Shower Stories

The End

Rosebud Sampson
4.26.09
The End

She stared at the flickering flame waiting for them to come and take her away. They'd already taken everybody else, but they'd forgotten her. Years had passed since they'd taken the rest of Kira's city. She'd been hiding in the crawl space when they'd stormed the house. She was the only one that hadn't been found. All of her family was taken by the army as well. She was only ten then, now six years later, she was sure they were going to come back. She had almost no food, and almost all of the fuel she'd found was gone too. Recently, she'd seen helicopters hovering above the city, looking for squatters, looking for any kind of movement at all.

Kira was ready to go though. She barely remembered the last time she'd spoken with her mother or father or brothers. She barely remembered their voices. Kira had two brothers, one older and one younger. She remembered their names, Joseph and Anthony. She had a baby sister too, a new born, Alexandria. What happened to them? Were they alright?

No, Kira decided, they were either dead or brainwashed, which was pretty much the same thing. Kira reached for the last bottle full of water. As she sipped it down, she wrote the last entry in her diary that she would ever write. She had dozens of diaries all stacked together in her big backpack. There were books in it too, she brought it everywhere she went.

The city was huge, and she traveled from home to home, store to store, looking for anything she could use. In the end Kira always ended up right back where she started from, her home on Manson and 22nd street.

After writing for a couple of hours, Kira filled her backpack and put it securely on her back, but she didn't move. She stared at the flame as it melted away the last bit of wax. It was her last candle.

When Kira heard the helicopter land at the old park where she used to bike and play games with Anthony and Joseph, she didn't run or try to hide.

Kira was sitting in a chair at the table when the soldiers stormed in. She didn't even shift positions. She wasn't scared, she could have run at any moment and escaped, but the truth was, she was relieved to finally see another human being.

The soldiers were ready for a fight, but the girl surprised them. They'd been trained on how to deal with uncooperative people who were violent, but never for anything like this. The girl didn't speak, she didn't even look up from the dying flame.

"Uh... Excuse me miss," the commanding officer said clearing his throat, but the girl just kept her eyes on the table. He looked back towards his troops. Only three of them, Holden, Jeff and Anthony. This was supposed to be an easy mission, that's why he'd brought Anthony, his rookie, a boy about twenty. When Anthony'd asked Officer Marks where they were going, Marks told him he'd find out when they got there. But as soon as they came close the boy had frozen.

"I can't do this," he'd whispered. His normally rosy cheeks had gone pure white, giving him a ghostly look in contrast with his pitch black hair.

"Why not soldier?" Marks had asked, but Anthony just shook his head. When the 'copter landed, Anthony followed, Holden, Jeff, and Marks, almost eagerly, though his face was filled with dread.

When Marks looked over at Anthony, he found him staring at the girl. There was something in the boy's eyes that caught the man off guard. Anthony slowly moved toward the girl. She still hadn't even twitched.

Suddenly, the boy moved faster. He grabbed the girl's shoulders angrily. Holden and Jeff both moved to stop him, but Marks held up his hand.

"Kira!" Anthony shouted. "Why didn't you come with us? Why didn't you answer us? We called you! We kept calling you!" The girl just barely turned her head. Tears were spilling from Anthony's eyes. He shook her again trying to get her to look at him, but she just stared at the candle.