Genesis

Chapter 1

I remember where I was when all of this shit went down. When the clock turned back, or forward, depending who you asked.

   A regular day, sunny California. The dream state. It was my birthday, and I was just waking up around noon. Partied way too hard the previous night. Planned on doing a repeat, the following night.

    That's not important, though. I woke up feeling like a mack truck hit me. I managed to prop myself up and noticed there was a note and a glass of water, on the night stand.

   After drinking the water, I read the note "Morning, birthday girl. How's it feel to be twenty one? The water already has an Alka Seltzer in it. Take your time getting up. I'll be back with breakfast. Love Rico." And love I do.

    One of the best things about my boyfriend is that he doesn't drink or anything like that, so whenever we go out, I can always depend on him to keep me safe. It's a little selfish, I know. We've been together since I was sixteen. He's actually a year younger than me.

     You couldn't tell, though. He's built like a damn Ox. He's about 6'3, sun kissed brown skin, an unkempt afro that he always got me to detangle and would just let it nap right back up, with a physique that rivaled a God's, with freak show strength to go with it. He was a big ole teddy bear, though. I love that about him.

Compared to me, I'm about 5'9, skinny, but filled out in the right places. Big hips, and thighs that made putting on jeans a nightmare, olive skin tone, and long dark brown curly hair, that hung to about the middle of my back.

    We made a pretty good pair. Nah, we make an amazing pair. Once I got my senses right, I got up and washed my teeth, brushed my face, you know, the usual morning stuff.

I looked at my phone and had a few texts "Round two tonight, right, Carly???" From my friend, Ashley. She was a party loving bitch, I'll tell you. She can party all night, sleep for half an hour, and do it all over again. Not me. I need some rest.

    Gonna be spending all day recouping from last night. I don't wanna be the grandma, though. So of course I'll go tonight. Next text "Rents due. Don't be late again." Yeah yeah, Randy. You'll get your money. Sheesh, that guy's like a blood hound for his money. I was one day late and it wasn't even my fault. While I waited on Rico, I sat in the living room and and turned the TV on.

     As I flipped through the channels it seemed like there was breaking news, just about everywhere. Apparently Oklahoma is having some crazy tornadoes right about now. Weird, it's not even tornado season. Went to the next channel and there's crazy hurricanes raging through the south.

Man, what the hell is going on? I set my glass of water down, and for a moment I thought maybe I was still a bit drunk from last night, because I swear this cup is shaking right now. I leaned closer and it definitely was. Although I quickly realized what was going on. As the rumbling got even more intense, the apartment started to shake.

   Fuck, it's an earthquake. The door burst open and Rico barged in. "We've gotta go! Now!"

   "Is it that bad!?" I asked in a panic "Worse than you could ever imagine, come on." I shot up from the couch and grabbed some shoes really quickly.
  
Thankfully I fell asleep with my pants on, and already had a sweatshirt on. We ran outside and before I went downstairs I looked off into the distance. It was...it was a disaster.

    It was like a movie set, only all too real. The land all around me cracking open, creating crevices in the Earth. Cars falling through, fuck, even people. What the fuck is going on? "Baby! Let's go!" Rico screamed at me

   "Huh? Oh, I'm uh, I'm sorry."  He grabbed my hand and led me down the stairs. Everyone from the apartment complex was frantically running about, scrambling to get away to some place safe.

    Was there anywhere safe? This isn't anything like I've ever seen or even heard about, before. We made it to the street and Rico stopped for a second, looking around trying to figure out where to go.

   He seemingly picked a random direction and ran with me. "Where are we going, Rico?" I asked as we went with nowhere in mind

   "Carly I have no idea. Let's be honest, I don't think there is anywhere to go, but even knowing that, we've gotta try something."

   He was right. Even in a time like this, he's somehow keeping his cool. As we ran through crowds of people, bumping into each other, he never let my hand go, squeezing tight as he could. It was reassuring.

    Throughout all this mess I couldn't help but to think about our family and friends. My family was on the other side of the country, but Rico was from here. All his friends and family were here. "Rico what about your family?" His grip tightened, when I asked him that

   "I've just gotta hope they're okay. I couldn't get to them even if I tried. So I'm just worry about you, right now. You're most important, anyway." He looked back at me and gave me a soft smile that honestly melted my heart. I nodded and smiled back as we kept going.

       We turned into an outlet mall and as we were running people were coming back the way towards the way we just came from. The crowd grew thicker and thicker, as more people were running in a panic. I huddled close as I could to Rico.

  "Fuck! I see why everyone's running back, now. It split open up there too. Come on, we'll cut through a store. Trying to go back would be suicide" Rico said.

     Right after he said that I got bumped so hard I lost grip of his hand and was getting swept back by the crowd. "Carly! Fuck, move, move, get the fuck out of the way!" Rico was screaming out as he swam through the crowd towards me. I was starting to panic, my heart racing ever faster, by the moment. "Rico!" Was all I could manage to yell through my own panic as I reached out to him. He reached forward and it only made it even more obvious how far away we were from each other.

     All of a sudden the ground right under me started to shake. I looked down in terror and back to Rico. I could see the fear in his eye. All of a sudden everything moved in slow motion. The ground ripped open and like a huge mouth, it began to swallow people up, into an abyss. I started to fall and oddly enough, I calmed down. It was like the realization that I was gonna die, was calming.

    A tranquil feeling. As I dropped, I looked up at the sunny sky and felt a warm sensation go through my body. This wasn't too bad of a last sight. Then like the hand on God, himself, reached down for me, I felt my descent stop and was met with an even more beautiful sight. Rico's pretty face. "I've got you, baby girl. You're not dying on me." He reached down and grabbed me, just in time.

    I snapped back to reality and did my best to help him with my ascent. Once I was back on solid ground I took a deep breath and hugged him as hard as I could. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed back.

   "I hate to ruin this moment, but we really need to go. It's only getting worse by the second." He was right. I nodded in agreement and followed his lead. We were quickly met with a grim reality. There was nowhere to go.

     We looked around, and there were cracks everywhere from the earthquakes. All too big to just jump, too, so that was out of the question. I huddled up closer to Rico, burying my face in his chest. He hugged me tightly, before saying "I love you, Carly" "I love you too, Rico. I guess this is it, huh?"

    Debri was falling all around us, and I didn't see a way out of this. It felt like the end. At least I was with him. He made me feel at ease with it all. "Yeah. Yeah it is. Hey. I love you, and I'm sorry."

"Sorry about wh-" Before I could finish my sentence, Rico grabbed me by my arm, and spun me around like I was a shot put ball, before slinging me across the clearing.

   "Rico no! What about you!? I can't do this without you!" I yelled out to him

   "Yeah you can, baby girl. I believe in you. And I'll always be with you, just look in your heart." He said before smiling to me, as rubble fell all around him. With each piece, he disappeared until he was out of sight.

    I screamed. I screamed so loud I couldn't even hear myself anymore. I cried. I cried till my eyes were dry. I just sat there and cried for what felt like hours. I didn't even realise that the earthquake eventually stopped. I was just sitting there in the aftermath, crying.