Undead School

Chapter One: Day of Rot

The world ending seems like it should be a big thing. You should wake to explosions, or invaders, or something that explicitly told you 'Welcome to the end, good luck surviving 'till tomorrow.' Something like that. Me? I woke to the obnoxious noise of my alarm clock.

I pushed myself up with all the strength my tired body could muster, and quickly threw on some clothes, a purple tank top and a pair of blue jeans. I then walked over to my desk and carefully took my mother's necklace in my hands and stared at it for a long second.

The necklace had a shimmering green gem, encased in an intricate golden shell. I latched it around my neck. It was the one remnant I still had of my mother and I treasured it greatly.

I continued across the hall of the townhouse I lived and to the bathroom where I brushed my teeth, put on deodorant and looked at myself in the mirror and gazed at myself. Long straight blond hair, pointed face, the same grey eyes that my mother had always sported she helped with homework or did my hair. Not since Mom died, had anyone done any of those things.

After Mom died, Dad was completely devastated and began drinking a lot. Soon after he lost his job, our house, and our car. After school, I worked at the gas station by my school for cash while the rest was paid by grandparents.

I probably stared at myself a little longer and harder than I should have, but eventually, I crossed the hall once again and peeked my head into my brother's messy room. Evan was still asleep. I hated to have to wake him, but we did have school.

"Time to wake up, Evan!" I yelled as loud as I dared to and watched my 6th-grade brother begin to stir and acknowledge my message in a muffled voice. I crossed the hall for the third time and headed downstairs into the kitchen to make breakfast.

We can't afford much with my after-school job, but breakfast is one thing that we made sure to make a little homely since that is the one meal Evan and I can enjoy peacefully sometimes.

I glanced into the living room where Dad was still out cold from another long night of drinking. I crossed my fingers that he'd stay like that. Dad was always angry and yelling when he woke up in the morning, so it was a nice sight to see him down like a rock.

I pulled out an egg for my each my brother and me and then got some toast going. A routine I have built up well in the past sixth months without Mom. I had finished up the eggs and toast just as Evan quietly made his way down the stairs and into the dining area.

Without speaking I filled our plates while Evan pulled out silverware. Despite Evan and I being only two years apart, we were super close. Part of that was coping with Mom's death and Dad's drinking, but we had always been fairly close and mature even before then.

I grabbed our plates and moved to the dining room table to set them down while Evan trailed behind me with silverware and cups of milk. I glanced into the living room one more time just to ensure that Dad was still asleep. He was. This could be a perfect meal.

"You think we can make it today?" Evan asked quietly before shoveling some egg into his mouth. Every day it was a race to get out the door before Dad woke up. Sometimes they made it, the other times they got yelled at for whatever dumb reasons that could be found.

I shrugged and took a bite out of my toast. After I swallowed I said, "We could run away to the circus." One the conversations that Evan and I have all the time. Running away and fixing our lives in funny make-believe ways.

Evan smiled, "Nah, we need to join the CIA as secret detectives. James Bond-like." Evan took a sip of milk and I couldn't help but smile. No matter how bad things got I always knew Evan would have my back. I hardly knew how true that really was.