Society [Original Work]

Society

The news has flashed on a constant loop for the past seven hours. Jude has watched Ms. Jennifer Leek for the past seven hours as her voice cracks and she tries to keep her calm. Jude sat quietly as she chokes back a noise, clears her throat, and repeats for the seventh time that officials have no idea what's causing the chaos that's sweeping through the country.

Jude listened quietly as Ms. Leek looked straight into the camera and told the nation that hope was futile.

Jude glances to his right and takes in the dark look his father is wearing. He started yelling at the first broadcast, screaming and hollering until his face was red and sweating. His mother had just stood there like usual, not even flinching when his father got too close to her face, spittle flying in his exuberant anger.

He quit yelling when the broadcast turned back on and showed the same footage for the third time in a row.

His parents have been quietly arguing for the past hour and a half and Jude had let his mind wander. He waits for the eighth rendition of the same broadcast to come up on the tv, but instead of the chime of the nightly news report, the sound cuts off just as the power goes out, leaving them in almost complete darkness. There's a battery powered lamp that stays lit in the kitchen, the light only barely reaching them in the front room.

"We're not staying here, that's for damn sure," his father grumbles, huffing as he propels himself out of his lazy boy chair. It rocks back and forth, casting a shadow that rolls from one wall to another after his father's sharp departure. He stomps his way out of the front room and into the kitchen, his steps turning from muffled thumps to slaps as he crosses the kitchen's linoleum floor. Each slap causes Jude to flinch slightly, memories of his face resting against the cold floor swimming to the front of his mind.

"And where do you propose we go, Frank?" his mother asks softly. She's pale, her eyes sunken in and her cheek bones are sharp and unforgiving. Her wrists are incredibly thin and Jude knows that if the room was lighter he'd be able to see the veins bulge across her hands as she wrings them nervously. She makes no move to try and catch sight of her husband in the kitchen, instead keeping her head down. Her eyes are shadowed over, hiding her emotions, but Jude knows the familiar sight of glazed over green eyes would be the only thing he saw.

"Town hall," his father snaps from in the kitchen. He stomps his way back in and Jude can see enough of his profile to brace himself for the flashlight that is thrown his way. He catches it, fumbling only a moment when the sting of the hard case against his palm causes him to wince. "Go grab what you need, boy," his father says harshly, already heading back into the kitchen.

His mother rises after him, her worn yellow dress softly fluttering as she follows her husband into the kitchen. Her footsteps are so light that Jude only knows that she's reached the kitchen by the resounding smack that floats in through the small hall connecting the two rooms.

Jude says nothing at the sound as he stands and heads down the opposite hall to his bedroom. He flicks the flashlight on as he loses the soft glow from the kitchen. He finds his heart starting to beat faster, his nerves picking up as he goes farther into the darkness of the hall. There's strange shadows being cast on the wall due to the flashlight and Jude tries his best to ignore them. The hall is empty of any decorations, a stark whiteness that is illuminated in the sea of darkness surrounding it. The carpet below his feet is thick and green on a good day, but now in the dark it looks black and sludge like. He ignores this as well.

Jude stops in front of his room and pushes open the door, taking a moment to take in the image his room presents. The clothes piled up in the corner are not even a foot away from his empty clothes basket. He flashes his light to the left and sees his out of date PlayStation left open, an array of open games scattered around it from where he'd left them when his father had called him into the front room earlier. His bend is unmade and his old TV sits on a crate across from the top of his bed.