The Online Newspaper of Lakewood High School

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    “Grandview” by Anonymous

     

    There was nothing left, not a soul in sight. Just my thoughts and I, alone in a big empty field of nothing. There wasn’t a source of water, just a brown toxic river. I tried to survive everyday, but it got harder every minute knowing I could drop dead at any second. Most of the world was no longer livable. The only place said to be habitable was Grandview. It’s a county over from where I was. It’s a long trip to take, just to be disappointed. I didn’t have enough supplies to go. I felt stuck forever. It felt like a void there. All you saw was burnt up ground and rubble. The overwhelming

    smell of rotting garbage was an added bonus.

    The weather was also horrible. It’s never just a simple rainfall or a nice sunny day. I have experienced at least five tornadoes since it happened and at least two floods. I had no good shelter, besides the rubble of demolished houses. Everytime I built shelter the winds knocked it down. It was pointless to even try anymore. I woke up wishing it was all a dream. Wishing I still had everyone in my life. But when I’m alone, only able to talk to myself. I couldn’t understand “why me, why am I the only one here? How was I the only one to survive?” It seemed impossible. Nothing made sense, how everything went down. How everything became to be so terrible.

    I decided to try to survive just a little while longer, so my new objective was to get to Grandview. I knew I would probably die, but it was better than staying in that place and doing nothing. I decided to head out the next day. The rainfall hit my face and woke me up. I knew if I didn’t make it to Grandview in time I would drown in the rain. I packed everything up and headed east. I didn’t have a map and the only thing indicating that I was going the right way was the faint glow of the sun on the horizon. I had to move faster, the rainfall was getting stronger and the sky glowed green indicating a tornado was on the way. I was in the middle of nowhere. The water was up to my ankles when I saw it. Up ahead was a spot of green. My mind told me it was a hallucination. As I got closer the green spot became bigger. There was a tree, an actual tree. There was grass and flowers too. My heart jumped, I finally had a chance.

    I looked around for any signs of life. All I found was a little house with broken windows and glass everywhere. Looked as if someone purposely broke them. I stepped inside. There was nothing in there, just four walls and broken windows. My heart dropped. That was my one chance, ruined. I sat in the middle of the floor, contemplating life. “Was this worth it? Was any of this worth it?” All of a sudden I heard branches breaking outside. I stayed low and checked it out. I didn’t see anything. “It was probably the wind”, I told myself to feel better. As soon as I turned around, I saw a big blur knock me down. I pushed it off me, it was a deer, or at least it looked like one. The deer had three eyes and green liquid leaking from its mouth. I was puzzled and scared, so I ran. Not looking back, I kept running, until I tripped. I was alone, stuck with a sprained ankle now, hoping the deer didn’t come back.

    I waited until nightfall and I still hadn’t moved. I was afraid if I made a sound it would attract unwanted attention. I waited until daylight to crawl to a different spot, my ankle still hurt, but I pushed through the pain. I wanted everything to end. I didn’t want to keep trying. It’s already been a year and nothing has changed. I’m just in a different spot to die. I slowly closed my eyes, wishing for them never to open. Then suddenly I felt this liquid hit my face. It started to burn, I winced in pain. Without even opening my eyes I tried to run again. As I wiped my face trying to get it off, I could hear it following right behind me. Getting louder and closer with every step I took.

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