Still Breathing

It was supposed to be just another night.

A party. Friends. Laughter. Something to forget the strange reports spreading across the city.

Then the screaming started.

When Chris and his friends escape the house, they expect to find chaos outside-a city struggling to survive the beginning of an outbreak.

Instead, they find something far more disturbing.

The streets are empty.

Buildings are crumbling.

Food has rotted behind sealed doors.

And the world around them looks as though no one has lived there for years.

But the outbreak only began that day.

There should be people everywhere.

There should be sirens. Cars. Emergency crews.

Someone. Anyone.

Yet after leaving the house, they never see another living soul.

As the survivors search for answers, strange inconsistencies begin appearing everywhere they go. Places they know seem unfamiliar. Time feels wrong. The world itself seems to have changed somewhere between the house and the backyard.

And then they begin to wonder:

Did they survive the outbreak...

or did they survive something else?

Whatever happened that night didn't just change the people around them.

It changed where they are.

And they may not be alone in this new world.

⸻

STILL BREATHING

Somewhere along the way, they stopped running from the end of the world...

and started wondering if they were ever in their world at all.

Words from the Author.

I wrote this story in Middle School, for an 8th grade English assignment. I recently discovered the manuscript for it in my closet. I've decided to use my knowledge of literature to bring this story back to life, and making it the story I've always envisioned. I hope you enjoy it while I slowly add new chapters and unfold this mystery.