Sinners

Progression

 I felt my eyes watering as I finished the book. It was the most I could do these days.The electricity was down, and there were no operating factories to make basic necessities such as clothes and even canned food. I put down the book as I wait for it, it comes like a wave as always. At first, I would think it’s the cold, but after experiencing it so many times in the past, i know its helplessness, sadness and despair, a shiver of fear travels down my spine, no matter how many times I’ve felt these emotions before they still manage the affect me as badly as they first did. It was the absolute worst.

 I stand up suddenly, making my weak legs tremble and black spots to appear in my vision. “Eat.” I shake my head. I see my brother leaning against my bookshelf, holding a candle in his right hand and a can of beef stew in the other. He probably heated it over a flame because I could feel the gentle warmth against my ice-cold skin.

 I stand there stupidly for a few seconds, and then start shuffling towards him. He hands me the can of warm stew and carries me towards the couch and makes me sit down. I quietly sip my stew, thankful that my brother was there. He was always just there. He was always there, just like oxygen. Consider that ironic due to the fact my brother has asthma. I know, it’s so cliche-ish. An apocalypse, and a sibling with asthma, great. I try to resist the hysterical laughter building up in me, but I laugh anyway. My brother laughs too, we had probably gone too insane to care about containing our pointless laughter. We both stop after a few seconds, but we look into each other’s eyes. Probably not the wisest of decisions considering both of us were at the point of fainting.

 We both stare at our collection of books, which were our only source of entertainment other than our own imaginary worlds. Mine consists of the extent of corruption of humans, of the stupid things our ancestors did, and the pointless cruelty that plagued the lands in the past. I laugh at the thought again. This time, he stares at me as if I were a mad woman, which was probably the case. His most probably had unicorns and fairies in his collection anyway.

 “Get ready,” I say. I walk towards my drawer of clothes to be greeted by tattered shirts and pants. I sigh and pick out the most decent looking ones and throw on a coat, just to hide the ugly holes in my shirt. When I reach the door, Aiden was already there, looking paler than before.

 I unlock the countless number of locks on door and reach for the doorknob, thinking of the sickening sight outside of the thick, stainless steel door. I look back right before I twist the doorknob and look one of the many bookshelves in the den, thinking of how wonderful it would be to just curl up on the sofa with a good book. I step forward into the chilling air and descend the seemingly endless stairs.