When The World Falls.

The Stupid Mutts

I drove for a couple of hours, I listen to the only thing that the old woman had in her car. Classical music. It wasn't that bad, she had a lot of Mozart. Cassiopeiae laid in the back of the car and just relaxed, she fell in and out of sleep and didn't whine much. Sometimes I had to pull her on my lap and just bounce her up and down. At night I knew I had to pull over and sleep, but I couldn't. I was so confused and scared and again, confused by what was going on. When the fuck did they even make this new city. Like, did they know that this was going to happen? I tried to take my mind off things by reading baby books, I read that classical music is good for babies and that it makes them smart. So instead of dead silence I looked through the old woman's stuff. Her compartment was filled with money and some other stuff I didn't want to see. Like old photos of her and her children, or her and her grandchildren. It breaks my heart to know they are either dead or alive missing her and wondering how she is doing. I'm trying not to get emotional but I can't help it. Everything is so sad. I also read that you should whisper in their ear when there crying because they will be confused and interested. I put down the book and turned off the overhead light. I soon fell asleep.

I woke up to barking. Barking and shaking. I opened my eyes and looked out the window. There were four huge dogs scratching the sides of the car. I covered up my scream. I climbed up to the front seat and started the car. I heard the dogs growl louder and start digging into the car. I slammed the petals and drove as fast as I could. I could hear the dogs running after me, their barks as loud as fireworks. Cassiopeiae cried in the back of the car, so I put Mozart and blasted it as loud as I could. We got about three seconds away before the dogs caught up. They jumped on top of the car and tried clawing their way in. I screamed and sped the car up. I didn't know what to do. My heart was beating so fast. I looked around for something, anything to help this situation. I saw a pond, one I had swam in when I was younger. It was deep. I made the decision fast. I slammed the breaks and unbuckled, the dogs flew off the top of the car and I saw them hit the ground with a thud. I climbed into the back seat, grabbed Cass and climbed back into the front. I strapped the swaddle back on my chest and buckled back up. The better the protection for her. I thought. I could hear the dogs barking and heard them attempt to claw back into the car. Are these things even dogs? They're huge. I pushed the pedal hard and drove straight for the pond. I got ready to jump. I braced the baby and unlocked the door. The pond got closer and closer until I needed to jump. I dropped my backpack on the gas pedal and jumped the moment the water and car touched. The cold water hit my feet first. Engulfing me in water. I was there a second. But it felt like an eternity. I wondered if it. I wondered if I were to just float here, what would happen? But then a sharp pain gave everywhere. I was hot. I opened my eyes and swam upwards. I wasn't hot. I was cold. I burst into the hot August air. Gasping for air I remember what I had attached to me. I didn't have to swim far before I touched the ground, keeping the baby's head above the water as much as I could. When my feet hit the slimy sand I ran as fast as I could to shore. I collapsed onto my ass and took a second to breathe. Wait. Can Cass breathe? I pulled the wrap from my chest.

"Cass? Cassiopeiae!" I cried. I got no response. I took the wraps off fully and laid her on her side. She hit her back a couple of times. No response. I'm not hitting hard enough. She hit Cass's back three hard times. She started to vomit up her dinner and water. The moment she stopped she started to cry. A loud wailing sound that was certain to bring anyone in a four mile radius to them. Soon I started to cry too. After a couple of minutes I realized that we needed to start moving. While it was still early in the day I didn't know how far I was to the nearest city. I knew this area pretty well. I had snuck here when I was younger. I lived in a foster care and whenever I could I sneak out of that living hell.

We sat there and watched the car sink further into the pond. I could see the dogs inside of it, trying to get out. After a couple of seconds I took a deep breath in and stood up. I strapped Cass to my back, I no longer had my backpack and that left room for her on my back. We resumed our adventure to nowhere.

It took a couple of hours to reach anything but farmland. But there were no farms to be seen. I didn't see any cows or sheep or anything like that. Cassiopeiae got sunburned on her head and I got sunburned on my face. I ended up putting my shirt under a cap I found on the side of the road. It hung out behind me like some sort of neck cape. I had the sides of the shirt ripped and hanging over her head to protect her from the sun. The hat covering my burned and peeling face.

Four hours had passed, I was so thirsty and hungry that my stomach wasn't even hungry anymore at some point. My throat was so sore, dry and raw. I felt so sweaty in this hot weather. My legs felt like mush and I was at the verge of crying. I didn't have anything to do during the long walk so I thought of what any other girl my age would think of. What I would be doing in school right now. I am in the second semester of college. Which means I have five classes during the semester. It's a Monday right now and because the sun was not as high in the sky as it was about an hour ago. I assumed that It was two or three in the afternoon. I remember the good times. Partying, the midnight runs to target and fast food restaurants. I remembered all the times that I stayed up late studying with Amir. Amir. I spiraled from there, remembering all the good times we had together. We met in high school, science club. She had introduced me into the world of parallel universes. I thought it was so interesting, and she was so good at storytelling too. So when she told me that she had this amazing thing called parallel universes. She made me so excited and interested in the subject.

I didn't know if I wanted to stop now or continue to walk until I got over the hill. I had been climbing up this hill for about ten minutes. I no longer had any pep in my step so I was slower. I was almost at the top of the hill and I was so very close to giving up. That's when I saw it. A car. It was just there at the bottom of the hill. I didn't see anyone or anything near or in it, I didn't see any reason to not go over to it. So I started to run. I ran down the hill with no intention of walking. I ran fast to the car and didn't even think of the fact that I was running down a hill with a baby. I slowed down remembering Cassiopeiae, she was still sleeping somehow, but she didn't even move a muscle when I started up again. She was a heavy sleeper. That's why Amir was so boasty about getting a lot of sleep, even though I told her it's okay to not get any with a baby. But she didn't care about what I thought, it was her baby anyways. The car. I said inside my head. I will have to hard wire it. I'm glad I watched that video online about how to hardwire a car. I may have been drunk, but I remember how to do it.

I reached the car and unloaded Cass inside on the passenger's seat. She laid down and continued to sleep. I popped into the car, and looked under the steering wheel. I found the harness connector and began working. After about four or five minutes I got it up and running, almost no trial and error. I took a step back and relaxed into my seat, closing my eyes and praying. I know I have not been the most faithful, but please God let this work. If not for me, but for Cassiopeiae. I started the ignition. The car roared to life and I smiled for the first time in days.

"Let's go!" I shouted as I rolled down the windows and turned the car around. I looked through the compartment in the passenger's seat. There were some old mix tapes from the early 2010s. Some Selen Gomez, Taylor Swift, Fifth harmony, all of the classics. I pushed in the CDs and turned it up as loud as I dared. This was a good achievement. I sang along to everysoNG I knew, I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. At some point I went looking through the car, I found out it had belonged to a teenager by the name of Olivia Fernandez. She was eighteen years young and loved her granola bars. She had ten just in the pockets of the backseat. I shoved three in my mouth and saved the other twenty for later.

Cassiopeiae had eaten before we lost the car so she wasn't as hungry, but I could tell in half an hour she would be starving and start crying, but I didn't have any food for her. I didn't have any diapers or a pacifier. I could also tell she was fussy from the burn. Olivia didn't have any medical kits like the little bitch she was, but that was okay because I saw a sign saying Gas and Pass in twenty seven miles. So I held on to the little piece of hope.