I am (on hold)

Chapter 3 - Soul Survivor

Chapter Three – Sole survivor

I am lying in Jimmy’s room, trying to sleep. The image of my house tearing away from its concrete supports was frightening, even if at viewed from a distance. My family’s bodies have not been found yet. I want to close my eyes and sleep, but the task of lowering my eyelids takes more energy than I have. I want to mourn for my losses, but no tears are coming. So I lie here, and I wonder, why my family deserved this, and why I am the only survivor.

*******

I spent most of the morning in Jimmy’s room. I just laid there and stared at the ceiling. I finally emerged out of his cool, dark room, into the light of the lounge room and kitchen area. The kitchen was a fairly spaced out area, the fridge, stove and oven running along one wall, the dishwasher and sink on the other. Dividing the kitchen and the dining room was a long marble bench. Under the bench were cupboards, containing plates, bowls, cups and cutlery. There were also many floating shelves with cookbooks, ornaments and decorations.

Jimmy and Amelia were sitting at the table eating bacon and eggs. I didn’t feel very hungry, but I took a seat next to Jimmy anyway. Amelia passed me a plate filled with bacon, eggs and toast.

“There is also fruit in the bowl next to fridge if you are still hungry afterwards.” Amelia said, as she cleared her plate.

“Thanks Mrs McClay, I really appreciate you letting me stay here on short notice.” I gave a weak attempt at a smile. Even though I was in shock about things that have happened lately, it didn’t mean that I forgot my manners. Amelia flushed a little at the formalness of her last name being used.

“Oh, that’s alright, anytime. And please, just call me Amelia.” She said. She shot a small smile my way as she turned towards the sink.

I turned my attention back to my food. I slowly cut a bit of toast and bacon. I put it in my mouth and chewed slowly, savouring the taste. I didn’t realise how hungry I was until the food hit the bottom of my stomach. I ate the whole plate of food, took it to the sink, the washed and dried it. I turned to see Jimmy looking at me. I put the plate in the cupboard and sank back in the chair next to Jimmy. He looked exhausted. He had stayed up talking to me all night. I’m sure that if he had tried, he wouldn’t have gotten any sleep either.

“Are we going to go to school today?” I asked, noticing the time. It was ten o’clock, and school started one hour ago.

“No,” He said, his voice avoid of any emotion. “It is the last week so we don’t have to go to school until next year.”

“Oh.” We sat in silence for a while longer and I began to wonder what high school would be like. There were two high schools in the area, so I wouldn’t see half of my friends. I would meet new people. I wonder how they would treat me. I wonder how my old friends would treat me considering the... circumstances.

I sighed and said to Jimmy, “So, what are we going to do today?”

“I don’t know. I’ll see if mum will let us watch a movie or something.”

The days that followed weren’t different from the rest. Watch a movie, eat lunch, watch another movie, play a board game, eat dinner, watch a movie and go to bed. Our days weren’t very eventful. I spent most of my spare time wondering why. Why was the question to so many answers, but just created more in its wake.

The day before the funeral came, and Amelia was fussing over all of the fine details. She was being so kind, and had taken care of me since the day of the tragedy.

Jimmy and I had gone up to summer’s hill, where we viewed the second bombing. We saw flowers put all around the sight. We even went down there and added a wreath to the garden of flowers that was growing each day.

“The whole town must have seen the explosion, from the amount of flowers that are here” I whispered to Jimmy as we placed the wreath. He looked up and down the many bunches of flowers and cards.

“Yes, I suppose they did.”