The Fall

Part 5: Griffin

Chapter 11: Mask

Ive always had to be the strong one, to be the one who supported everyone. My dad left when I was four and since then I have had to help out my mom whenever I could. I had to be strong when she was not. I put on a good show. Everyone believes I'm strong. But, I'm not. I'm weak but I'm good at acting. The mask Ive been building since then finally breaks when my mother dies. She is one of the first. Before the scientists even knew what, the virus was. Then within 2 days everyone I love or who I even knew was dead or had left to try to get to safety. We all know there is no safety. The airborne virus is everywhere.

I remember the thud when Apollo hit earth. I remember the dust that slowly but surely blocked out the sun. When Apollo hit earth, I felt a change. A change inside of me. I found I can alter reality. At least thats what I think of it as. I can manipulate water and earth. I can move both out of sheer will, but I can do even more with water. I can super heat it and create steam even and I can freeze it into ice.

And then I was alone. After 2 days of panic there was complete and utter silence. No one was left. All my friends and family, either dead or gone. For some reason when I was sitting there a strange thought came into my head. I wonder what happened to Alecia?

She has been my best friend since elementary school. She was the only one I let see me without the mask. But a day before Apollo hit earth she vanished. I dont know what happened to her. I miss her. I miss having someone to talk to.

Chapter 12: Den

After a few hours of wandering through my abandoned town I decided if I didnt want to get sick, I would try to go somewhere thats at least partially clean. The cleanest place in this town is probably the hospital. So thats where I go.

Its entirely empty. I go to the food court and get a good supply of food and find a hall to make my temporary camp. I find the hall with the rooms starting with 4. I choose 4 for no reason Ive just always liked that number.

I go down the hall, checking each door to see if its open. I finally find 2 open rooms right next to each other, room 45 and 47. I start by opening both doors and surveying each room. 45 looks cleaner so I decide that will be my camp. I go into 47 and grab all the supplies in there. The sheets, the pillows, the emergency supplies, and all the towels and supplies in the bathroom. I carry all the supplies over to 45 and pile them in the chair, then I drag the chair from 47 into room 45. Then I go back to 47 and unstrap the mattress from the bed and drag it into room 45.

I then proceed to unstrap the mattress in 45 and place it on the floor in the corner of the room. I then push the bed over to the edge of the mattress and put the other mattress on top of the bar on the side of the bed and rest it on the window sill. Now I have made myself a small box/cave. Then I make myself a bed on the mattress on the floor and lay out all my supplies on top of the mattress/roof. By now I'm tired so I put one of the chairs in front of the door, so it wont open and pull the other one over to the open end of my cave. I crawl inside and pull the chair over to block the entrance. Now I can at least tell myself I'm safe. After a minuet of laying there in the dark I drift into the even deeper darkness of sleep.

Chapter 13: The Girl of Fire

When my eyes open, I just lay there for a minute, planning what I'm going to do today. I'm going to scout out the hall I'm staying and maybe even block off one of the ends. I will make less points of entry for anyone who wants to come find me.

I get up and proceed with my plan. I take some rubble and block off the one end of the hall at the fork and then I go stand at the other end. I dont know if I'm hoping or not hoping to see anyone. Half of me wants to find someone and half of me doesnt.

And then I hear something. Footsteps. The come down the hall. In preparation I lift a chunk of cement out of the floor and hover it at the ready. And then the footsteps stop just outside of my view of that branch of the fork. Then I see them. A tall girl about my age who is strangely familiar and a small girl right behind her. She is looking right at me. Not even at me, but into me. Its almost creepy. I'm so startled I hurl the concrete I'm hovering in place at them. The tall girl, I still cant place her face after all these days of no human contact, steps in front of the other girl protectively and kneels in front of her. Head down and hand out, as if she is going to block the projectile hurling at her at breakneck speeds.

Then the weirdest thing happens. I hear a loud crack and the cement shatters into small rocks and dust and flies to either side of them. She blocked it. I raise 3 more chunks and fling them at her one after the other. Every one of them meets the same fate as the first. Not knowing what to do I step back and throw up an ice wall and run down the hall.

As I run, I think about the girl. Where do I know her from? I cant think about that now. She is to strong. I just need to run. There is a hiss and a whoosh of air behind me and I hear her behind me. Shes fast too. I cant outrun her. Then I'm running but not going anywhere. My feet arent on the ground. I'm floating. Is she doing this? Ive given up running and I'm turned around, still floating a few inches off the ground.

Shes standing there behind me and shes not happy. I guess she has good reason. I did hurl large chunks of cement at her and her um sister friend well her and the little girl behind her.

Who are you? she asks. The pure rage in her voice scares me. One of her hands is pointed at me, most likely holding me in the air, but the other one is down by her side. Am I seeing things or are there flames flickering in between her fingers and on their tips?

G Gr Griffin Griffin Mills I stutter out. And then it hits me. I know who she is. Alecia? I ask.

How do you know my name? She says. The rage is still there but there is also confusion in her voice as well.

What do you mean?

Alecia weve known each other since we were little kids. We did everything together. Like that scar on the back of your hand. You got it from falling of the climbing tree in my front yard.

I I I dont know you. Should I know you? The anger ahs entirely left her voice and it is filled with almost childlike confusion and sadness. Then the air holding me up stops and I drop to the floor.

Al, what happened to you? I say, using the nickname that I used for her when we were little in hopes of jogging her memory. I walk up to her to try to comfort her and she takes a hesitant step backwards.

I I I dont know. It was something about a car accident and it killed my parents and. I dont remember anything, and everything is covered in blood and I barely even know what is happening except for what Eva has shown me and and she trails off. And then she breaks. I could see it just a second before it happened. She just breaks down. The flood gates open and the tears pour out and she start sobbing.

I run to her and put my arms around her. Its ok. I'm here now. Ill help you.

I help her sit down in a non-bloody patch on the floor. Then I sit down next to her and continue to comfort her. Over her shoulder, from around the corner I see a small face poke out. Its the little girl. Eva, I think her name was. With here eyes she asks if she can come closer. I minutely knod my head and she runs over and starts hugging Al from her other side.

After a while she had cried herself to sleep. I pick her up and carry her back to 45. Eva disappears for a minuet but then returns carrying 2 backpacks. Ive noticed that she doesnt talk much but when she looks at you, she doesnt just look at you its almost as if she looks inside of you. Its almost creepy.

When we reach 45, I take apart my den. I push back the bed frame, Pull the mattress off the top. I help Alecia on to the already made mattress and Eva curls up beside her and they both promptly fall asleep. I pull the chair back over to the door and curl up on the second mattress. Before I drift off, I think about Al.

I cant believe I found her. I thought she was gone. I missed her.