On the evening of homecoming, I walked down the neighborhood, hands shoved in my hoodie pocket while I listened to music on my headphone. The air was cool and very soothing that as I dragged in each breath, my chest heaved in appreciation. The street was empty as usual, except for the occasional traces of expensive cars driving past, windows rolled up with people minding their businesses. That was one of the disadvantages of living in the expensive segment of town where no kids rode bicycles or ran around playing and giggling in excitement. The street was filled with sprawling mansions with manicured lawns and often extremely tall irons gates to keep intruders off.
My head was filled with thoughts. I imagined what fun my friends were all going to be having watching the game without me but shook out the imaginations before they lasted too long. Dragging down my headphone to rest on my neck and exhaling deeply, I stopped in front of the mansion that had alwa
Sipping on the cup of tea Mr. Jeff prepared and slid across the table at me, my mouth filled with sweet taste and my tongue watered. Naturally, I preferred coffee but this tea was amazing; it tasted sweet and was filled with bergamot. I smacked my lips a couple of times before I wiped them with the back of my right hand and stared across the table at Mr. Jeff, with expectant eyes. My head still throbbed, but it was something I could handle till I made it home."I waited up that night for Lester," Mr. Jeff explained further, sipping occasionally on his cup of tea and giving sighs in satisfaction. Between us on the table, steam spiraled out of the mugs andevaded into the air. "It was late. A little past midnight and I didn't even hear him scratching against the doggy door. I had no idea how he wandered out the yard until I realized the fence was broken. Just right there—" he pointed again, this time with his right thumb ov
Haze of lazy smoke slowly spiralled their way up the ceiling, escaping through the small hole in his parted lips. Baylor Allantoi could tell his sister was subtly watching him from across the living room where she cuddled with her stuffed animals and the kitten in front of the fire place that sparked and burned with just the right amount of fire to keep she and the calico kittens warm. He'd set it up and burning few moments ago before he retired to seating across the room from his sister while some TV program was going on. The cute kitten meows filled the air and Baylor couldn't help but be amused at how Elle coddled them like they truly were her kids. They swindled around her, purring contendedly. His sister was seating cross-legged, her hair falling against her shoulders and forming curtains of sandy blonde silkiness against her face. Suddenly, she looked up, and caught his eyes just as she grabbed one of the kittens and stroke its fur tenderly, clutch
"I warned you about the fire—""I promise, I didn't play with it.""Then how do you explain his paw?"From the open green oak kitchen, Lisa watched Baylor scold his sister, a scornful look of anger clouded his facial expression. The girl stood by the edge of the table, and subtly watched Lisa across the room, eyes gleaming in interest. The cat was barely even hurt at all, Baylor explained to Lisa minutes earlier, the paw had no burn mark but the kitten leaped and gave pained meows which was why Baylor decided the need to tend to the invisible wound.Lisa uncomfortably sat in the living room and took quick glances around. The fire from the fireplace crackled and burned fiercely. The pound in her head doubled and her vision clouded, breathing shakily. She cupped her head couple of times, but made sure Baylor didn't notice her grimacing. She knew the fever was blazing. She could sense the warmth b
The night of the homecoming dance, the autumn cold whistled loudly and battled hard outside the house. I shuddered and shivered inside the strapless lavender gown I'd gotten over the past days, arms hugging my shoulders the moment I stepped outside the house's front door. "Can I meet him?" Mom demanded in a small voice. "Just for once."The front door hung open and my mother stood there, draped around her body was dad's old ABU jacket that looked sincerely too oversized on her. We both stood beneath and within the reach of the glaring fluorescent light over the porch. Mom's hair hung in loose, sticky threads onto her forehead and temples and she had a withering smile on her pale, chapped lips. Two days ago, I was the sick one with the thumping headache, but now, she was so sick she couldn't even bare to go to work that day and for some really odd reasons, I saw that as a blessing in disguise. She had done my makeup and insisted on my wearing her amethyst earrings with long dangling g
When the zombie apocalypse began and the virus broke out, we were left on our own, defended ourselves and stood the best chance of staying alive; the big land masses could have been a mess with the virus mutating as it ran through such large populations but it never really was left out for too long. We were locked up, together, quarantined with such deranging humans that had no ability to reason other than the thoughts of us being food for their starving belly and added nutrients to their malnourished, withering skin which consisted mostly of wobbly bones and virus. The navy patrolled the school building from outside, big guns and weapons, with the fighter jets in the skies. No-one got in or out once it began - it was either a "total shut-out" or everyone would get infected. It was supposed to be the most important year of my life, the year I turned sixteen, had fun, made new friends and have a boyfriend that was my dream dude — but noth
"We going to - partey!" It was almost six o'clock on a Friday evening, the early September summer sky a lazy shade of periwinkle. The weather was still aggravatingly warm, a dry kind of warm that made me feel certainly restless about when my friends were going to come pick me up so we'd spend the evening in our other rich friend's pool party - if she didn't have a last minute change of plan. I spent the afternoon lingering close to the door, the windows, munching on snacks and listening to music while I anxiously awaited them. But when Shelly Courtney pulled up in front of my house, looking adorable and extremely hot in her black Infiniti that she had gotten on her sixteenth birthday just before the holiday, the rain had began drizzling a bit and it was way past the time she'd promised. Shelly's pale blonde hair was smoothed back in a tight pony tail that bounced off her shoulder-rich and silky
"What the—?" I jerked back and clasped my hands over my mouth to obstruct a terrifying shriek from escaping my lips. Behind me, I heard a gasp escape Shelly's lip and then finally, a screech. My back was leaned against her, probably already crushing her against her own door in an attempt to stay far away from my own window as possible. "What is that? What the fuck is that?" Shelly was panicking — her voice was in a way husky, yet squeakish — if that combination was normal. The thud against the window wasn't something too strong enough to even cause a dent, but it sure was alarming, especially when the black blur that I later made out to be a average sized fat mother cat stopped dead and slid down the window to remain immobile and unmoving, leaving in its wake a single trail of blood on the window. Shelly had probably been going too fast that we both didn't notice the fat cat about to cross. We were surrounded by more than hundred trees. It seemed like t
"Maybe it isn't exactly like corona, but it definitely is a virus-" "Like an empty threat, perhaps." "But boy. . .people can be weird. It could just be a national threat, that might be occuring right here in our small hometown." "Exactly." "But the scientists realized that it does have symptoms. Yeah, symptoms. Nobody has been complaining yet about anything related to the supposed threat. But everyone's panicking. Not just here but it's global and world-wide and it seems like Lakeville is the first targeted location. But the question is where is this virus gonna be breaking out?" "We don't know-" "Exactly! No one knows, but it could be at public places like the school, hospitals, churches or even at our town's mall. It's a moment of hysteria in Lakeville. . .cause no one knows anything. Everybody is in the