Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
ALLISON sat on the swing in her front yard. The girl and her mother used to sit on it and would feel the soft breeze going through her hair as Annette would sing her church songs, almost like a lullaby.
She missed her mother more than she cared to admit. Allison didn't cry when she found out her mother died, and frankly she didn't know why.
Beth called her "cold hearted" on multiple occasions, but Allison just believed she was simply emotionally numb.
Now, she'll occasionally cry if she thinks about it too hard, but Allison tried to think as little as possible. She wanted to believe what her father believed: these people are just sick.
Although, that still didn't shy away from the fact that Shawn would have a huge bite out of his shoulder for the rest of his life if he came back.
And how would the world ever go back to what it was? If anything, the world would have half of it's population. There were people who didn't have limbs or half of their bodies. How are they "alive", according to her father?
Questions like these rummaged through Allison's mind a little too much. She just wanted to find an escape from reality. Before, it was sitting on this very swing with her mother, but now she had nothing. She had a swing, but she had no mother.
"Honey, you don't have to read those books anymore, you know that right?" Patricia asked sitting down next to Allison. She always tried to comfort the girl, and honestly wanted to see if she would cry or not. Allison didn't want sympathy or pity. She just wanted to stop thinking.
The girl shrugged and flipped the page of her textbook for college. "I paid for it, so I'm going to read it. Besides, keeps me focused on something else for a change."
Patricia sighed, "I know how you are, Allison. You can't run away from the real world." Part of her wanted to laugh and tell her she was wrong in a snarky smile, but she knew she was right. She wanted to growl and tell her 'You don't know me', but Patricia did know Allison; more than most people.
Allison didn't know why she did that. Usually growing up, her escape was to just go outside and read a book or two. Her mom would usually interrupt her, in a good way, and make her daughter feel less lonely in the world.
Allison just believed she was different from the rest of the world, and that it was okay. She wasn't wanting attention or people to think of her as different. In fact, the identity crisis every other month annoyed her.
"Well it's better than thinking about this shitty scenario, isn't it? Faith, Charity, and Hope is gone." Allison said shutting her book angrily. She hated when her father brought up scripture since the spread, and she was saying some herself. Allison had a hard time really believing there was a Heavenly father anymore.
Of course, she grew up around church and becoming a scientist was difficult for her family to accept because the theories scientist believed in had to do with evolution and the big bang, and not the six days God took to create Earth.
