Divided

Chapter 1.

The decrepit sidewalk was cracked and splintered into four jagged lines as I walked. I was only halfway home. I hated walking home but the cracks kept me occupied. They swerved and jerked with no rhyme or reason, yet they always came to end, whether it was because they reached the curb, or they were filled in to hide their shame. Nothing lasts forever. I continued walking.

I rounded the bend two blocks from my house. There was a cannon from World War II centered in the middle of a park that I was adjacent to.

I walked past the cannon daily, yet not once had I ever stopped to acknowledge it.

I recalled a time my uncle came to visit from out of state, and we went geo-caching.

That was the only time I ever remembered going near the cannon, and only because one of the bolts was a geo-cache.

But this was long ago before God's Hammer fell and now the cannon no longer stood proudly. Just a jumbled piece of metal that slightly resembled our history.

I walked on past the cannon, now a block behind, without the cracks in the sidewalk near it to comfort its loneliness. Only one block left, I thought as I trudged on. You'd think I was finishing a marathon the way I lugged myself the last block. The cracks in the sidewalk laughed as my feet slapped them. I wasn't fit, but I wasn't out of shape. Well, maybe I was, but with a little exercise, I could get fit, I supposed.

I was close to home, but I was distracted by a pain in my thigh. I reached in my right pocket to pull out a crumpled piece of paper. It was nothing more than false hope, but it was still something. It was a flyer that was posted shortly after God's Hammer. It displayed a massive military compound that had taken root where Philadelphia once stood. It read, "Come to the Wall, Humanity's last hope!" The poster was something that I found scuttling along the street with other debris. I gave it another once-over before shoving it back in my pocket. My thoughts wandered for the remainder of my trip home.

I finally reached the old house. It was an older home, I was surprised it had even made it through the end of the world. I chuckled to myself as I unlocked the three locks on the front door. "Click," one, "click," two, "click," three, and I was in.

I opened the door to see my sister, who was walking to her room with what looked like a red ball in her hand. She turned on her heels after seeing me. My mind clicked like the tumblers in the door knob. But where did she get a tomato? I thought to myself.

"Hey, sis, what'cha got there?" I gestured toward her.

"Nothing," she replied coldly.

No surprise there. Even if she did have an actual tomato, she wouldn't give me any, and if I tried to take it from her forcefully she'd tell him...and then neither of us would have any.

So I pulled my hand back from reaching for her. "All right then, if it's nothing I'm going to go study for a bit," I said as I turned to head toward the stairs.

"Wait," she whimpered quietly, as if someone was listening in the other room. She quickly spun back around, showing me the glowing red fruit.

"So it is a tomato," I said, eyes widening at the delicious red fruit. "Where did you get it?" I asked but she just shrugged the question off. Then she did something unexpected. She said, "Let's eat."

The tomato was ripe. Juice flowed down the side as I cut the top off with a dull knife that was lying on the kitchen table. I then sliced it down the middle. Half for me, half for Ashley.

"Your piece is bigger," she whined.

Not wanting to deal with the situation, I switched sides with her before she could get another word in. After that she was silent.