be needing this anymore. I brush out my hair. It was a challenge because it hadn't been brushed in forever and my hair was already thick to begin with.
     Once I finished that I started to look through the drawers. Some were empty, others were partially filled with clothes that looked like they would fit on someone who was nine or ten years old.
     Next, I walked over to the closet. I pulled the sliding door aside and looked in. There were some child sized shoes on the ground and a couple hangers. Hanging in the closet were just dresses and empty hangers.
     Suddenly I heard Mike begin to stir. I turned toward him. He was slowly sitting up in his bed. I quickly got my shoes on and grabbed my backpack which I hadn't emptied last night. The last thing I grabbed was my knife. I pulled it out of its sheath and I ran for the door.
     I started toward the steps when I heard a faint, "Claudia?" come from the room I was just in. I quickly ran to the steps and bolted down them. Not yet. Not yet! I got into the living then I continued to run to the foyer.
     I pulled the stuff blocking the door out of the way and I pulled the door open. I walk outside and saw the street deserted. Good. I half walked half ran down the steps and I turned to look back at the house to memorize where it is and what it looked like.
     I looked up and saw Mike looking out of one of the windows. When he saw me he immediately turned around. He's coming. I started to run down the street. I turned right, left, then right again.
     I leaning against a wall, trying to catch my breath. Five minutes later I saw Mike jogging up to me. I tried to run but he grabbed my arm. He spun me around to face him, not letting go of my arm.
     "What's wrong?" He asked. He leaned in to kissed be but I leaned back.
     "I can't do this!" I responded. "I won't be attached to anyone! I don't know why I ever thought it would a good idea to date you! Especially during the zombie apocalypse! I've already had enough hard loses and I don't even know what happened to my parents! We're through and there's nothing you can do to change that!"
     Mike let go of my arm. "What happened to you over night?" He said in a calm tone. "The Claudia I knew yesterday would never of acted like this."
     I finally broke down. I sat down against the wall with tears running down my face. "They're probably dead."
     "Who?" Mike asked. He sat down next to me.
     "My parents. There is no way they found a group as nice as you guys and, no offense to them, they would never be able to survive alone. I know I've lost at lot of people close to me and I can't bear to lose any more. I can't be in a relationship. I can't be emotionally attached to someone. And there's already my sister who I worry is going to die any day because she'll have her back turned. I can't be with you Mike. I've already lost enough."
     My crying slowed a little bit but didn't entirely stop. "Claudia, I..." Mike started. "I understand what you're saying but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still emotionally attached to you and many other people in the group."
     "I told you, we're through. No matter what you think of me if I'm not happy then I'm not staying with you. And I'm not happy." I stood up and I started to walked in the opposite direction of the house.
     "Claudia, that's the wrong direction," Mike said behind me. "The house is the other way."
     I didn't bother turning around. "I know," I said. I continued walking.