I walk out to the kitchen and entrance area and I freeze as I hear a sound.

It sounded like muffled crying.

I listen hard for a moment, trying to figure out exactly where it’s coming from.

The pantry closet.

I quickly head over, yanking open the door without any hesitation.

Two scared faces look up at me and I recognize them right away. The teacher from Daisy room, Caitlyn, and one of her students. The boy is cowering behind her so much that it takes me a moment to identify him, but I finally recognize him; Benny, a sweet boy who lives with his grandma. He only comes a few days a week, too.

“Are you guys okay?” I ask. Both of them are still frozen, as though in shock, and I can’t blame them.

“Hey, it’s just me. You remember me?” I tell Benny, crouching down and giving a small wave. “I’m Ms. Maisy, I work in the Lilac Room.”

Slowly peeking his head out a little more, I see the boy’s lip tremble.

“A-a-are the monsters gone?” he whispered, the words barely reaching my ears. I nod and smile, hoping it’s reassuring.

“They’re gone. And we have friends waiting in the Lilac Room. Do you want to come with us?” I reach my hand out and Benny shifts his weight, glancing at Caitlyn.

I look over too and realize that she hasn’t responded.

“Caitlyn?” I ask, growing concerned. “What’s wrong?” I thought she hadn’t reacted out of fear, but after looking her over, I realize that she’s covered in blood.

“Before the m-monsters,” Benny stuttered, holding tight to Caitlyn’s hand. “When everything was shaking, a shelf fell on her…”

I see the blood slowly seeping down her head, soaking into her hair. Her breathing is shallow and uneven, gasping strangely like a fish out of water. Her eyes aren’t focused, half closed.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Wh-what are we gonna d-do?” Benny whimpered, trailing off into sobs. If this happened as early as the earthquake, she’d been bleeding for a while. I tried pulling out my phone, knowing it wouldn’t work. Instead, that stupid blue box was stuck in the way.

“....go,” I hear Caitlyn whisper, her voice barely audible. Quickly leaning in, I get as close as I can.

“Just go…” she breathed, her voice sounding pained. “Save…him…”

I immediately shook my head, but I knew she was right. What could I do? If she couldn’t move on her own, if she was bleeding in her brain, Caitlyn needed help I couldn’t give her. If I could somehow get the police here…

“Stay here,” I tell Benny firmly. “I’ll be right back, I promise.”

Before he can reply, I take off out the front door, not caring about what might be lurking out there. I needed to get help for Caitlyn, or she was going to die.

As soon as I set foot outside, I notice the odd purple sky. It looked like storm clouds, writhing and twisting as though alive. Occasionally, lightning would sneak through, twisting in the clouds but never touching down.

I sprinted down the road, head snapping back and forth, hoping to see anyone, anything that might help.

About half a block down, I cross a strange veil before I can even see it. I slow down, brushing at the strange spiderweb sensation, before my mouth fell open in surprise. The sky here is no longer stormy, but a cloudless blue.

And everything here is dry, bleached. The cars look as though they have been sitting out for decades, the asphalt cracking and melted in places. Though it now feels like a hot summer day, it looked as though it had gotten to extreme temperatures. All the grass was completely blackened, the remains of it dusting into ash at my touch. The buildings, or the remains of them, were smoldering still, smoke wisping into the sky.

A horrific thought occurred to me.

What if everywhere was like this? The world divided into pieces, each with a new horror? How far did the calamity go?

Was the whole world in ruins?

*DING*

*Your buff has expired*

I stagger, clutching my chest as I suddenly am faced with the fear of everything all over again. Oh god, and I just left Caitlyn lying there, slowly dying. What was I going to do?

I run back, struggling not to trip as I cross the strange barrier again. The stormy sky appears again as though it had never left and when I turn around behind me, it looks like it continues into the distance.

Bursting back through the front doors, I rush back over to where Benny and Caitlyn were. Even though I hadn’t been gone for five minutes, Caitlyn’s face had turned an ashy pale color, a thin sheen of sweat covering her. Benny was weeping, still holding tightly to her hand.

I stop, my chest heaving as I catch my breath.

“C-can you help her?” Benny asked pitifully, wiping his face roughly with his sleeve.

“I…” I begin, wanting to reassure him, but I know the truth. I can’t save her. Caitlyn is going to die and it would be my fault.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him, choking up. “It’s too late.” His suppressed sobs turn into a small wail and I sit next to him, holding Caitlyn’s other hand as she took her last labored breaths.

In just a few minutes, her uneven breathing became even more sporadic, and less than sixty seconds after that, her chest stopped moving. Her eyes were closed, but her expression was slightly pained, even in death.

I ignore a few tears slipping down my cheeks, gently placing Caitlyn’s hand on her stomach. Just as I’m going to speak, tell Benny we have to go, a light blue mist begins to envelop her body; in mere moments, Caitlyn’s body seems to evaporate and disappear, as though she hadn’t been there to start with. Benny and I look at each other, eyes blank. I just accept it as normal, filing it away with all the other batshit crazy things that have happened today, and push myself to my feet.

“We should go,” I tell the boy. “Come on.”