Shelly
"Mom, are you going to tell me what's going on?"
I fold my arms uncomfortably against my chest watching my mom who's packing away all the documents from the drawer to her desk, frantically. We're in her office. There's two family photos sitting at the front of her desk, but she grabs the one that doesn't have dad in it.
She finally makes eye contact with me, "yes, later! Come! We don't have much time."
All she was really taking with her was a folder which was filled with the important documents she needed to obtain from here. That, and the picture frame she was holding.
I follow my mom out of the office. She locks it up before we go and sirens suddenly start going off.
"Everyone, please evacuate the building, this is not a drill. It is an emergency."
It played on loop through the intercom, while everyone started rushing out of their offices and down the hallways to the emergency exits. You'd think everyone would be leaving in a more professional manner considering they teach us to leave the building in a calm, straight line. No pushing, shoving, or cutting in line at school. But no.
Mom looks up at the camera on the ceiling next to us, "we're already too late, they know!"
She starts running down the hallway towards the elevator but stops once she realizes that they're all in use and packed. She runs for the staircase which not many people were using. Me, following anxiously behind her and dodging people.
A woman starts screaming out of nowhere and all I could hear was the frantic voices of people rushing and panicking. This was definitely no ordinary drill.
"Mom!" Comes racing out of me as we become so close to closing in on the staircase but once we get to the intersection of hallways, this man out of nowhere starts attacking her.
"Mom!" I scream when he grabs a strong hold of her and bites her wrist before she could get him off her. She yells at me to run.
He was one of them, he was one of the infected people we saw on the news. I'm about to go psycho on this freak when gunshots sound from the end of the hallway and that's when I realize this dude handling a gun, shot the infected dude point blank through the head. Not only that though, that bastard shot my mom!
"Mom!" I scream again, horrified as she starts spitting out blood and dropping to her knees. She was shot in the chest.
I go to her side, helping her to the ground and pulling her into my arms.
I touch the side of my face my mom streaked with blood, my eyes filling with tears as I remember that awful day. I close my eyes as a heavy, silent breath of air escapes my mouth. I can still feel the imprint of it on my face.
"You need to get to your sister, and when you do, don't let the government find her, including your dad. They know what I did."
Those words were engraved in my memory. It was the last thing she said to me before she died.
"Shelly, you good?" Kaleb breaks my train of thought.
We were hiding out in the house across from the home we were forced to leave after the world went dark.
I nod at Kaleb, and instinctively wipe aware the lone tear that ran down my face as he gives me a small smile before going over to Lance who was peering out the living room curtains, waiting.
"You think he's gonna show up?" Kaleb questions.
"That's the idea, but we can't be too sure so let's not get our hopes up. Could be a false alarm."
The power was out in this section of the city so it was hard to really see anything and it didn't help that it was night out. My eyes were pretty adjusted to the dark by now though, and the light from the moon would stream into the house every time Lance opened the curtain he was looking out of.
We came on our own, the three of us. This was our own private mission and it was crucial no one knew about it except for the four of us. You can't trust anybody nowadays. We couldn't even trust our own dad. Whatever Mom was so afraid of, he was part of the reason.
"Anything yet?" I ask after another 10 minutes of silence. I glance down at Mr.Winfrey who was leaned back against the centre of the couch, his fingers locked around a gun and his brains splattered on the wall. I remember this night. I remember hearing the gunshot. We witnessed a lot of crazy shit happen around the neighbourhood. His body was here for a long time, it was pretty decayed. Somehow, I don't know how, but I was used to the smell by now which I never thought would happen. I swat a fly away with my hand when it goes near me.
"Not yet." Lance responds.
It was weird being in the neighbourhood again. Despite the fact that this place held so many good memories, the only thing I could relate to this place now, was the tragedies that took place. And Serenity being gone..
I absent-mindedly zoned out on the dark outline of Mr.Winfrey's face then blinked my eyes away. I start sauntering around the living room, trying to get rid of the nervous, unsettling feeling that had found its way into my stomach. Lance warns me to be careful and to not wander too far before I leave the living room. I utter an "okay" and go in the direction past the staircase and into the hallway leading to the bedrooms.
Mr.Winfrey was a kind, sometimes grouchy old man. He lived alone. He lost his wife to cancer and his children were long grown up and moved out. There was at least 4 bedrooms in this house so I imagine he and his wife were living here for years. I hope he found peace and that he's reunited with her.
I enter the first bedroom on the left facing the string of houses Lance was keeping an eye on. I pull my flashlight out from my bag that's hanging over my shoulder and turn it on so I could see where I'm going. The room was so neat and pristine-looking. Nothing was out of place surprisingly, and it looked like Mr.Winfrey was regularly tending to it before he passed because it wasn't all that dusty or stuffy in here either.
I move across the room and trace my fingers along the material of the silky red blanket laid out on the bed, before going to the vanity beside it. I think it was an antique.
I stand in front of it and set my flashlight on it bottom side up so it could shine some light for me. It's been awhile since I actually looked at myself in the mirror, other times it was just quick glimpses of my reflection.
My dark roots were coming out a lot. My hair was dyed blonde, it was also pretty wavy and thick too. The person in front of me didn't even look like me anymore. My blue eyes looked so barren and guarded.
I drop down on the bed which was really soft and bouncy and spread out on my back. I lay there and stare up at the ceiling. There was so much going on in my head right now. An echo in the corner of my mind of me screaming, "do something!" to Lance when Serenity hit the ground after he tore her off Elizabeth. The silence that overwhelmed the house when it was over and Lance had put a bullet in her head. The hysterical screams from Elizabeth that erupted moments after. The images of her seizing on the ground next to Serenity. How her eyes rolled to the back of her head and foam ran out of her mouth. I didn't go to the hospital with Lance and Ethan because I was too ashamed. I couldn't get the hatred that filled Elizabeth's eyes out of my head when she looked at Lance and I. She was convinced Serenity was still alive and that no one had seen it because no one was paying attention. She went on about Serenity changing back to normal after she bit her. But that was crazy. You don't change back, you just die.
I took a shower after that. I was alone in the house. Kaleb went straight to the hospital when he got the text. I sat in the tub with my knees pulled up to my chest and my arms wrapped around them. The water was running on me and it was on the hottest temperature. I was numb, I couldn't feel anything. I sat in there till the water ran cold.
I shut my eyes trying to clear my mind and make it go blank so that all I could see was blackness instead of the never ending memories that I didn't want to remember.
I let my head roll to the side and stare at my fingers beside my head- and I just lay there for a moment longer until I finally sit up again. My eyes land on the portrait of Mr. and Mrs.Winfrey sitting in a picture frame behind my flashlight which was casting a dim light on it. They looked so happy and in love. When everything was normal. When people weren't eating each other alive. When people weren't at war with each other for survival. They were a lot younger in this photo- Mrs.Winfrey's hand resting on Mr.Winfrey's chest and her head is on his shoulder. She looks kinda shy, and he has a full smile on his face knowing he got his girl.
I drop my gaze to the floor as Kaleb comes into the doorway and leans against the frame. "Hey, Lance spotted Ethan. He's in the house. We're gonna go soon. Make sure you're ready."
I look up at him and nod before he disappears from my sight again.
I grab my flashlight and go.
I step up to the porch, bracing myself first before I took the first step. It felt so surreal being here, like I was in some odd fantasy. I pictured coming back here so many times. This moment. Seeing that flare take off into the sky and knowing that Elizabeth was still alive. I hope she's forgiven me because I'm having a hard time forgiving myself.
My feet start moving across those familiar wooden steps until I'm standing in front of the door to my old house. My eyes drift over the many other houses until they stop back on mine. My heartbeat starts accelerating at rapid speeds and pounds in my ears. I begin reaching for the knob until I freeze and stand there paralyzed with panic swirling through my guts. I don't know why this was so hard for me but it's been so long since I've been to my house that I didn't know how to feel. I knew that when I walked in there I wasn't going to see my mom. My little sister wasn't going to be running into my arms like she always ecstatically did every time someone walked in. She was always so happy and had so much energy and life. I just wish we could go back to the way things used to be..before mom changed jobs and dad became more political. When this place felt like home, not some memory that was always haunting me.
As I'm about to grab the knob once more the door instead opens for me and Ethan's standing opposite of me. He smiles at me, "hey, Shels."
I force an uncomfortable smile back and mumble a quick "hey" before walking in past him while he closes the door behind me.
"Glad you made it, for a second there I thought you weren't going to see it." He says.
"No, I saw it," I take a quick look over of my house- that familiarity filling me and being enough to leave a heaviness in my heart. I stop in the living room and turn to face Ethan. I cross my arms, "so is she alive?"
I could feel Lance closing in from the kitchen around the corner and I knew Kaleb was listening from upstairs. There's a long, sturdy pipe on the back of our house that we used to use to sneak out of the house and there's a key buried in Mom's old plant that no one tended to- including her, because she was hardly ever home. It was sitting on the windowsill of the back window in the garden.
Ethan just stands there staring back at me like he was analyzing me and then he lets out a humourous chuckle, "look, this isn't necessary guys. I know Lance is listening by the wall and Kaleb is coming down the stairs. And yes, she's alive," he then answers.
Lance reveals himself, holding his gun in a calculative fashion and aiming it at Ethan before he arches his eyebrow and lowers it. Kaleb comes down the stairs the same.
"How did you know?" I had to ask.
"Because I've known you guys all my life. You really think I didn't know that Lance wouldn't let you come alone, or that you guys have to scout out the place before you get down to business? I know what's at stake and you guys should know I can be trusted. Elizabeth's family, man. So are you guys. I get it though, it's all good. No hard feelings."
"Can't be too careful," Lance states bluntly.
"I know."
"So how do you know she's alive and why isn't she with you?" Kaleb asks what we're all thinking, still gripping his gun tightly by his side and ready to fire it if he had to.
"A friend of mine found her but there's a slight problem.."
"What's that?" I question.
"She doesn't remember anything. She claims she woke up in the hospital 6 days ago. I told her we went there looking for her a month ago."
Kaleb and I just kind of stand there with "what the fuck?" and "are you joking?" expressions on our faces while Lance just stands there unfazed. I let out a humourless laugh, "a month ago?" I echo.
Lance speaks over me with that impassive yet intimidating look that's always on his face, "so what you're saying is she thinks all of this only happened a month ago? It's been almost a year."
"Yeah, I know dude. But you didn't see her face. She looked like a lost child who didn't know how to deal with life and she could barely handle what I had to say at all. She thinks that night with Serenity was just a dream. So I thought a month wouldn't seem like that much of a deal to her."
Kaleb scoffs in the background and rolls his eyes sarcastically, "yeah, because all of this happened in a month." He twirls his finger around in the air, referring to the current state humanity was in.
"A lot can happen in a month."
"Yeah, not enough."
"Okay, so where is she?" Lance cuts to the chase.
"She's at Felicity's. She's in good hands, she just needed time to process but she's fine."
The rest of the conversation drowns out as I just stand there with relief flooding in even though I know I shouldn't get my hopes up until we've actually gotten her back. The heaviness weighing in my heart, lifts a little, until my eyes lock with the bathroom across the room and the memory of me scrubbing the blood off the linoleum and carpet. The tears and grief I felt when I did. The condition it left my fingernails in as I scrubbed and scrubbed for hours but I still couldn't get the stain out of the carpet.
My eyes trail down to the light brown stain in the cream-coloured carpet.
I swallow dryly.