Storm of the End: Book One

Chapter II.III: Gnawing Doubt

I woke up from my trance to notice Jessica and Aaron staring at me. I pushed the thoughts of the storm aside. "That's... weird. Very weird" I mumbled out. I turned to Aaron, "Hey buddy, don't worry. We'll definitely have some time together tonight and probably tomorrow too"

He smiled, but I knew he was let down.

Jessica got up. "Well, I know this is a special occasion so I went ahead and got a little something for the three of us" She walked over to the counter and brought over a small box. "You can open it up, Aaron"

Aaron excitedly opened the box. As it opened, a sweet scent filled the room. It was the smell of the past. Of the time before, when my mother used to bake something for us at the end of every month. It was a sugar cookie, ornate with colorful icing. I hadn't seen something this in a long time. Aaron smiled, "Mom, thank you! Thank you!"

"There's one for each of us" Jessica smiled, reached into the box and handed one to me.

I took in the wonderful scent of the cookie. It was a real, baked cookie. Not a mass produced one. "Jessica, where did you get these...?" I lowered my voice, "How much did it cost you?"

"At the bakery near the department store. My boss's wife owns it, and I got a discount because they were too old. I thought it would be a great way to celebrate all of us being together"

I took another sniff. I felt almost as if I just couldn't take a bite into it, it looked so delicious.

"How about we have half tonight, then when you come back we can all have the other half together?" Jessica proposed.

Aaron and I both nodded.

The smell brought me back to my childhood, "Let's all take a bite at the same time!" I said. "Ready? Three. Two. One!"

My taste buds were overwhelmed by the sweetness and pure flavor of the cookie. I used to have something like this almost every other day in the time before, but I can't even remember the last time I ate a real sweet like this. After tasting nothing but processed food for so long, it tasted like the nectar of the gods.

"Mmmmmm...." we simultaneously showed our agreement.

After finishing half and almost reluctantly putting what remained away, the phone rang. It was Mike. "Hey Markus, how's it going?"

"Alright," I paused. "Is this about work?"

"Yeah man, we're going out tomorrow night since the storm's gone. It's pretty freaky how it just disappeared like that, huh?"

I started to breathe a bit heavier, I almost forgot the storm ever happened. "Yeah, freaky"

"Mhmm, they found a huge hole right where the storm stopped. They haven't investigated it yet, too busy finding survivors and trying to rebuild the government buildings. But they think the hole goes pretty damn deep. They say it has something to do with those earthquakes or whatever"

I felt goosebumps form on my skin. Now I had even more questions. "This whole thing just doesn't make any sense, Mike. I mean, how does an earthquake just happen to occur wherever the storm goes?"

"You're askin' the wrong guy, Markus. I'm wondering the same thing. Wouldn't be surprised if maybe it had somethin' to do with all the pent up chemicals or whatever in the earth"

There was silence for a moment.

"But hey, did you listen to the radio recently? Seems like the whole damn world's goin' into chaos!"

"What do you mean?"

"Huge natural disasters are everywhere! There's a big flood in Africa, and boy do I mean big! Entire parts near the shore are completely underwater. There's also this weird thunderstorm that keeps goin' back and forth between China and Japan. Not a cloud in the sky but the lightning just keeps coming down! In Brazil, there's this crazy drought, and forest fires starting everywhere. It's affecting them pretty badly, probably gonna screw up the economy even more than it already is. And finally, you're not gonna believe this... There's a freakin' blizzard all across England! I know they have bad weather, but damn, a blizzard in the summer!"