When the World Turned Young

Chapter 4: The Change of Fate

WARNING: this chapter includes implications of suicide. I do not think suicide is a good idea. It is only part of the plot.

Tracy was alone. She had no one to talk to, no one to comfort her. She was always alone, even in a crowded room, always filled with total strangers. It all started when we moved to New York, Tracy thought to herself. If we hadn't moved, none of this would've happened. They would still be here with me. Deep down, she knew that she was totally powerless to stop what had happened, but it just felt so good to have something to blame for the terrible series of events that had drained all the hope out of her. Now, all Tracy felt was nothing. She was a living zombie. This realization stirred something up inside her. She had a thought that had never occurred before: If there's nothing left to live for, why continue living?

Tracy dragged her legs up a long staircase, the last one she would ever climb. When she reached the rooftop of a tall building on the outskirts of the city, the took a panoramic view of the past place she would live, a place she would never learn to call home. She turned around and just managed to bring her feet to the edge. She had to keep reminding herself why she was doing this. I have nothing, she thought. I am nothing. Slowly, she tipped her toes over the edge and looked down. The six-story drop would do it. She wouldn't be able to do this again. She looked out at the fields filled with tall, untrimmed grass, as empty as her, with grass tall enough to cover her four-foot nine-inch figure standing up with a few extra inches. She couldn't bring herself to do this yet. Something was stopping her, but she wasn't sure what it was. Then she saw it.

Far out in the field, she saw the grass rustle. Surely there couldn't be someone there. The nearest settlement was Buffalo, nearly 375 miles away. She closed her eyes, trying to clear her head of the thought. But when she opened her eyes, the grass was still moving, too peculiarly for the wind to cause. She descended the stairs, exited the building, and dove into the grass. "H-h-hello?" She quiveringly asked the possibly empty field. "Is s-somebody there?" The only response was the wind.

Tracy went about in this way for a while, too fearful to realize there was almost no chance it was human, that it could've been an animal. Then she ran into him. He was about a foot taller than her. You could see in his face that he was starved, desperate to get food into his slim, nutrient-deprived body. "Oh!" They both gasped a little, shocked to see anyone. "How old are you?" Tracy blurted out. "Who are you? Where are you from?" "Food.." He groaned. Tracy understood. Supply had been a little low recently, and everyone around her was tired and hungry. He must be dying. "Follow me," she replied. "I know just where to go." It was almost lunchtime anyway.

No one had ever arrived here from another place. Tracy knew everyone would be ecstatic to meet him. She wasn't exactly ready to deal with too many people, so she took the stranger to her house, something her parents would never allow. But they weren't here anymore. So she took out some fruit and anything else that was sanitary from the fridge, gathering dust inside and out. She prepared a "healthy" meal of Twinkies, chocolate, soda, and Strawberries. "So," she asked, "Who are you?"

He opened his lips and spoke for the first time. "First, lunch. Then we'll talk."