Self-Preservation

Chapter 1

I step out of Maya's 2005 Jeep, its bright red paint now starting to fade or rust off. My plane ride over here was quite stressful, considering I didn't want to leave my bed. But, Thomas physically dragged me to the airport and shoved me onto the plane. It was a hard slap in the face, seeing people, being in public, and actually talking. The ride over was a bit easier, I could just go to sleep and stay in my own bubble.
"Get your stuff out of the back, Annie," Maya tells me, grabbing the keys out of the ignition.
I don't reply and I walk to the back of the jeep and grab my single suitcase and bag. Maya walks to the front door and opens it, I plod after her into the porch. It's a screened-in porch with a couple of wicker outdoor chairs. I remember Maya telling me about how she got this house 6 months ago when she moved out here. Before my mental state deteriorated.
~~~
"Oh my god, Annie, you'd love this cabin. This town feels just like London, but with more trees!" Maya exclaims over the phone.
"How'd you get it? You didn't tell me before you left!" I say fake-annoyed at her.
"You remember that one Uncle of my dad's, the one that lived here?" She questions.
"I remember you're parents talking about him when I was over for dinner when we were in high school but aside from that, no." I reply.
"Well, that old fart died! He has no children either so I guess the closest thing he had to a kid was me? Little curious as to why he didn't write either of my parents in, but hey, I'm not complaining!"
"How'd he die?" I ask, more sympathetic of the man.
"Some kind of disease, I don't know, there was never a funeral. The doctors said he had signed to donate his organs to research before he died. I guess that's what he wanted." She says carelessly.
"Oh, well I guess you got a sweet cabin out of it!" I say light-heartedly.
~~~
Maya snaps her fingers at me and shoots me an inquisitive look. I advert my attention back to her and she starts to give me the tour. There are two bedrooms, one downstairs and one in the loft. One bathroom, a kitchenette-thing, and a living room. The cabin is done up in fishing poles, stuffed prize fish, a couple of deer heads, and some more fishing stuff. Maya definitely hasn't done any redecorating since she moved in, nor does it look like she cleaned it either. There are cobwebs on the deer heads and in the corners of the walls. She ended the tour at the room I'd be staying in, the loft.
"I even washed the sheets for ya." Maya says and jerks her head to the side and winks.
I decide not to reply and to just walk into the room and start to unpack silently. Maya leans against the door frame and sighs,
"Annie, I'm sorry."
"It's ok." I lie, I hate it when Maya tries to be serious for a change.
Maya leaves her position in the doorway and walks over to me, grabs me by my shoulders and looks me in the eyes,
"It's not okay, Annie and I know it won't be for a while, but you need to snap the bloody hell out of it and be a woman." She states firmly, "Thomas needs you, and most importantly Charlotte needs you. You have responsibilities that you fucking deal with Anna, you're a mum and mums can't shut down like you are. You know Diana wouldn't have."
She said her name, Maya said her name. Maya told me the truth, the hard truth I've been trying to tell myself but haven't accepted. I start to curl my hands into fists at the use of her name. My mum's name, Maya crossed the line.
"Please leave." I practically seethe.
Maya taken aback by my sudden anger looks at me with hurt in her eyes, "No. You're here so I can fix you because clearly staying in London wasn't doing you any good." She snaps back. "You can be angry all you want, but remember I loved Diana and Marvin too. I've been there since pre-primary school, so don't you dare think you're the only one affected. I know how Diana would want you to be acting right now, especially with Charlotte and I sure as hell know you would be disappointing her right now. I love Thomas and all but he needed to have the balls to tell you too, but I'm okay with being the one that has to break it to you."
Almost as soon as it happened, it ended and Maya left the room and shut the door a bit on the forceful side. I sat down on the edge of the bed and blinked, shocked at what she'd said to me. It felt as though someone had thrown a pie full of reality into my face and then didn't give me anything to wipe the pie away with. I guess Maya does know how to be serious, I think in my head and giggle out loud almost like I'm crazy, which maybe I am. I lay down on the bed, on top of the comforter, and try to drift off to sleep.
~~~
I pick up the phone and put it exceedingly close to my ear,
"Hi, Mum," I whisper.
"Sweetie, are you sure I can't make dinner while your working, then when you get home it's all done! We can just visit with Thomas and Charlotte, you know how much your father and Thomas get along!" She says with a chuckle.
"Mum I don't think tonight's a good night, tomorrow night would be perfect, then I can visit with you guys too," I counter offer.
My mom's voice turns monotone and serious and she replies with, "It was your fault, you did this to us." Then a heart-wrenching scream sounds through the phone and suddenly my phone disappears and it's as if I'm the one being hit by a semi. I crouch down into the fetal position and scream as the semi approaches rapidly.
~~~
"Annie, Annie...Annie!" I hear a voice say, shaking me out of my nightmare.
I open my eyes to see Maya staring back at me worriedly. I wipe my forehead and feel the sweat transfer onto my sleeve.
"You were screaming." She states. "Was it a nightmare? Thomas told me you get those... every night."
"It was," I reply and feel like a four-year-old telling her parents that she was scared. "What time is it?"
"It's 3 in the morning, you've been sleeping since 5:45." She says, "Y'know what, I think it's time to start the day, we can go into town and grab some breakfast at the diner!"
I look up at her and frown, almost as a sign of me asking if we really have to go. She shoots me a look of disgust and yells,
"Yes, we are going out for breakfast. Now get ready."
I pry myself out of bed and throw on a sweatshirt and some leggings, and slide on some flip flops. Maya does the same and we leave within 5 minutes and hop into her jeep.
~~~
Maya said the diner was called Biggie's and that it had the best food in this tiny small town of Winston, Wisconsin. The diner was open 24 hours, hence how we were able to be served at 3:30 in the morning. The waitress, whose name tag read Debbi-Ann, gave us the menus as soon as we sat down considering there weren't any other customers besides a couple of truckers sitting at the serving bar. The woman took our orders and disappeared behind the counter, while we were waiting, the T.V up by the bar caught our attention.
"Impending U.S armed forces sent to Washington on the account of a patient said to have contracted the Flu seen in the Middle East. U.S scientists and doctors are ordering all citizens in Washington to stay inside their homes and the borders have been closed, along with the state in a Quarantine zone. Schools and work within the state have been canceled. Washington's representatives have been giving statements and updates by the hour, so stay tuned and we will be back at 6 with the daily news." The male reporter tells us.
One of the truckers at the bar stands up and looks at everyone like he had seen a ghost, then he calls out in a ghastly tone,
"I told y'all ye Zombie Apocalypse was comin', I knew it when I saw it on the boob tube."
Maya looks at me and she seems genuinely frightened, then she stands up and looks at the man and replies,
"Duncan, go back to your stupid cabin in the wood with your zombie "bunker" and all that shit and shut the bloody hell up you old fart! You said the vampires were coming last week when one of them teenagers dressed up in all black and wore white makeup! Quit trying to scare all of us!"
"Ye have been warned..." Duncan seethes and backs out of the diner and slams the door on his way out.
Maya sighs, clearly annoyed, and sits back down. "I'm sorry about him, he is one of those conspiracy theorists, every town seems to have one here in the U.S."
"It's ok," I reply.
Then the other trucker from the bar comes over and sits next to Maya, clearly worried, too. He apologizes to Maya for invading her space but ignores her clear look of utter disgust at him coming up to her.
"I'm just in town for breakfast, but do any of y'all know what's really going on?" The trucker asks, taking off his hat to show his blonde hair. This trucker wasn't like Duncan, he wasn't around from here, his accent was thicker and more twangy. He clearly was younger too, Duncan must've had at least 30 years on the young man.
"Well, I mean the T.V clearly just stated what was happening." Maya snaps back at him, and that was her way of flirting with guys, so I knew she wasn't going back to the cabin empty-handed.
"I know, miss, but with me bein' on the road and all I haven't been payin' much attention to the News." He says back politely.
"Nothing much to worry about, just some weird disease like the flu going around. Everything should be fine." She says back quite confidently.
"If you say so miss." He says and raises his eyebrows. "I'm Brent, by the way." Then he puts his hand out to Maya and she shakes it, next he shakes my own hand.
"I'm Maya and this Annie," Maya replies and bats her eyelashes at him after she says her own name. "On second thought, this might be a widespread epidemic and you wouldn't want to be stranded on the highway when it hits."
"Oh, now that'd be a shame." He says, clearly not catching on to her sarcasm and joke about the situation.
"Maybe you should stay with us at my cabin, while this all blows over for a couple of days." She smiles charmingly.
"Well, that sounds lovely Miss. Maya." He says and flashes his white teeth back at her, for a trucker he seems to take care of himself quite well.
"Finish your food here with us and then we'll head back to the Cabin." She says the first part to him but then directs the second part to both of us.
"Okay, Miss." He says and goes over to grab his plate.
While he was gone Maya leans over the table towards me and shoots me a goofy wide smile. I force a smile back at her, I hope this man doesn't bother me at all. I just want to lay in my loft all alone in my bed.
~~~