Godsend

Where We Are

April 14th, 2015

I realized something just recently; something that James brought to my attention. It hit me when our MP3 player ran out of batteries again. James and I were just sitting in the living room listening to music together, one headphone for each of us, and the music just cut off. I immediately felt sad, felt like the last little solace we had had been snuffed out. I took out my headphone and began scrounging for batteries around the room, tearing through the drawers almost feverishly, when from behind me I hear James singing, picking up where we had left off in the song.

Born and raised to take the cake

No one can stop you,

Now that you're invincible.

You played the game and it played you

Why so down and why so blue?

You had it coming.

I joined in, harmonizing perfectly with my own voice, singing along with James. It was at this moment that my revelation hit me. Music could never be taken away from us. When the TV stopped working, we couldn't recite news broadcasts, or play out our favorite shows. When the internet crashed, we couldn't pretend to use social media or pretend to Google things. But even if our MP3 player broke, we could always sing our favorite songs no matter what. This was the most beautiful thing I could fathom. We stayed inside that whole day, singing songs that we knew. 

I told James that he should probably stay inside when it's time to go on a food run, that it'd be safer that way, in case the dupe hunters happened upon us. He told me it wasn't necessary and that he didn't want to be cooped up all alone by himself. I could understand the feeling. That night we decided to eat outside, the last morsel of bread and cheese we had from the day before.

We sat outside the front door on some lawn chairs we had nicked from a grocery store during a riot. The neighbor on our right, Lisa, came over and hung out with us while we ate dinner. She was a skinny woman before the Godsends got here, now she looked like a stiff breeze would take her away. Lisa brought powdered milk and canned corn over with her and we all shared in a sort of community potluck. She told us she could hear our singing through the walls, which instantly flushed my cheeks. James was laughing. 

"What did you think?" James asked her.

"It was nice to listen to, it sounded like happiness. You guys seem happy, even with everything as shitty as it is." Lisa took a bite out of a sandwich consisting of one piece of bread and a wedge of cheese. Just watching her eat made me feel better. Lisa was one of those people that didn't have a Godsend, so James and I made sure to keep and eye on her. She lived alone, so we imagined she needed a friend. After our potluck, we stayed outside for a little longer, watching shady characters pass by under the corner streetlight. Lisa sparked up a joint and offered it to us; we gratefully accepted, I didn't even think we could get weed anymore. We baked for a little bit, until the sounds of screeching tires and screaming people in the distance prompted us to pack up.

I asked Lisa if she would like to stay with us for the night, just to be safe, she politely declined. I insisted, I told her that she could have the bed and that James and I would have the floor. 

"I do appreciate what you guys do. But I'll be okay, we'll all go on a food run tomorrow okay?" She smiled weakly, but it was enough to make me relent. We hugged her goodnight and went inside. 

The screams outside got louder every night, they were getting closer.