The End of The Beginning

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

            I ran on for what felt like hours when it started to rain. It cooled off my sweaty body, but soon gave me chills from my head to my toes. My teeth were chattering like a windup toy. I could not see anyone behind me for miles. When I get back to school, I have to try out for the track team. I thought. But then I realize I may never get back to home, let alone school.

            I left a trail of muddy footprints wherever I went. I decided to leave I false trail. It would eat up time now, but maybe save time later. I took off my socks and left them on the side of the opposite road that I was about to go on. I also took off my horsetail bracelet I made with Henry. It wasn’t a girl bracelet, just for clarification, it was manly. Henry ripped it off after just three days. Said it wasn’t his “style”. He was dead to me. I ripped it off and threw it on the road. I sprinted the other way, careful to cover up my footprints.

Once I had gone about two miles, I stopped covering my footprints. I had barely realized the rain had stopped. Probably all of my footprints were gone anyway. I looked up, and realized I had come to a town. A ghost town. There was not a single car and dust was covering shops in thick layers. Houses looked vacated and plants were browning or dead. I wonder how long people had been gone from here. Looked like years. Ivy was covering houses and blocking doors.

I slowly walked from house to house, store to store. Houses had some old furniture in them with moth holes and mice were scampering about. There were some old woman’s clothes in a closet. They looked like they were from the 1920’s.

I walked in to a grocery store and saw meat that was green from top to bottom, covering every square centimeter of it. There were open bags of chips laying on the floor. Looked as if some rat had a midnight snack. The only thing that looked untouched by the earth and the things on it were the saltine crackers. The box had scratches but it was the best I could do. I popped when in my mouth praying it wouldn’t kill me. It tasted stale and flavorless, but it filled the whole in my stomach that I didn’t notice until now. The water in the kitchen in the back of the store didn’t have running water but it had paper towels, which I used to wipe off the cold sweat lingering on my clammy neck.

I saw my reflection in a mirror above the kitchen sink (a mirror in the kitchen?!). My hair was disheveled and there was dried blood under my nose. My eyes were bloodshot, only enhancing the green in my eyes. My blonde hair looked brown from the mud and leaves that had accumulated. My wrist was red from where I tore off the bracelet. Henry. That son of a bitch goddamned freaking jerk. Dammit. Why does my once best friend have to be such a jerk?! I can’t trust anyone. Not even my sister, not my parents, not my best friend. Not even my best friend’s mom! What is wrong for this god-forsaken world?

I have a terrible life. No I’m not dying, but I might as well be! I have no reason to live. M sister is likely dead and my parents are surely dead! Why must I live? Why was I chosen for such a task as to live? I closed my eyes for a second. I think I fell asleep, but who knows for how long. My watch has been dead for quite some time now, stuck on 7:29 PM.

All I know is that for a few seconds, I had a hallucination. It had to be. I was with my parents…and Grace. She was restored to full color and my parents weren’t covered in ashes. We were all happy. I kept trying to get their attention, but it was like I wasn’t even there. They were talking about me, but only about my recent achievements such as getting straight A’s. Grace took that time to brag about getting a one hundred percent on her spelling test. They were speaking about how happy they were to be a family. And then my mom burst into tears crying about how I had run away from home and how much she missed me. She wanted me to come back. My dad tried to console her but that made her weep even more. She said that she would kill herself if he didn’t come back.

            I needed to wake up. I tried to wake up. I cried myself awake. I was shaking. I was freezing. It was raining and dark and windy and I want to go home but I can’t because I don’t have one. Why the hell does my life need to be so awful? I want to drown or cut or take some sort of pill that makes me die. I knew people were coming for me. Why though? What is so special about me? My parents only died for God’s sake and I only tried to take my sister why were they trying to capture me? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS WORLD!

            I had to get up, though. I needed to survive. My parents would want one of us to survive. I guess it has to be me. I brushed the cracker crumbs off my chest and got up, ready to run. My head hurt and I felt like crap, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that. I ran out of the grocery store, only to find the town buzzing with people. Grey people.