Heavy rainfall came down in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The clouds became darker as the strong winds blew past the empty streets. Branches of nearby trees got blown out as the wind became stronger causing the streets to be littered with leaves, twigs, and trash. Sounds of thunder echoed through the town followed by strikes of lightning. The place resembled a ghost town, as no one could be seen on the trashed streets. They all locked themselves up in their homes waiting for the storm to pass.

As the storm raged on, a random bird was forcefully propelled towards a small glass window of a small rundown house. The bird forcefully crashed into the glass window.

Moments later, a skinny figure slowly emerged from the other side of the window. Her thin hands were tucked away in the pockets of her worn-out jeans as she stared blankly at the bird stuck on the other side of the glass.

She hummed, seemingly emotionless as the bird struggled to get up with its broken wing. Her eyes glanced up at her reflection in the stained window; only one word could describe how she looked: haggard. She walked away from the window, not wanting to see her reflection anymore. Her skin was pale and unhealthy, with sunken cheeks and rough dry hair. Underneath her seemingly lifeless eyes, were dark eye bags caused by insomnia.

As she was deep in thought, something caught her eye. Her pupils dilated the moment she took a glance at one of the strained walls of her home and found a roach crawling up it. On instinct, she quickly stepped away from the roach on the wall. Though she saw them every day, she despised them.

'Disgusting...'

Alya muttered as she walked towards a tiny termite-infested bookshelf beside a small white mattress on the floor, which felt more like a boulder than a bed. She reached for the only book on the shelf that had been there since she found this apartment years ago. With no electricity, she lighted a lantern and sat on the worn-out sofa right next to it. Alya opened the book to find the first three pages torn, she was not surprised.

'What thing ate the book now?'

Right between the second and third page of the torn book, a smaller cockroach was resting. Instantly, in a panic, Alya closed the book and threw it on the floor. The roach slowly came out of the book and quickly crawled away for its dear life.

Alya was getting tired of this, she bared her teeth frustratedly.

She tried to quell her anger to not worsen her high blood pressure but her left eye suddenly started to twitch out of anger. They just kept on multiplying, no matter what she did.

She took a deep breath and rubbed her temples, trying to stop her twitching eye.

Alya sighed deeply and picked up the book on the floor. As she did, a piece of paper fell out. She took the piece of paper and read what was on it. She already knew what it was, since she was the one who kept it there. She stared intently at the message on it and then sighed.

"What's the point of using it now?" she thought to herself. She had a long way to go before she could use it.

She sat back down on the sofa and slowly opened the book again, not hoping to find another roach. She kept the piece of paper back where it was then slowly exhaled and tried to read what was on the first page, though it was futile. She closed the book. She had read it about a hundred times anyway.

Before she could keep it back on the shelf, her stomach rumbled loudly.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"....."

She groaned, then slowly stood up to her feet. She walked up to a small wooden table in the middle of the room, and her chocolate-brown eyes spotted two dollars and an apple.

Hesitantly she grabbed the apple and took a bite out of it. She cringed at the sour taste but managed to gorge it down.

'It must've gotten bad on the inside.'

Alya's stomach felt uneasy as soon as she swallowed it, she quickly ran to the kitchen sink and drank a glass of water. Alya could no longer hear her tummy rumble, with the loud crashes of thunder outside. She had barely eaten in the past few days, and her stomach couldn't take it anymore.

With no other choice, she pulled out a small phone from her pants pocket and dialed a number. The phone rang twice but went straight to voicemail.

She switched off her phone and sighed.

‘There's no point in sending a voicemail.’

She stared back at the two dollars on the table.

'Just need to pull through for now.'

She felt so frustrated she could smash something at that moment, but she couldn't. She quickly thought of the piece of paper, then quickly calmed down and exhaled once again. Just thinking of her past gave her strong migraines.

She grabbed the money and ran to the door. She tied her tangled brown hair up in a ponytail and quickly wore an old pair of brown boots and a black raincoat. She placed the money in her coat's pocket, took the only umbrella she had, and left the rundown house.

She opened the umbrella and then started to run a few blocks. Minutes later, Alya reached a small store but unfortunately found it closed.

She stared at the sign breathlessly. That was the only store that could be opened at this time. All other shops were closed due to the bad weather. She hadn't eaten anything, and that was her last chance to eat something for the day. She slowly clenched her fists.

But just as she was about to throw a fit, a bolt of lightning struck a large metal pole nearby, which caused it to wobble. Alya's body jolted at the sound. She stared with widened eyes at the wobbling pole, then slowly started to back up.

Before she could pick up the pace, the pole suddenly stopped wobbling. Alya stared at the pole for a moment then exhaled deeply in relief as she wiped off the sweat on her face. She could have gotten seriously injured if the pole were to fall on her, or worse. She didn't have the stomach to eat anymore, not like she had a choice.

At the exact moment Alya turned and was walking away, the bottom of the pole broke and started to fall.

Alya didn't pick up the sound of screeching metal early due to the sound of the heavy raindrops on her umbrella. What caught her attention seconds later was the shadow of a long pole descending on her. She quickly looked back and gazed at the large pole inclined a few feet above her. Her surroundings seemed to be in slow motion. She tried to move but she couldn't even lift a finger.

'Move.....'

Just in the nick of time, her body managed to react before the pole could crush her. The pole hit the ground with a loud bang.

With that sudden close call, her body felt numb, as her legs could no longer hold her up she fell to the ground, dropping the umbrella she was holding.

Her clothes and hair quickly got soaked in the rain.

"Who knows what would've happened..." she stuttered, out of breath. All this time she had forgotten to breathe.

Almost five minutes had passed and Alya was still in the same position. As soon as the shock subsided after a minute, her tummy rumbled. She stayed in that position, thinking about what to eat. She fumbled for her umbrella and found it seconds later, then grabbed the umbrella and closed it.

Just as she was about to stand to her feet as if the world had gotten tired of her existence, a sudden bolt of lightning struck her instantly.

The bolt of lightning engulfed her entire body in seconds, which seemed like an eternity. Instantly her once pale skin was fried to a crisp. She could feel strong bolts of electricity down to her cells. She tried to scream, but not a single sound came out of her mouth. The intense pain of being electrified was still there.

'Am I going to die?'

'I.......I can't die........not yet......'

Alya gritted her teeth in anger as tears threatened to spill out of her sockets, but it never came. The pain she felt was so much and took so long to bear.

'I...... don't have it yet.'

She knew she would die soon, but she still couldn't accept it. She tried to move but she felt only pain. Her vision got blurrier by the second.

The streets were still empty and every building had closed doors. No one was outside so no one knew what had happened. She was alone, no one was there to see or help. The rain got heavier by the second and the clouds grew darker as the minutes rolled by.

She could no longer feel her legs or arms, she couldn't even hear her own voice anymore. Her eyelids grew heavier until they finally closed. As she felt the darkness surround her, she let out her last breath.

'Wake up!'