Inexplicable

11. Sadie

My grandparents are in the ground. In another life, without me. It makes me think. Is it better to die peacefully in a destroyed world? Or is it better to die fighting in a peaceful world? What is there to fight for, then?
Relatives and family friends I don't know are leaving. The funeral took place outside, where there are bare, broken trees surrounded by the tombstones of people who left Earth too early. I've been to hundreds of funerals, but none of them hit this close to home. The dirty white chairs are now vacant and the dirt above their coffins has settled. The sun is almost completely down, relieving the sky from its harsh light. My family is more traditional than most. Nowadays most people freeze their loved ones in hopes they will meet them again soon. Others donate the bodies to medical research hoping to have some good come out of the death. Hope. Hope is a dangerous thing. It holds the capability to destroy or create you. And yet, that is all people seem to do. Hope because there is nothing left. Because reality is too exhausting.
Rest in peace.
I'm the last one to leave the clearing in front of their graves. Their absence is sinking in.
The cracked ground crushes beneath my black shoes. I walk up the sad hill that leads to my cousins' huge house. I stop at the silver screen door.
"Are you coming in dear?" My cousin Emaline asks.
I don't feel like talking to anyone right now.
"I think I'll go for a walk."
"Don't be too late." Her brown eyes look suspicious.
I just nod and leave, not completely listening to what she said.
As I walk along the crooked streets I see abandoned sanitation stations and sick people roaming the isolated roads. After what i seems like hours crushed into minutes, I see a large glass house. No it's not a house. It's a house-sized glass box that connects to something I can't see with a narrow transparent hallway. I walk up the small, grass less hill to get a better look. What does it lead to? The hallway is so long, but it goes in the same direction as my cousins house. A garage maybe? I press my face to the cold glass and take a look. It's too dark to see anything. I shrug. I've got time to kill the numbness I feel. I circle the box to find an entrance. There is no door, but I see a knob. I turn the knob and something pinches my hand. I pull my hand away automatically but something opens. I step inside, my footsteps echoing against white tile. "Hello?"
Nothing. The darkness remains. No lights are on, or are even here. What is this place? My phone flashlight works. I touch my wrist to find my phone, but of course I left it at the ceremony. I swallow and continue down the narrow hallway. When it finally comes to end, there is a bright room filled with computers and files and test tubes with liquids I've never seen. Out of the corner of my eye I see movement. I turn around and I scream. Something--someone has their hand fisted in mouth shoving a white cloth that tastes like acid down my throat. The strong arms are holding me back. I twist and I kick and yell but nothing is happening. I scream but no sound escapes my mouth. Another figure is running to me with a black bag. A body bag. Oh my God. This is it. This is how I'm going to die. I'm panicking and I can't breath. My heart is pounding louder than my head, and my sight is blurring.
But, there is one thing I can now see so clearly.
I see the running figure's eyes. The most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen.
They go wide in recognition.
"Sadie? What hell are you doing here?!" More dark figures are running to Aiden, who is now pacing. "Rolland let her go," He spits.
"She will ruin everything if we don't get rid of her, mate."
"Put. Her. Down."
The strong arms suddenly let me go. I fall. The coolness of the tiles is comforting. The acid now tastes like chocolate, telling me to take a nap. So I do.