The Oblivious Oblivion

Chapter 7: What Was Once Called Home

"Are you sure you're ready?" Clover takes my hand in hers and we hold it out, just like before.

"Yes, I'm sure." I can feel the energy flow out of me and into the portal, its draining me. We hold it there and lower our arms, she looks at me for reassurance and I nod.

"Good." She instructs me as we walk together into the portal, into the oblivion of the unknown.

* * *

"Should we go back?"

"No."

"Just to assess the damages?"

"No."

"But there could be survivors."

"Even if there are, they wouldn't want our help, we did this to them." She seems to shudder saying this and I know she's right but I just can't help it.

"Isn't it worth a try?" I pace back and forth as she rumbles through her backpack. She managed to grab it from a deserted car we had passed.

"Theo you could get yourself killed!"

"Didn't you see them last night, they had no interest in attacking us, only... the rest of the... town." My words fall flat.

"That was last night Theo, you have no idea what those creatures are and what they can do to you. Or what they want to do with you. We should leave now."

"I want to go back, then we can leave."

"You can't come back if you're dead."

"I won't die then." She rolls her eyes and I stop walking.

"Fine, you can go, but I'm not coming." She sighs and squeezes the area between her nose.

"Okay, I'll go on my own, I'll be back in a couple hours." I start to head in the direction to town when Clover calls from behind me.

"If you're not back in four hours I'm going without you." She wouldn't actually do that. "I will!" Will she?

* * *

The town feels emptier than last night and, like walking around school with no one in it.

I'm kind of glad Clover didn't come with me, this can be a personal mission of mine. Just time with Me, Myself, and I.

"Exactly what I need." I say strolling past multiple crashed cars. Papers flutter in the wind, I look around and notice most of the fires have died.

There's no screeching of the monsters anymore and a presence, I didn't realize was there last night, is gone. It feels weirdly free and empty. I walk in the middle of the street walking around the cars and debris in the streets. There's a light fog covering the area in the morning and the gray clouds make it appear more apprehensive than it feels.

I think to myself that I don't want to let my guard down just in case any of the creatures are still here even though I don't feel any other presences. Maybe this is just a big waste of time, but if I come back early Clover will totally shove it in my face.

So what do I just stay out here for four hours, I'd rather have be proven wrong. Even without the unevenness, walking around my empty deserted wasteland of a town is still creepy.

"It's been three years since the war, yet my hometown looks the exact same. As if the bombs were dropped yesterday." I throw the collar of my jack up and hang my head low. I was dramatically slow as I narrate the imaginative movie I'm in. I put my hands in the shape of a gun and keep it at my side.