This Broken City Sky

The radio alarm clicked on and an annoying, overly-caffeinated DJ came over the alarm’s small speakers. He rambled on with an all-too enthusiastic voice about the sunny weather then delved into some juicy story about the latest celebrity scandal and gossip. The bright morning light filtered into the white, sparsely decorated room, onto the stark white sheets and blankets, and onto the pale, blonde woman that lay asleep in the bed. The DJ’s voice hadn’t been enough to pull her from sleep, but the sunlight had. She groggily blinked open her eyes and squinted into the bright light as he world came into focus. A heavy sigh escaped her as she glanced over to the bright red numbers on her alarm clock that read six o’ five and she buried her face back into the fluffy white pillow with a discontent groan. She had gotten in late the night before and she definitely did not feel like dragging herself into work.

The door to her room slowly swung open to reveal a young boy, about fifteen or sixteen, holding a glass of water and two Advil. He had tousled dark hair and dark eyes to match and looked quite the opposite of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman who laid in the pristine white bed. He cleared his throat as he stepped into the room, causing the woman to lift her head from the pillow and focus on him for a moment before collapsing back into it.

“You know you’ve got to get up sometime. You can’t miss another day of work, Kat,” he said softly as he sat in the chair beside the bed, placing the glass of water and pills on the nightstand as he quickly silenced the incessant chit-chatter of the coffee-driven DJ.

“I know,” she spoke, but it sounded more like a raspy groan. The boy just sat there and watched her silently. Kat slowly drew in a deep breath of air before sitting up in the bed, taking the pills in one hand, the glass of water in the other and quickly downed both. The boy noticed that she was wearing the clothes that she had worn to work the day before and black makeup was smeared around her eyes. The stench of smoke and booze lingered on her clothing as well as the faint smell of men’s cologne. She licked her lips and pushed back her messy blonde hair from her face before slowly turning her bright blue eyes to the boy.

“I’ll drive you to school today, Johnny,” she said, “just give me twenty minutes.” The boy merely nodded, wordlessly, and stood, leaving the room so she could get ready for the day. As he closed the door behind him, he felt the overwhelming sickening feeling that his sister had a serious problem, but he would choose not to say anything about it. They already had enough to worry about as is.

Like she had said, twenty minutes later Kat emerged from her bedroom. She had showered and put on fresh clothes and makeup. She smelled clean and like the perfume that Johnny had always remembered her wearing. Her eyes were tired looking and slightly bloodshot, but she put on a smile. She quietly asked if he had eaten anything, which he had, and nodded as she fixed herself a thermos of coffee that Johnny had brewed. Her car keys were in one hand, her wallet, a pack of Marlboro Red’s, and a lighter were precariously balanced in the other.

“I’ll get your coffee,” Johnny said softly, stepping in and taking the thermos in his hand as Kat gave him a thankful smile before making her way to the front door of their meager apartment. She pulled open the door and looked out into the parking lot with a furrowed brow. The day was perfect; there wasn’t a cloud in the light blue sky and there was a slightly cool breeze. She sighed heavily and waited for her brother to clear the door before she closed it behind them and locked it before walking over to their meager car to match their apartment. It was a used, black ‘97 Mustang that had seen it’s fair share of collisions with shopping carts, other car doors, metal poles, and small trees. Yet, it still worked, and that was enough for Kat and Johnny to get by.

As Johnny placed his book bag in the back seat of the car, Kat was quick to light up a cigarette. He gave her a disdainful look as he rolled down the window to let in some fresh air. She looked over at him and gave him a small smile, one that never quite reached her eyes like it used to. Johnny didn’t return it, yet merely put in a nameless CD of random songs that he knew that Kat would like and stared out the window. It seemed like Kat was always faking smiles for Johnny.

The car ride was nearly completely silent, spare the CD playing softly. Once Kat finished her cigarette, both her and Johnny rolled up their windows and she turned to her coffee, feeding yet another one of her addictions. It was one that Johnny didn’t quite mind as much as the other ones. Still, Johnny had made sure to hate all of her addictions, even the less malevolent ones. She would occasionally glance to him, her eyes worried and tired, before glancing ahead. There were fewer cars on the road than normal, they both noticed. They had also passed a few emergency vehicles, something that they both thought was odd. There were no people walking down the sides of the street, but the two of them merely brushed off the feeling of paranoia, the feeling that something was wrong.

As they turned onto the main stretch of road, Kat gave a laugh and pointed to the yellow bus that was in line just three or four cars in front of them.

“Wanna bet that’s your bus?” She asked with a crooked smile as she looked over at Johnny, who’s eyes were focused on the back of the bus as he gave a small, humored chuckle and shook his head.

“I don’t have any money to bet with,” he replied. Kat merely gave a shrug as she stopped at a stoplight, watching as the yellow bus continued on.

“I wasn’t talking about money necessarily,” she said softly, her voice hoarse from all the cigarettes and alcohol she had put into her system the night before, “what about laundry duties?” Johnny stared ahead for a moment before cutting his eyes and turned to Kat with the same crooked smile that she wore.

“You’re on. I’m betting that’s not my bus and it doesn’t even drop kids off at my school,” he said confidently, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back into his chair as he looked over at Kat.

“I’m betting that’s your bus and it’s running five minutes late,” she said as she pulled away from the stoplight, following in the path of the bus even if she couldn’t see it. Suddenly, she caught the flash of red and blue lights in her rearview mirror and slowly pulled to the right side of the road and onto the shoulder. Three police cars and an ambulance passed by her in rapid succession and she reluctantly began her driving again. “It’s kind of strange all these…emergency vehicles,” Kat commented softly.

“Yeah,” was all Johnny imagined to say. The silence fell back into the car as the watched the road intently, choosing not to voice their growing worry for how odd things seemed. Their city ran like clockwork and not seeing people walking, or seeing too many police cars or fire engines put them on edge. Minutes passed as Kat continued to drive and Johnny continued to watch the scenery that he saw every day. Suddenly, traffic came to a sudden halt and the siblings weren’t prepared for the sight that was in front of them at all. The very yellow bus they had made bets on lay on it’s side across all four lanes of traffic. Kat sent a look to her brother before looking ahead, watching curiously.

“Well shit,” Johnny breathed from the other side of the car.

“Maybe that wasn’t your bus…” Kat replied, knowing there was a reason that she had driven Johnny to school that morning. She let out a shaky breath of air before gun shots broke through the silence that had encompassed the area. Both of the siblings jumped with the sudden, loud noise and Kat gripped the steering wheel tighter. Kat could tell that there was more than one gun firing and that there must be something very wrong going on. Suddenly, the gunshots slowly tapered off and the area fell silent again. Cars had already began to turn around and speed off in the opposite direction, but Kat stayed with uncertainty.

They watched as a figure jumped on the top of the bus, hands and face dripping with a thick, red substance. Kat’s face curled with disgust and confusion and Johnny’s eyes widened. It was then that Kat realized that they were now the closest car to the accident and that she should have left with the other cars. Her and her brother were now in some sort of serious danger and she felt her blood run cold.

“What the fuck?” Johnny murmured as Kat’s mind jumpstarted and she threw the car into drive and hit the accelerator, turning the wheel as hard as she could. Johnny turned and watched in horror as the person who had jumped on the bus began to run to the car that had been parked behind them. He watched as the person within the car struggled to get the car into gear fast enough as the crazed, blood-covered person ran to the driver’s side and began to beat on the window, breaking the glass and covering it in the red substance.

“Holy shit,” he hissed as he turned around in his seat, “what was that?” He glanced over to Kat who had her eyes set on the road. She merely blinked as she turned onto a different road, knowing there was no way in hell she’d let her brother go to school after seeing that. Johnny watched out his window as two people relentlessly chased one person down the sidewalk. He noticed their bloodstained clothes and their mindless expressions. “What is going on?!” He exclaimed.

“T-turn on the radio,” Kat finally got out, past the shock that was coursing through her. Johnny looked over at her for a moment before reaching forward and turning on the radio. Both of them knew something terribly wrong was going on, but they didn’t know exactly what.