May 18, 2019
Eury Morrissey
[Missed Calls: 38]
[New Messages: 12]
[Alaska 23:23: Eury where are you? Come back!]
[Alaska 23:24: C’mon Eury! Come back! You’re missing out on the dancing that I’m about to get up to.]
[Alaska 23:26: If this is because you’re embarrassed or something you don’t need to be, I think Davis is about to go.]
[Alaska 23:31: Where are you? I’m gonna come grab you.]
[Alaska 23:46: Why’re you acting like this? I get that all that shit happened back then but the way you're acting is so stupid!]
[Alaska 00:04: Fine. Whatever.]
[Alaska 01:52: I’ve tried to call you please call me ASAP.]
[Alaska 02:00: I’m going to the clinic downtown. There was a fight at O’Brian’s. I’m okay, and I’m with Davis but a lot of people got hurt. I hope that you’re okay.]
[Alaska 02:14: Your phone is off but when you get these you need to call me. I think something seriously fucked up is happening.]
[Alaska 02:47: Don’t leave the house until I get back there. Call me the moment you get this message. Just hole up there and stay safe.]
[Alaska 02:47 The code to the gun safe is 54-28-15 the bullets are at the bottom. Don’t fire unless you are absolutely sure you are going to hit, and what you are pointing at is something that you absolutely want to go down. Just be careful Eury. I will be back.
I will be back for you.]
[Alaska 06:25: I’m sorry. I dont know if I'm going to make it back. My phone is about to die. Please just stay safe.]
Bang.
Bang.
Screech.
Bang.
Bang.
Wail.
Repeat.
Hours had passed and Curlers still hadn’t given up. The early morning light that seeped in between the curtains started to fade as the sun passed over Alaska’s house. I stared at the blank screen of my phone without turning it on. I had already read all of the texts, called everyone I knew. I even called a few people I didn’t really know but had numbers for anyways. I had stopped calling after I had heard Alaska’s answering machine for the thirtieth time. I stopped calling my mom somewhere around the fiftieth. I even tried to call Davis despite my hesitation to still get no answer.
With a subtle vibrate, I unlocked my phone again. The screen came to life and I stared at my background photo again. It was my mother, my father, and me standing in the front room of my childhood home. My mom was practically a ghost overexposed by the ridiculous amount of sunlight coming in through the windows. She was entirely defined by the two things that could still be made out despite the sun, her bright red hair and the bright red lipstick that she always wore, my father’s favorite. On my other side, my dad stood there, one arm around me and the other hand running through his tightly curled black and grey hair. I’m sure, like he always did, that he was cursing the small afro that he sported since I was a kid. In contrast, he suffered from the opposite problem my mother had; with him being far enough away from the windows, the camera practically adjusted the picture until his dark skin melted into the shadows.
Finally, between the two of them, in a ridiculous set of short pigtails, I stood clutching a piece of printed paper. I didn’t need to struggle with the crappy photo to know what it said. I had all but memorized it at one point, but the essentials were all that remained of that memory now.
Something, something, something, the University of Gonzaga is happy to inform you of your acceptance into our faculty of education.
Of course, being somewhere in the middle between the two of them tone-wise, my face was the only one that the camera actually managed to pick up properly. That had to be the happiest I had ever been, before or since. Of course I was happy, at that moment, I had been accepted into my first choice of university and it was still a few months before graduation and that conversation. Before my number of friends went down from one to zero.
A sharp familiar pain shot through my chest.
That’s a bit funny. I wasn’t sure I could feel any worse than I already was feeling. The screen faded to black before the pain in my chest had. I didn’t even know why I had turned it on in the first place. At this point I was practically operating on auto-pilot—and it was barely kept me off the ground.
Suddenly, the screen lit up.
[New Message: Dad.]
My heart practically jumped up my throat as I quickly moved to open the message.
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[Dad 14:29: Eury, I got your voicemails. I’m sorry that I couldn’t answer. You know how bad the reception can be out here. I don’t know when you’re going to get this message but I hope that it’s soon. Baby, we love you so much, please just don’t ever forget that, we both love you so so so so much.
I can’t say I know for sure what’s happening out there, but it was more than obvious enough to me that there’s something wrong. It’s something wrong with some people out there baby, there’s something in the water, or maybe the food I don’t know, but folks are getting sick and acting real bad. I don’t really know what to say doll other than folks are going bad. It’s not safe out there. Sheridan’s not a big place but there’s more than enough of ‘em running ‘round out there to make it too dangerous for you to go anywhere.
If any of my instincts are right about this then I think it shouldn’t be too long until the national guard is here. PANG base isn’t too far from here, and I have already started an emergency broadcast on the CB so they know that we’re here. If I hear from them before then, I’m going to try and get another message to you. But if I don’t hear from them by then we’re going to them. Either way baby, please just wait for me.
Okay, baby-doll, you need to get ready because I don’t know how long it’s going to take for all this to blow over, so you need to be prepared. The tank that I left there has enough LOX for the next 143 hours. If you brought all the batteries for your concentrator they should last 12 hours. And finally, if you brought the two E tanks and the one D tank like I asked you to, that should last you another 23.5 hours. That’s a total of 178.5 hours, just under 7 1/2 days. I know that seems like a lot Eury but whatever this is it could last that long or longer, so please, please, please baby just stay there. You have just under a week’s worth of oxygen and that is quite a lot I know. But something like this, it’s really not good baby, especially for you. Eury, make sure that you’re charging your concentrator, and make sure that you’ve filled all of your tanks. If this is as bad as I think it is it’s possible the power will be out within the next 36 hours. Thankfully the water will last a while longer than that, but the tower only has so much water in it so stockpile as much as you can now. Depending on how many other people are out there it might not even last the week. Just be ready for anything love. The moment the power is out you need to start using those tanks. The moment one gets low you fill it back up from the LOX. You do not, I repeat DO NOT let your tanks get empty, and please baby don't use the concentrator unless you absolutely need to.
If you can, try and save as much O2 as possible. As much as you can stand it, drop your intake down to 75% if you can. Don't go lower, we have the time. But every minute counts here love.
I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that you’re okay, that’s going to be the only thing that’s going to keep me going. If you get this message please just send me one back, tell me everything that’s going on with you and when I get it I’ll try and answer as quick as I can.
It’s just like we’ve done since you were a little girl, just prepare yourself, baby.]
As I read the message the fear of everything that I had seen, everything that I imagined, solidified. Something has happened, people were going bad, and it wasn’t just the junkies. For the first time since I got sick, I found myself struggling to pray to a God that I didn’t truly believe in. After re-reading my dad’s message another handful of times, I wrote out my response. There was no way to know how long it would take for it to reach him…
If it ever reaches him.
And there was no way to know if he could respond.
[Eury 14:35: Dad, I’ll do everything that you’ve always taught me to. I’ll do everything the way that you’ve raised me to do it, trust me, I can do this. Please don’t come for me, not yet at least, it’s too dangerous. I’ve seen some things that I can never unsee. It’s really really bad out here. Stay out of town until this blows over, I’ll stay at Alaska’s, she’s got enough food for me for a while. I have everything that you told me to bring, I have all the water, food and O2 that I need, so if you don’t hear from me by the end of the week, come for me. But not before then. Please, dad, don’t do anything stupid for my sake.
Not again.]
As I hit send, my eyes started to burn with tears. I squeezed my phone in my hand. My grip tightened further as Curlers’ banging resumed it’s laboured rhythm beneath me. The sound of the hollow bangs, just loud enough to reverberate through the empty house.
----------------------------------------
The quiet rhythmic beep of my concentrator woke me from a terrible dream. One where I was alone, and in the dark. Screeching voices in the distance, sweet and rotten perfume. Regardless of how terrible reality seemed, pretty much anything was better than that place. I steadied myself on the door frame as I stumbled across Alaska’s room. Both of my legs had gone numb, I guess sitting in the same spot for hours can do that to you.
No shit sherlock.
In the light of the hallway, I checked my phone, its black screen remained that way as I took a better look at it under the hallway light.
Great.
In my room, I pulled the power cord out of my bag, and plugged it in above my concentrator’s batteries. As I switched the batteries out on the condenser, and the beeping stopped, I realized just how quiet the house had become.
The banging had stopped.
Was Curlers gone? I tip-toed back into Alaska’s room and opened the curtains as slowly and quietly as I could. The street outside was dark, so it had to be at least eight already. Had I really sat here all day?
Sure you did, what else were you supposed to do? You’re practically useless, didn’t you already prove that this morning?
I carefully closed the curtain as I ignored the thought, even if I couldn’t help but agree with it.
So, I guess Curlers really did give up.
Or died.
And now I was all alone again. I let out a sigh of relief as I walked back into the light of the hallway. No junkie, no Curlers. But just as the relief started to wash over me, my chest constricted again. No Alaska either. I looked out the back window above the landing of the stairwell. From this vantage, I could see a surprisingly good amount of Sheridan. Or at least I could have, if it wasn’t almost completely dark, save for the street lights.
Every building as far as I could see was dark and empty. As someone who had spent the majority of my life alone, it surprised me that I was still as capable today as I was then; to be able to feel so empty and alone. It was like the world was dark.
Completely dark.
Wait.
The hall light!
With the loudest movement I had made since this morning, I quickly dove for the light switch behind me. The next moment, the hallway, and the house were dark just like every other house in the neighbourhood. My concentrator kicked into higher gear, matching my heart rate. Had I screwed myself already? Alaska’s being the only house that had any sort of light in it, made me stand out that's for sure. So the answer there was probably. But at this point, if the junkie or whoever else is out there wanted to find me, I knew it was already too late.
I walked back into my room—resigned to my doom— and laid face down in the bed. That lasted as long as the teacup worth of air my lungs could hold ran out and I was forced to lay on my back again.
That’s right, be a good little doll and lay down. Hey, maybe when they come to rescue you, you can go full princess routine and give the prince a big o’l kiss. Just make sure you don’t put any wrinkles in your dress, or else he won’t want to kiss you!
The only thing surprising about the thought was how long it took. I mean, I had been conscious for a few full minutes so of course my bitch of a subconscious would spit out that humdinger of a shitty opinion. I was probably about to die and the only thing I could think about was how helpless I was.
But what else could I do?.