25 January 2013
Hopeless, Not Romantic Everyday, is the same. I slowly started to feel nothing- I was fading away into the deepest darkness anyone believed their was. My emotions slowed, to a blank state. At the age of 13; I'd been told I was in Depressed Trance. By the same person, I'd been said to be a Schizophrenic. My best friend, and boyfriend was the only person I told things to. But this time, I didn't know how to tell anyone something like this. I was divided from everyone, with lines only I could see. As I walked through the halls at school, I'd eye everyone I seen and secretly think, "Too pretty, too crazy, too bitchy, too smart.." And that first day, there was just one person who seemed to fit my liking. Not too much of anything. He was quiet, and alone. Of course, I was nervous. I may have had one of my spells. "Hi," I greeted, quietly. Just loud enough so he could hear me. "Well hello there." Those brown eyes, looked into mine and I could tell we were the same kind of people. But we were only 11 or 12 years old, in 6th and 7th grade. Now, 16 and 17. He's a Junior, and I'm a Sophomore in high school. I casually used to wonder who I'd be with if neither of us said anything, because people like us weren't meant to be happy. On that ordinary day, I drove down the road on my way to Ty's house, when my "Low Gas" light flickered on. As I pulled over, such nonsense played on the radio. "37 unrelated, suspected gang members are in custody for killing 59 people in the streets of New York. The word has it 28 victims are still alive after being reported dead, but the number growing." I flipped off the news, not really caring or paying attention. Pumping the gas, was a bore as usual. An ambulance pulled into the parking lot, and drew my attention to a man vomiting blood, surrounded by people on the ground. I shrugged to the situation; in my head giving a quick prayer to the man. I heard a shout of, "Get back folks, he's gone." But by that time, people had scattered everywhere. The EMT left the body, to get a body bag. But the man, got back up.
And that's when I knew, something big was happening.
And the vision came to me.
People ran, or at least I thought they were people. Some deranged, covered in blood. Missing limbs, without clothing. Their eyes seemed to look everywhere, or maybe they weren't using their eyes.
I flashed back to reality, breathlessly and the man limped into a woman across from me, also pumping her gas. "Sir, are you alright? Excuse me?" A confused daze cornered the woman in a frozen stance, as that dead man ripped right into her stomach, as that lady screamed in agony- and her child, in the back of the car squaled. A tri-tone sounded from my phone. iMessage From Ty: "Hey have u seen the news? Crazy right?!" The EMT returned, amazed, and stood in disbelief. I paid for my gas and stopped at nothing to get to Ty's house. I was going to reply to his text, but with all that going on, my decision was to keep my eyes on the road, so I called him. The phone rang, twice before he answered. "This is absolutely nuts!" For a few seconds, perhaps 20 or 30- Maybe even a few minutes I was just stunned. "Are you alright?" Tyler asked me, but I didn't comprehend the words. "No," "Have you been... Bitten?" "No, you won't believe this." "I don't believe anything..." I pulled in the driveway, looked at all my mirrors and through all the windows before even thinking about getting out.
Nothing.
I pulled my keys out, and scurried to the door. Someone wandered from behind the trees, and charged at me, flinging blood everywhere. I'd already knocked on the door, and I could see Ty in the distance through the small window. I began to get dizzy, and was practically bearing the door down. I watched the tattered corpse stumble around, and frown, growling at me, as Ty pulled me in the door, locking it behind me. "Whoa, that was close, you weren't bitten right?" Ty was so curious, and I seen why. "No, I haven't been touched, all day." I didn't see what was going on, or what I'd seen at that gas station. Ty offered me a seat, and turned on the TV, to follow up on the few seconds of broadcasts he'd missed. I looked over at him, so pale, his coal black hair not helping. "I gotta tell you something." I said it, unconsciously. Uncontrollably, words started flowing from my mouth. I grabbed his hand, and we both closed our eyes. "How did you do that?" "Do what?" "That, just, what you just did- how'd you do it?" "I don't know, but I seen it too," The conversation ended, and Ty pulled me to the window, cracking the blinds and moving the curtains just enough to see out. "So, that's it?" Ty said, coldly. "Yep, as far as the world can see," Silence arose over us both, and he suggested some plans. "Before this gets too bad, you better go get your stuff, since your parents are both on business trips, camp with me," "Okay, I won't be long." Together we stared at the lifeless creature in front of us, less than a foot of separation. "I better come with you, help me barricade first." "Why do we need to barricade?" Which I now realized was an incredibly dumb question. "You've seen what they can do. End of story." Ty reached into a closet, pulling out a couple hammers, nails, and several boards. I took care of the living room, while the CDC programming played, softly. "REPORT: Unusual behavior, barricade your homes, avoid all contact with infected individuals. Wait for official instructions." The message repeated so many times I thought I was going crazy. But then, I thought, "You know, maybe you're already crazy. Laying in the bottom of a loony bin," nailing boards over the windows, curtains on the inside wasn't too hard, but Ty finished before me, like always. "You know, we're trying to save each other's lives, not show off Ty." I joked with him, no matter what kind of mood I was in, or how I felt. "Alright, we'd better get going. Shut everything down, don't want to attract any unwanted visitors." Ty said, tossing me a pistol and a pack of extra rounds. Beside the door, we stood like spies from a movie. "3, 2, 1..." Ty knocked the door open, and used the crowbar he'd taken from the Nail closet, and took care of that thing in just a few seconds, a sharp blow to the head. I felt so cool, with that shiny gun- walking to my solid black car, like a super spy. I got in the passenger side, Ty in the driver's. We looked at each other, laughed and then went blank again. We looked around, and seen nothing, then switched each other places. "That was a good one, Ali. Ha!" Ty laughed for nearly 5 minutes, then for quiet. The tri-tone of my phone rang again. iMessage From Ty: "Hey lol what r u doin?" "Really Ty? Gosh, you're so immature!" I said everything sarcastically, because I was afraid of the truth at that point, and I didn't want him to notice. The rest of the ride was just Ty looking out his window, absorbing everything. He wasn't ready either, and I could tell. "Alright, let's go. Watch yourself, I can handle this." I said, firmly; hoping not to let off too much negative energy. "Yeah right, you couldn't handle one of those things!" There he'd went again, with sarcasm, sensing my tone. We went into my house and it was just the way it was, how I'd left it. I grabbed sleeping bags, personal items, and Ty got the food, and tools. The back two seats were filled with my things, and the trunk was loaded down with tools and such. "Home sweet home," Ty stated, looking gloomy- just the same as before. I set up a pillow fort in the living room, and Ty wasn't exactly as happy as he'd ever been, so he took the couch. "Are you, okay?" I asked, nearly mocking him from earlier. "Yeah, I'm just... Thinking. You know? Before we die, there's something I want to do. Something I wanna tell somebody, but I just wanna know what they'll say before I do it." Ty said it, on his back, arms crossed behind his head, staring at the ceiling. At this point, January 8th, 2013, we'd been together nearly a year. If we lived into the end of the month, January 31st, it'd officially be a year. But, neither of us knew if we would make it that long... It was quiet for a while, but we were becoming used to that. Soon enough he came close, and crawled into my fort, in a delicate way. I couldn't sleep, and I felt sick. There had to be something more; had to be. That made me smile, and laugh a little though. He didn't know about my cutting problems, or anything else. I was sick and tired of hiding around Ty. I needed to reveal myself, or at least tell him something.
But then my phone started to ring.
It was Mom.
I picked up and said, "Mom? You should be at work, during this hour is everything okay?" The tone of her voice was condemned and condensed. Her words jumped from her mouth- and overfilled my mind extensively. "Honey, this sickness is spreading so fast. Your father was caught by someone today and was acting strange. He said he was.. Bitten.."
Hopeless, Not Romantic • Opuss № I