The once beautiful light blue flawless sky slowly disappeared. Humongous dark gray clouds filled the city of Ocean Springs. People ran like you would not believe all in the same direction but without a true destination. Streets were filled with vehicles that couldn’t move. Mothers covered their babies with blankets to filter the air from the from the horrible smoke. Everyone was coughing and trying to breathe as little as possible. Children cried and screamed. A little boy on the corner of a road screamed for his mother but she did not answer. The poor little boy was ignored as he slowly fell against the brick wall of a coffee shop, where his mother told him she would be just a half hour ago, coughing, dying from that harmful air. Everyone had the same thought, “What am I running from?”
Claireesa and her sister, Stephanie, ran as fast as they could out their back door and down the steep hill just behind their house. They had to get to the underground shelter before the cloud could reach them. They ran and ran occasionally looking up to see how much closer the cloud of smoke had gotten. Claireesa got to the shelter just a moment ahead of Stephanie. She struggled as she opened the thick steel door and yanked Stephanie’s arm in a hurry to lock and seal the door shut. She shuffled around in the pitch black in search of the lantern and box of matches.
The shelter lit up and they looked around the shelter observing and planning how they would survive. The shelter was so much bigger than they expected. In the back right corner an old white laundry basket painted with dirt and dust held four blue fleece sleeping bags, two rectangular white pillows, and two pink and furry round pillows. Next to the basket against the right side wall was a bookcase that once stood in their living room full of books. Now it’s filled with canned food and bottles of water. This all seemed too real, too difficult for just the two of them to handle.
The two looked at each other too scared to move or speak. Their faces were as pale as a ghost and tears began to stream down from their eyes. Stephanie’s body gave in as she fell to the floor on her knees. Claireesa ran over and fell down as well, hugging, and comforting her.
“Everything will be fine, Steph. Trust me,” Clair said as she softly kissed her sisters forehead. She ran over to the white basket and grabbed two of the sleeping bags. She laid them out next to each other and motioned for her sister to sit next to her on the sleeping bag.
Steph continued crying as Clair held her rocking back forth trying to stay strong. She could hear the rumbling of buildings and the screaming of the unfortunate people just on the other side of that thick steel door. Steph drifted off to sleep and Clair decided she should attempt to protect herself and her sister a little more by dragging the bookcase of food and water in front of the door.
She struggled to drag the bookcase as she slowly inched it out from the right side wall. She pulled the right half out from the wall about a foot then ran behind it to push out the left side. She then pushed the left side toward the door, being careful around her sister. She ran around again to the right side of the bookcase and began pulling it towards her. Paying too much attention to how close she was to her sister, she didn’t realize how close the bookcase was to herself. She pulled the bookcase towards herself again right into her shoeless feet. She fell to the floor scrunching her face and grabbing her feet in pain. After a few seconds, the pain went away and she stood up then went at it again until she finally succeeded. Then she walked over towards her sister and collapsed onto her sleeping bag.
Clair laid there wondering if this shelter would actually protect them and if it did how they would survive after the rest of the world is gone. What if they ran out of food and water before they could leave the shelter? What if there was no oxygen left on earth?
Clair’s mind trailed off in a series of what-ifs distracting her from the rumbling and explosions outside. The noise was so loud it was silent and for a second she thought she had heard the screams of her parents begging her to let them in. She snapped out of her daydream and still kept hearing them call her name. She jumped up and ran to the bookcase in attempt to move it once again. She struggled too much this time. She yelled for Stephanie.
“Steph! Wake up! Wake up! We have to let mom and dad in!”
Stephanie ran to her side to help her move the bookcase. They moved it just enough to open the door. The noise got louder along with the screams. Clair opened the door and they both peeked outside. Everything was on fire. Their parents were nowhere to be found. Clair looked down in disappointment. Her mind had been playing tricks on her. Just then, they heard what sounded like thunder above them. They looked up almost synchronized with each other. They caught a glimpse of a helicopter through the tree branches above. Then they saw something falling. It was huge. They ran inside and hurried to shut the door but it was too late.
The world faded to white and they fell to the ground.
