by Erin Kathleen

Created on: May 05, 2008

There was a crackling under her feet with each step that she took. The sound reminded her of what it felt like to walk through her uncle's yard during autumn, just after the fallen leaves had begun to crisp and die. But the graves she walked upon today were not of trees, but of mankind. The crunching noises were from broken homes, burnt buildings, and rapidly fading memories. She stopped as these ideas flooded her mind. Why she was still here, she couldn't figure out. How she had braved this new world and gathered up enough courage to leave her safe haven, she couldn't comprehend at this very moment. It was only moments ago that she had stepped out into the light, and into this terrifying place, and now she couldn't remember why she had done it.

She'd been safe before. She was beginning to think that she had been a little too safe. When it was all happening, she wanted to be shielded from the chaos. She wanted to close her eyes, only to wake up from a bad dream. She had imagined going about her regular day just as she always had. She would wake up in her nice, warm bed and start her morning coffee. Everything would be real. And everything would be normal. Instead, when she opened her eyes, she was still in her tiny little hiding place. She'd found it last minute, when everything was happening. Behind her had been screams of panic, booms loud enough to make her ears bleed, and fire. So much fire. She saw a tunnel and ran under it for shelter. For some reason unknown to her, there was a small cubby hole against the tunnel wall. She had crawled inside as far as she could to escape the noise and the death. The last thing she heard was a baby crying in the distance. She'd heard that baby over everything else. Even over the deafening roars of whatever had been hovering above the tunnel, even over the terrific thunderstorms and rain; she heard that baby crying. She vomited and disappeared into her own little world inside her small hole in the wall.

Now, as she looked around at what was left of the world she had always known, she couldn't help but wonder what ever happened to that baby. The thought quickly made her sick and she shook her head to erase the pictures from her mind. She knew she needed to keep walking. Hunger pains were stabbing at her sides and her throat was swollen from thirst. She wouldn't venture too far, however. That had been our world's problem all along. We'd gone too far, learned too much. The heat was exhausting and she imagined that all of the

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>