"You have to get out of here."
"I can't leave."
"We'll find a way, together." Essa pleaded, taking hold of Anne's arms.
"No, Essa." She insisted "I won't go."
"What?" Essa squeezed Anne's arms in earnest "You'll die if you stay!" She yelled at her.
"I'm going to die anyway" Anne whispered, refusing to meet Essa's gaze.
Essa stared at Anne, a crease formed between her brows.
"I...I have cancer." Essa could barely hear what Anne said. She stared in shock, unable to comprehend the words of their world's formal evil. "I found out just before the Rapture The doctors said I had two years to live." Tears welled in Anne's eyes, "My family wanted to go to a Tower immediately after the Rapture began, but we waited and hid from the panic. We locked ourselves in our home for two months. It was horrible." Anne's voice broke and she slumped to the ground. Essa held her, crouched and horrified at the thought, remembering her own experience. "Bodies and blood everywhere. Most homes were ransacked or burned to the ground. Everything was torn apart.
If it weren't for the Ones in White searching for survivors, offering shelter, we would have stayed hidden forever. We wouldn't have survived long." Anne looked into Essa's eyes, "I wanted to stay with my family. Running from this," she gestured with her hand behind her: to the door of the rec room "Would have been pointless. Making my family watch me suffer and die, just so they could be denied what they truly wanted?" Anne shook her head, "Have them watch me wither away? I couldn't do that to them."
Anne's eyes pleaded for understanding, searching Essa's face before continuing.
"I'm so tired. I'm tired of being sick, of my parent's looking at me with fear in their eyes. Fear that I might not make it. I'm tired of remembering all the bodies lying in our front yard. Of wondering how we made it out alive. Maybe it was God."
Essa didn't know how to respond. She sank to her butt, leaning against the wall. She continued to hold Anne. Anne's cold skin pressed against her's, sharp elbows poking into Essa's stomach.
Essa squeezed her eyes shut, remembering the vibrant healthy girl Anne used to be.
"They gave me a place to stay while we waited, they gave me meds and made me comfortable. Despite the lack of hospitals, they have some pretty advanced stuff. They don't use it on us folk much, but they took my pain away."
"If they have such advanced stuff, couldn't they cure it?" Essa's hands clenched around Anne's shoulders.
Anne gave her a funny look, "You know they wouldn't."
Essa sucked in a breath at the reality. Anne was right, they wouldn't. If they had the cure to all human diseases, they would never give it to someone who was in line to go to Heaven. They would only use it for their elite group, the Officials and their teams. They would be the ones to survive the Rapture, start a new world. Everyone else would have to die, one way or another.
"Now what? You're going to just, give up?"
"If that's how you want to think of it, I gave up a long time ago. I've been lucky to have more time with my family. Please, Essa, don't be angry with me. It's better this way, I'm happy to go pain free with my family." Ann straightened, leaving Essa's clutched embrace. She brushed away the run away tears from her face with her fingers. She gave Essa a small smile.
Essa stood too, unsure what to do.
"What...kind?" She asked Anne.
"Does it really matter? It's everywhere now." Anne sighed, "That was the first time I admitted, well, everything."
"I don't want to leave you." Essa's voice croaked as tears threatened to spill again. She could feel their time coming to a close, she couldn't bear to say goodbye.
"Oh, Essa, I'm so sorry. Maybe it would have been better for you if we never met again, if you never knew. But, know that talking to you, seeing that you're alright and not like them helped me. I can say goodbye to someone. You can get out of here and...remember me." Anne's cheeks again ran with tears.
"Of course I'll remember you." Essa whispered, looking away.
Anne hugged Essa. Her ribs pushed onto Essa's stomach, her thin arms popping against Essa's back.
Essa's heart broke, it tightened in her chest as she fought the scream building in her throat. Tears blurred her vision as Anne whispered in her ear "Goodbye." She gave Essa a kiss on the cheek and turned to leave.
Then she was gone. Through the door, back to the rec room. To perish from this Earth in a matter of days. Essa waited a heartbeat. Then another. She couldn't move. With her hand on the cheek Anne kissed, she vowed to always remember her.
Essa roughly wiped her face with her sleeve before forcing herself to hurry through the door. She kept her head down and walked fast to the other side of the room. If she saw Anne again, she would fall apart in the middle of the floor.
She ignored the shouts of Mr. Clipboard as she breezed past him. Her destination was only steps away.
Bursting through the door, in the vestibule between the rec room and the elevators, she made it. The moment the door shut, Essa fell to her knees, sobbing. Alone again.
With a thought, her heart leapt violently.
Are there cameras?
Essa composed herself again, jamming the elevator button to go down. She desperately needed to be in the privacy of her room. She couldn't risk being seen so emotional. If there cameras in here, they would surely know about her now.
© Ash Huntley
No comments:
Post a Comment