Happy Birthday, Kenz

“We’re almost there, Kenzie,” said Jana as she looked across the desolated wreckage of her old neighborhood. Lifting her hooded head, Kenzie glanced at the piles of rubble briefly and then turned warily back to Jana. With her bandana and goggles on, Jana couldn’t exactly read her little sister much; and anymore, she felt like they were growing apart. Kenzie hadn’t said much since the bombs had dropped.

In an instant, everything had changed, and no one was prepared for it. People thought the viruses and division of the country were the worst things they would ever experience. But, unfortunately, while those things had only weakened the country, the bombs broke it.

“Cmon, don't look so excited,” said Jana, lowering her voice. “You know, I’m doing this for you.” I think you’re really gonna like the surprise.” Jana made her way over to the roof of a nearby house now sitting on the ground. She laid belly down against it and motioned for Kenzie to join her. “Jana slowly crawled up the roof and peeked out over the arch to get a better look at the surrounding area. She wiped the soot from the outside of her goggles and held a broken half of binocular up to the lens. She scanned the red-orange horizon. While the neighborhood was hardly recognizable, she knew they had finally found their way back. “This is it, Kenz,” she whispered. “And it looks like we’re in luck. I don’t see any movement out there.”

Jana held the binocular lens out for her sister. “You see anything?” she asked, keeping her eyes on the scene in front of them. After a minute, she turned to Kenzie for an answer. The younger girl handed back the binocular and shook her head in agreement. “Great, then let’s move in. Follow me.” Jana shoved the binocular in the top of her pack and made her way down the other side of the roof. As she led the way, she frequently looked back to make sure they weren't being followed. They made their way past burnt-up shells of cars and shambles of abandoned infrastructure until they came to a giant recognizable heap.

Jana ran over to the heap, knelt down, and began digging at something. She grabbed onto a head sticking out from under some old fencing with both hands and pulled. A brown-orange statue slid out as Jana fell back to the ground. She stood the figure upon the ground in front of her and wiped away the dirt. “Recognize this?” she said, turning to Kenzie, now standing eye-level beside her. Kenzie reached over and brushed some dirt off of the child in the statue’s arms. “It’s Mr. Frank’s St. Anthony statue he kept in his front yard. That means our house should be on the other side of this hill.” Jana pointed excitedly to the top of the hill. “You remember?” she asked as she stood up. Kenzie nodded, and they quickly scrambled up over the heaping remains of Mr. Frank’s corner house.

Jana looked down from atop the hill and spotted familiar coloring on the crumbling house in front of them. She was so excited she nearly slid down the rest of the wreckage to the ground before walking over to the remains of their old house. Jana put a hand to the stone wall in front of them and was instantly whisked to before the bombs.

Suddenly the sky was blue, the grass was green, and everything was much brighter. Mr. Frank was across the street watering his lawn, and Kenzie was walking atop the stone wall. Jana reached up, grabbed Kenzie, and lowered her down to the ground beside her. She took Kenzie by the hand and turned to walk into the house. Mom and dad were standing in the doorway smiling. Jana felt herself still smiling as the memory faded away. She snapped herself back to the red-skyed present and looked to Kenzie, who was nowhere in sight. Jana rushed around the front of the house before heading through the open front doorway to find her sister.

Jana grabbed the flashlight from her bag and flicked it on. She had been saving up the batteries as best she could for emergencies and searching through rubble and houses at night. She shone the dim light around the dilapidated remains of her childhood home. “Kenzie,” she called out in a loud whisper. Suddenly the younger girl appeared from the hallway that led to their rooms. “Jeez, you scared me, Kenz,” she said as she walked down the hallway. Kenzie turned her gloved palms up apologetically before waving for Jana to follow her. She turned and skipped off towards her room. “Be careful,” said Jana as she followed behind. She ducked under the collapsed second story that had fallen down blocking the path, and stepped into Kenzie’s room.

Jana glanced at Kenzie rolling around in her old bed covered in dust and ash and smiled. “See, I knew you’d be excited. It’s good to be home again, right?” said Jana enjoying the moment. She quickly turned to the left and spotted the reason for making the journey back. Jana ran over to an old wooden chest of drawers. She put the flashlight on her shoulder and held it there with her neck. As she examined the drawers, she rubbed her hands over the dusty wood and ornate metal handles. She pulled the handles to open the top drawer and wrenched out an old painted jewelry box. She threw open the lid and dug through all the necklaces, hair bows, and other little girl knick-knacks inside. “Here it is Kenz,” she said excitedly. She reached for a heart-shaped locket, but stopped and grabbed a blue kazoo instead.

She clutched the small plastic instrument in her fist and closed her eyes. The room instantly transformed around her. Instead of her sister’s room, she was in the old dining room with her parents and sister sitting around the table. In the center of the table was Kenzie’s 3rd birthday cake. Kenzie ripped at the wrapping on the small package on the table in front of her. She smiled as she pulled out a blue kazoo from a little white box.

“Now you have your own,” said Jana exuberantly, “and we can play together. Jana pulled a red kazoo from her pocket and put it to her lips. Kenzie did the same, and they both loudly hummed out a long series of notes.

Jana felt a breeze whoosh past her and opened her eyes. A terrified Kenzie stood before her in the wreckage of her old room, pointing up to the blue kazoo in Jana's mouth. Jana slowly pulled the kazoo from her mouth. She looked at the kazoo as her hand began to shake. She glanced around the room as she tried to figure out how long she had been making noise. She glanced at the panic on her sister’s face before shoving the kazoo into her pocket. She shined the flashlight back to the jewelry box.

SHHHH Jana froze in place at the sound of the noise and listened. “I think it came from in here,” said a man’s voice. Jana covered the flashlight, and her glance flicked over to Kenzie as she put her finger up to her lips.

“What was it?” asked a woman in a loud whisper. Jana carefully turned the flashlight off.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it was no animal,” answered the man.

“Oh I hope so, I haven’t tasted human meat in weeks,” said the woman anxiously. Jana dropped to the floor and scooted over beside the bed that Kenzie was now under. She tried to control her breathing as she slowly laid down flat and scooted under the bed.

“Don’t waste no bullets if ya don’t have to,” said the man’s voice softly.

“I got old reliable right here,” assured the woman. Their voices were growing closer, and Jana knew they were no longer alone in the house. There was no way the two girls would fight their way past two adults or even outrun them. Jana turned to Kenzie and mouthed, “It’s okay,” as calmly as she could. As the footsteps entered the room, she closed her eyes. The pair walked around the room and shined their flashlights to every corner before walking beside the bed. Jana opened her eyes to see a set of taped-up black boots standing inches from her face. She held her breath. The man grunted before turning and heading towards the doorway.

“Let’s find the parents' room, check for anything good,” whispered the man. Jana listened closely as the footsteps moved further away. They turned and headed down the hall towards her parents' room. She turned to Kenzie and nodded towards the doorway. “C’mon,” she mouthed silently. Jana inched her way out from under the bed and meticulously stood up. She stepped over to the jewelry box and felt for the heart-shaped locket. She felt the smooth metal and carefully pulled the locket from the other jewelry in the box. She squeezed it in her fist and nodded to Kenzie before heading for the doorway.

Jana got down low and uneasily poked her head out into the hallway. She saw a brief flash of light from her parents room and stepped out into the hallway in the opposite direction. She stepped softly and held her breath as she made her way towards the front door. On the way out of the living room, she stopped and looked at a fallen family portrait lying facedown on the floor. She reached down to grab the frame but stopped when she heard a noise. Her eyes jumped back to Kenzie, who stared back at her pleadingly and slightly shook her head. Jana closed her eyes and pulled her hand away from the fallen frame. In three more quick steps, she was outside of the open front door.

She crouched down and tried to make out any shapes or movements in the area outside the house. After a few seconds, Jana headed off away from the house as fast as she could, checking on Kenzie to ensure she kept up. They kept moving in silence until they had almost reached the outside of the neighborhood. Jana stopped and looked back the way they came.

”Good job Kenz, I’m proud of you. That was a close one,” she said. She kneeled down in front of her sister and took off her goggles and bandana. “Take off your gear. Just for a second,” said Jana, “I wanna give you something.” Kenzie shook her head reluctantly. “It’s just for a second. It’s okay,” The little girl pulled up her goggles and removed the banda from her face. Jana stared and began to cry as she couldn’t make out the girl's features. Instead of Kenzie, it was just a featureless blank face staring back at her.

“Oh, Kenz, I’m sorry,” said Jana, wiping away tears, “I couldn’t remember. Jana shook her head. She raised up her fist in front of the expressionless face. “Don’t worry though; this will help,” said Jana eagerly. “She opened her hand to reveal the heart-shaped necklace from the jewelry box. She opened the locket and smiled at the picture of a little blond girl on one side and a picture of herself on the other. “There you are,” she gasped happily. She looked up from the locket at Kenzie’s smiling face gazing back at her. Jana reached out with both arms and hugged Kenzie. “Now I'll never forget you,” she whispered. Jana opened her eyes and looked down at her empty arms. She stood up and put the locket around her neck. She put her goggles and bandana back on and raised up the hood of her poncho before bringing the locket to her lips and kissing it. “C’mon, Kenz, let's get outta here,” said Jana.