Gloaming

Virgina

Cynthia's point of view
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I brushed my silky blonde hair as I stared into my vanity mirror.

Bags sat under my eyes, my lips were chapped, and a deep scratch sat under my eyebrow.

I looked different.

I could hear Kenya into my closet, ripping it piece by piece looking for something obviously important to her.

Octavia wanted to be brave, but she was too weak and uneducated. She was crying in the bathroom.

I continued to stare at myself.

I couldn't even recognize myself.

A tear rolled down my cheek, but no sobs escaped.

I kept a straight face.

"Found it!" Said Kenya, holding up my old radio.

I quickly wiped the tears from my face as she exited the closet.

She placed it on the floor and began to play with the knobs.

I knew she knew she didn't know what she was doing.

I stared at her beauty as she played with the knobs.

We began to hear human voices.

"Shelter...Virginia...Artificial oxygen"

Was all I could make out.

Me and Kenya stared at each other in disbelief.

Then we got up and started jumping up and down while squeals escaped our body's.

We hadn't done that in a while.

Octavia then walked in, her eyes still puffy.

"What's going on" she asked as she stood at the door way.

"There are camps in Virginia!!! There's artificial oxygen!!" Kenya hollered.

Octavia faked a smile.

"That's nice" she said as she rubbed her irritated eyes.

"What percentage are y'alls phones on?" Asked Kenya, ignoring Octavia's fake smile.

"I threw mine out a window" I say as I shrug my shoulders.

"I don't have one" says Octavia.

"Mine is on 20%" She says "to get to Virginia we need a map"

Octavia glances at my printer.

Our eyes meet.

"Kenya, give me your phone" I say with my right my hand out.

She digs through her back pocket to grab her phone.

"Here" She says as she smacks her iPhone 6 into my hand.

I go into her maps and set one to Virginia, then I screen shot every step of the way.

I click on her dull black home button and enter the bright blue mail app.

I press the plus button at the bottom left corner and type in my email.

I add all the screenshots to the message.

I press send.

I place Kenya's phone on my vanity and quickly pace over to my almost dead laptop.

I open up the mail tab, open the email, and press print.

I look over to my printer.

It's spitting out our map one by one.

Kenya grabs each picture and tapes them into a long vertical line quickly.

"Y'all pack for me, exit through the back, I'm going to park the car back there. Someone would probably rather kill someone getting into a car with tons of supplies rather than killing someone getting into a car with no supplies."

I'm sorry for leaving you mom, we needed the extra supplies. Was all I could think about while we got ready to leave.

She was dead weight.

"Ok" replies Kenya as she paces over to my closet to get backpacks.

I exit out the house and into my driveway.

Our garage connects from our back yard to our driveway, so all I had to do was put the car in the garage.

I quickly get into the gray Jeep Patriot and click the tiny remote control that opens the garage.

I drive into the garage, the wheels smacking against the pavement.

Our garage is extremely weird. Its just an open room, with one big garage door on the front, and no door on the back. Just a open wall connecting to our back yard.

I get out the car and close the garage door.

I notice my finger tips already turning purple.

I see Kenya and Octavia enter the garage through the side door.

Kenya has two pink backpacks slinging around her shoulders.

Octavia has my teal backpack laying on her back.

"Roll in you guys" I say leaning against my car.

Kenya rolls her eyes as she makes her way to the passenger seat.

Octavia places her stuff in the back seat.

I jump in.

I see Kenya placing two water bottles on the two cup holders in between the two seats.

She's places her backpack next to her feet and throws mine behind her mindlessly. She almost hits Octavia in the back seat.

She unzips her backpack and pulls out a small teal blanket and a pillow.

She also takes out the map and throws it at me.

Octavia smiles at me from the back seat.

This was going a long ride.