Leave The City

Chapter one

     Maria

"Why can't you kids just get along?", my mother expressed with a tired voice. The boys were once again fighting over which one gets to play with which toy car, proving the innocence of their youth. I laid on the couch, with my feet elevated on the deflated armrest, nursing a fractured ankle. I offered her a sympathetic glance as she marched into the kitchen, a basket of freshly dried towels and such on her hip. The quarreling continued until eventually one got distracted by the television and the other simply lost interest.

      My gaze fell on the open window next to me, it was silent. The kind of silence that lingers in a forest after a hunter fires his shot. No birds, the insects no wind and no cars. Just quiet. Almost as if it was waiting for me to notice these details, our radio changed from my mothers classic jazz station to a blaring alarm. Every set of eyes in the house immediately flicked to the small black radio on the kitchen counter. Through crackling static the announcer's voice growled a solemn phrase, one clearly painful for him to speak. "Attention Marshall county residents and anyone else listening, their is an international crisis taking place ad you are advised to pack food and water and head to your celler. Pack an emergency contact source such as a cell phone or radio.I repeat. To anyone listening, we are in an international crisis, take shelter and prepare for anything."

     My mother's gaze met mine and a look of panic and fear was shared between us. The boys were too young to grasp the situation, something we were greatful for. She began frantically searching and packing as did I. A million questions raced through my mind, but i didn't have time to be contemplating possibilities right now. I tore bags from my closet and threw into them multiple blankets, clothes and books, important family photos and my phone. I gathered a portable charger and some money, still unsure of exactly what was happening and what i would need. I sped through the house searching for anything with even mild value, my mother was packing food and supplies in the kitchen, just as frantic as I. She unplugged the radio and we took our bags in hand and the boys followed along, asking questions that we didn't know the answer to.

     About a hundred yards or so up the hollow from our little home was a bunker, probably from some war we knew little about. I had played with my cousins in there when I was younger and knew how much space was in there, and it wasn't much. 

     When we arrived we quickly rushed our bags into the bunker and latched the metal door behind us. The only light coming in was from small slits in the ceiling, just barely enough for my mother to search through the bags. She found a lighter and lit the small oil lanterns around the bunkers. Setting up the radio, she turned to me. "What's going on?", seeing my mother with such desperation and fear on her face was a horrific sight, she was the one who always had the answers, now even she is lost.

     "Maybe a war," i whispered to her, unsure, but knowing that probably wasn't the case. "Maybe, but I'm not taking any chances until we know whats going on. The announcer sounded like he knew what was going on...", she finally tuned in the radio, which was now running on the battery setting, and listened carefully to the static. Every now and then the announcer would come back and repeat what he had said the first time, but never any new information.

     The boys had given up on asking us about everything, as they realized we were nearly just as lost as they were. They resorted to playing with their little dino figures in the corner of the bunker. I checked my watch, 7:15 pm. It was getting late and the sun was starting to set. I rose from my spot next to my mother and started making up some little beds on the floor. I layered two thick comforters on top of one another as a sort of makeshift matress and threw a fleece blanket and some pillows on top.

     My mother gave me one last fearful glance as she blew out the oil lamps, all but one. The boys curled up next to each other, between my mother and I, and we all fell into a fearful and restless sleep.