A Disaster
April would never forget that sound; the sound of a thousand freight trains crashing around her. She clenched her eyes shut even more as she held tight to pipes under the sink. She could feel her heart beating fast against her chest as she held on for dear life.
It had all happened so fast. The wind picked up. A siren rang out. Jonah had pulled her into the bathroom and underneath the sink, wrapping himself around her. Then the tornado ripped through their home, almost lifting the entire roof off the house.
It wasn't the house that she was most worried about though; it was the barn. Jonah didn't know this but April had recently taken all of their money out of the bank and stored it in a small safe in the barn. She hid it under a dilapidated tractor. They had been planning to run away together to start fresh after being told they were getting kicked out from her Uncle's house. That money was all they had left and it was right in the path of a deadly twister.
Suddenly the winds stopped and everything became quiet. The tornado had moved along, taking half of the house with it. April and Jonah got up and made their way through what once was a wall into the living room. The house was a disaster, just like their lives had become in the last few weeks.
When Jonas lost his job, April thought she could pick up extra hours at the diner to pay off the rent. Surely her Uncle wouldn't kick her out, right? Wrong. The scumbag noticed she was one day past due and down came the gavel. She was given two weeks to pack up and move out.
The front door was hanging open. Taking a deep breath and nodding at each other for reassurance, the couple walked out the door. Outside was chaos. Jonah's eyes betrayed the terror and worry he felt looking at the shambles that had been normal suburban homes just ten minutes before. Almost every building on the street was torn away.
April, however, was not worried. She looked toward the the right to see red barn and gasped in surprise. It was still standing and completely in one piece. She took off towards it and entered the structure, stepping around the fallen rusted tools.
Diving under the tractor, April dug out the safe. She put in the three-digit code, Jonah's birthday, and it popped open. Inside were nicely stacked piles of bills. She signed heavily.
"What are you doing?" Jonas asked from the barn doorway, "It's not safe in here, come on."
"Baby," she responded, slowing picking up the small safe, "Everything is going to be alright."
Betrayed.
I have never tried to be so quiet in my life. I have never been so unnecessarily loud in my life. Every step I take makes the floorboards creak. Shutting the door sounded like a freight train and felt like it took a hundred years.
As I quietly tiptoed through the house and up the stairs I winced at every groan and squeak made under the old wood. I feel red heat creep up my neck as I remember what I did tonight with shame.
She will never forgive me. She has every right not to. But then again, she might not even find out. All I had to do was get undressed and get in bed without her noticing. Then I could convince her I was there all night. That I wasn't out. That I wasn't betraying her trust.
As I made my way down the carpeted hallway I tried to calm my racing heart and push away thoughts of what I had done. I felt bad for doing it behind her back but honestly, I didn't regret it. I regret the consequences that are sure to come if she finds out, but not the actions themselves. There are just some things a person can't wait for. Some things a person has to grab by the horns and just go with. It had felt so right at the time. Now, sneaking back into the house they shared together, it felt so wrong.
"You're home," the icy voice of my wife greeted me as I entered the room. She flicked on the light and I was greeted with an icy cold stare of someone who knew they had been lied to.
"I thought you had to work late?" I asked, using my questions to delay the inevitable.
"I got off early," she replied crisply, looking down at the laptop on her lap. "I thought I would surprise you."
I gulped, realizing my mistake. She had been here. She had been here at 9 pm. Without me. I was supposed to be here. I was supposed to be waiting for her to do what we did every Sunday night together. Instead I was out being unfaithful to her and to our routine.
I gulped, "I'm so sorry, I just, I didn't want to be spoiled....."
"I can't fucking believe you watched Game of Thrones without me. You are such an asshole!" she shouted throwing the ceramic dragon egg replica at my head.
I had betrayed her and I had been caught.
Bottom of the Ocean
Dear Diary,
Something really strange is going on. I haven’t had radio contact for 5 hours. They usually check in every hour at least. I’ve re-started my communication systems and they seem to be working fine. Nothing else is wrong either. I must have called up a hundred times by now. Still, no one answers.
I’m trying not to panic but if there was ever a situation for panicking, this is it. I’m stuck in a tiny submersible thousands of feet under the ocean. When this situation arose I volunteered, knowing my experience would make me the perfect candidate. I had no idea this would happen.
They said it would be easy and that they’d be with me every step of the way. That was three days ago. I’m supposed to be back at the surface tomorrow but no one is answering my calls. Everything was working fine until suddenly it wasn’t.
…………………………..
Holy shit diary. I finally got an answer back on the radio. Jack told me that all the waves had been knocked out, across the whole world. Luckily he had been able to wrangle something together to get through to me. I can hardly believe it but according to him, there’s some sort of rabies-like plague happening. The crew heard about it on the news before the radio silence.
He sounds so far away and I’m scared. I don’t know what’s going on but I have to get out of this damn pod and get back on that boat. The radio doesn’t seem to be working again and there’s no sign of them bringing me back up. I might actually die down here.
I can’t wait for that to happen, I have to do something. I need to activate the emergency procedure. To my family, if you read this, then I love you.
Jamie