Pretty little nightmare



5 years before: July 21st

I swear the way people act when something out of the norm happens you would assume the world was ending. You would think the fact that it has been winter since last October and it is now July, wouldn't cause mass chaos, yet it does. People hoarding essentials and non essentials alike, the same people refusing to even help their neighbor while looking down on those less fortunate. 10 months of below freezing weather, occasional snow fall, and semi busy streets, have became the normal every day life. Random sicknesses that leave kids and adults alike hospitalized, some even dead, with no idea what medicine would heal or help, and all we get is global warming, a pandemic or even doomsday, but no real help or insight.

I remember last Christmas, my best friend left, she went with her parents overseas and left me nothing but a journal to write in and a heart shaped locket with our pictures in it that says "until we meet again". I never knew why her parents moved her, she didn't either, all they would say is that it was for the best, almost as if they knew things would inevitably hit the fan. Seven months since a phone call, five months since an email and 3 months without a letter to at least fill me in on what was going on with her, and the last thing her letter said was, "brace yourself Gracie, and remember we will meet again.".

5 years before: September 21st

Two months have passed since the world flipped over a ten month winter, one month since the cold has went away and scorching heat replaced the cold and the rays have disabled all cell towers. The news says that the ozone layer is disintegrating more every month that passes, that the heat will continue to scorch and burn just from being outside for 5 minutes. I tried to call my best friend again to see if she was okay, see if this was happening where she was at, and all I got was a dial tone, almost like she disappeared. I'm gripping my locket, knowing I've already looked at the pictures and read the inscription at least twenty times in the past three hours; nothing will change.

Present day: April 15th

Five years have passed since the heat officially obliterated our protection from radiation, four years have passed since the government was overthrown and the common people created a makeshift bubble to protect us inside, 3 years have passed since underground tunnels were created for transport and 2 years since the reapings have started. The first to go into the reaping, as a sacrifice, was my parents and neighbors, since us teenagers and young adults are the future, we only get sacrificed if we break the rules bad enough.

It's been a full year since they attempted to sacrifice me, a full year of living from underground to dome, trying to find whatever place less repulsive. Within that year my blonde hair was chopped short and dyed black, so I could blend easier, and I even managed to stow away on a protected boat to go across the ocean, to attempt to get to my long lost friend. My locket being the only item I have from my life five years ago, the only personal belonging I have refused to give up and lose, and the only reason I still trudge on, in hopes we will meet again. My journal, long lost, used to date every trouble, every major course that happened and even a survival plan, luckily I memorized the main details and only have to substitute when things are different than what they should be.

June 3rd:

Being in another country has not changed the actions of people, although their method of protection is less solitude and more bulky. Instead of a dome, there is body shields that mold like a second skin and a specially designed helmet to protect but not hinder. I managed to steal two sets and a bag to keep whatever I plunder in, to keep my essentials, yet replaceable items. With a different environment it is nice to not see people sacrificing others, yet there is WANTED posters everywhere, and from what I can read it's mainly for killing or kidnapping. On one of the posters I see hope in seeing my best friends brother, although it saying he killed a law officer does not sound right. Seeing his picture gives me hope that I will find her, that at least she could be alive and safe, that not everyone I love is gone; and with that hope comes the incessant hunt for her brother.

July 20th:

I have a clue, finally, of where they all are. It was a small one, but clear nonetheless and I plan to go through with the best course of action once the riots die down outside. Riots started a few weeks ago because the patrollers were hoarding resources and food and the commoners got sick of it. In all the commotion I could only hide in an abandoned factory, that luckily had canned food that was good without being heated, and a deadbolt on the door so I would be safe.

During the past couple of weeks with my scrounging I came across and heart on a brick wall that said the exact same thing my locket did, and I could swore it was in her handwriting. The wall being two blocks from my dwelling and above a sewage drain, has me hoping they are in the underground piping system, therefore I am headed there tonight.

My bag is packed and I managed to borrow a flashlight, and the riots have seemed to quiet down enough for me to be able to sneak out. There hasn't been sun in the sky for a couple hours, and judging by the coldness and the darkness of the sky, it is safe to assume it's past midnight.

Continuation July 21st:

The stench down here isn't the sewer, but instead the putrid smell of death. You can smell the rotting flesh, the decaying corpses that have been tossed to the side and the animals that have succumbed to the world it is now. Holding my breath the best I can I move along hoping to see any sign of life, any sign of them, but my hope is quickly fading. Whatever remnant that was left behind was hidden by the horrors that have now taken place here, I have seemed to have stumbled in a room where the bodies didn't die naturally but bits a pieces of them are missing, some are on ice, almost like they are being saved for later, I fall back and scream a silent scream, knowing that whoever did this cannot be far off.

Footsteps sound on the floor, the movements of shadows across the walls let me know that it is either my savior or my death coming closer, only way to find out is take a chance and hide, so I hide behind the closest wall I can manage.

The voices get closer and one of them sound familiar, one of them sounds like the one I have been praying to hear again, hoping to hear again because I would know everything is okay. I risk a look and it is her! It's my best friend whose words inside a locket has been the only thing getting me through these years, although she looks sickly, looks like a nightmare, but still beautiful.

The Ending, July 21st:

Hearing what they say have me horrified. Hearing that the next batch of humans will be down and therefore their food supply will be replaced soon has my stomach heaving in disbelief. She agrees and looks half starved like she can't wait and in my attempt to sneak away I end up slamming into the buckets thrown about, creating a racket and bringing their attention to my hideyhole. Knowing I have been made, I attempt to run, but get blocked by her halfway through the room, while something like recognition flashes through her eyes. She spreads her arms and grabs me, for a second I feel as if it is my friend and not this monster, for a minute when she says "Gracie, I told you we would meet again", I let myself relax some but tense back up when I feel a sharp sting. Her brother comes around and is holding a needle and the last I remember before the world goes black is her saying "we met again, I'm sorry you were too late, rest in peace Gracie," and my world vanishes.