‹ Prequel: White Noise
Status: Active
Static Screams
Fire
The next few days went by like molasses in the cold. Every time I closed my eyes I saw her damn blue sneakers covered in blood, her shredded foot still inside, I saw myself surrounded by fallen dead, in a circle of guts, hair wild around me.
My red hair had always been something I loved. It was my mother’s hair, a woman I never knew. I was always proud of it.
Now I couldn’t catch a glance of it without feeling nauseous, without feeling a rage towards it. I kept seeing Lila’s face in the mirror instead of my own. Smiling, with her flames from her head.
We burned the hotel down. The blizzard left as quickly as it came, leaving our trauma in its path. In our pained rage we destroyed furniture, lighting bonfires in every room. We stood across the street, melted snow at our feet, and watched as the building collapsed in bursts of fire.
No one spoke. We hadn’t said a single word. Holland and I started the fires, and everyone helped when they realized what we were doing.
And then we stood there and watched it burn.
With Lila and her children inside.
***
We stumbled down the road, dead in our own right. If anyone saw us they would mistake us for the rotting. We were silent. The only sounds were the occasional sniffle or smothered sob from Natalie and Cosmic.
Eventually we found a gas station that still had some supplies remaining. We blocked the windows and doors before we all settled onto the dirty cluttered floor. Pushing broken shelves and crushed chips out of my way, I laid my pack on the ground and then my head on top of it. Logan sat beside me, hand fluttering around my head as if she wanted to stroke my hair.
Was I weak for wanting her to?
Holland sat in a corner with Peter nearby. He stared at the tiled floor, eyes red, face void of emotion. Peter set a bottle of water and a protein bar on the floor next to Holland, before sitting down a few feet away.
Natalie and Sawyer were no longer hiding their closeness. They sat wrapped in each other’s arms, Natalie crying silently and Sawyer's head resting on top of hers.
Wren had her messenger bag open, spilling papers all across the counter as she muttered to herself. Charts, graphs, notebooks filled with words and equations. She slammed her fist onto the pile, and grasped her hair in her other hand.
Cosmic was shaking, whether from cold, shock, or anger, I did not know.
I didn’t know how to address any of it. If I should. If any one of us should’ve spoken by now.
Sleep was impossible, as fire burned through every dream, every nightmare.
A fire that had been extinguished.
My red hair had always been something I loved. It was my mother’s hair, a woman I never knew. I was always proud of it.
Now I couldn’t catch a glance of it without feeling nauseous, without feeling a rage towards it. I kept seeing Lila’s face in the mirror instead of my own. Smiling, with her flames from her head.
We burned the hotel down. The blizzard left as quickly as it came, leaving our trauma in its path. In our pained rage we destroyed furniture, lighting bonfires in every room. We stood across the street, melted snow at our feet, and watched as the building collapsed in bursts of fire.
No one spoke. We hadn’t said a single word. Holland and I started the fires, and everyone helped when they realized what we were doing.
And then we stood there and watched it burn.
With Lila and her children inside.
***
We stumbled down the road, dead in our own right. If anyone saw us they would mistake us for the rotting. We were silent. The only sounds were the occasional sniffle or smothered sob from Natalie and Cosmic.
Eventually we found a gas station that still had some supplies remaining. We blocked the windows and doors before we all settled onto the dirty cluttered floor. Pushing broken shelves and crushed chips out of my way, I laid my pack on the ground and then my head on top of it. Logan sat beside me, hand fluttering around my head as if she wanted to stroke my hair.
Was I weak for wanting her to?
Holland sat in a corner with Peter nearby. He stared at the tiled floor, eyes red, face void of emotion. Peter set a bottle of water and a protein bar on the floor next to Holland, before sitting down a few feet away.
Natalie and Sawyer were no longer hiding their closeness. They sat wrapped in each other’s arms, Natalie crying silently and Sawyer's head resting on top of hers.
Wren had her messenger bag open, spilling papers all across the counter as she muttered to herself. Charts, graphs, notebooks filled with words and equations. She slammed her fist onto the pile, and grasped her hair in her other hand.
Cosmic was shaking, whether from cold, shock, or anger, I did not know.
I didn’t know how to address any of it. If I should. If any one of us should’ve spoken by now.
Sleep was impossible, as fire burned through every dream, every nightmare.
A fire that had been extinguished.
♠ ♠ ♠
474 words