Sorrow of Morrow

The flicker of a headlamp is the only light in the dark tunnel. Tim Morrow gasps for air as he brushes dirt away from his face and clothes. The blast from overhead was loud enough to essentially break his ear drums, and he can only hear a loud ringing surrounding him. The opening from the tunnel where he had come in had collapsed, and panic settled upon his rugged features. One thought drives him to start digging, and the more it echoes in his mind the more furiously he tears at the rubble under the conveyor belt. Tears begin streaming down his face, but he doesn’t notice. His only thought is to dig until he can escape, or die trying.

Breaking the surface of the dirt takes hours, although he doesn’t bother trying to pay any mind to the time that has passed. His hands are blistered and bleeding, but he pushes his way through and feels relief when he gulps a lungful of fresh air. He continues to gulp at the oxygen until he opens his eyes and realizes that the air he is breathing is in no way fresh, but filled with ash and smoke. He hacks furiously, and pulls his shirt off to attempt to filter the air before it pushes the chemicals protruding his nostrils into his lungs. His eyes sting, and tears begin to fall again to try and combat the intrusive substances in the air.

He knows from his history of working at the mines that the coal cleaning plant is close by, so he quickly runs to the building and slams through the front door. He approaches the lockers of his coworkers, and inside finds three pairs of Kleenguard goggles. He throws one around his face. He also finds multiple dust masks, and shoves all his findings in a large duffel bag. The last thing he finds is a set of keys, and after a long debate with himself he finally decides to take them as well.

In the parking lot he clicks unlock furiously on the keys while rushing to see lights flashing. The ringing in his ears is still persistently taunting him, so sadly the alarm is of no use to him. Finally, at the very far end of the lines of vehicles he sees lights calling to him on a large black pickup truck. Contented, he runs to the vehicle and starts it. He only has an hour worth of drive time.

He has none of his belongings besides his phone, but the screen says that there is no signal of any kind. Looking at his screen; his features soften, and he stares at the photo of him holding his wife Eve on Christmas. They both had had a few too many that night, and his Mother had caught them in the middle of a frenzy of flirting with large smiles and hearty laughs. The photo alone is enough to erase all his remorse for stealing the truck.

During his drive the sheer emptiness of everything is alarming. The air is only dust and ash, and there is no sunlight to be seen. No other vehicles are on the roads, and the unsettling nature of it all makes Tim finally feel the need to pull over. He throws open the door, and quickly pulls off his mask before vomiting unrelentingly onto the ground. He is twitching, and gasping at the dirty air to try to calm his stomach, but to no avail. When the contents of his stomach are finally empty, he returns the mask to his face and urges himself to get back into the truck to continue driving, but finds himself asleep before he can reach the door.

Upon opening his eyes, he removes the dirty goggles obscuring his vision, and everything surrounding him looks like a burnt orange swirl of chemicals and disarray. His eyes begin to water again as he tries his best to clean off the goggles so he can return them to his face. Throwing himself back into the truck, he starts it again to continue his journey, and is surprised to find he can finally hear the slight hum of the truck below the continuous ringing. He still has forty miles before he hopes to see his wife, but seeing as he is sure there are no current traffic laws in effect, he decides to go as fast as the truck’s engine will allow in hopes of arriving at his destination sooner.

The first building he happens upon is a gas station. He pulls the truck up to the pumps in hopes that he may be able to fill the tank. To his dismay they are out of order, and he most likely will not be getting gas any time soon. He grabs his duffel bag before walking into the building and sees that it seems to be abandoned. He grabs canned goods off the shelves; throwing them into his bag. Then, he moves onto water, and follows the same rhythm from before. Once he has these packed he spots a telephone behind the counter, and runs to try to call his wife. With no dial tone emerging when he holds the phone up to his ear, he looks down to find a young man wearing a shirt with the logo of the store on it. The name tag on his shirt reads “Thomas.”

After having a mental war with himself, Tim finally gives in to the fact that he is a caring person. He removes a dust mask from his duffel bag, forces it around Thomas’s face, and carries his limp body to the truck. Lacking any grace, he fumbles to put Thomas into the backseat of the truck, and shuts the doors around him as he also climbs in. He turns the air conditioner on full blast with the option to recycle the air already in the truck in hopes that it will help the young man to awaken, and begins to drive again. He has only fifteen miles to go, but the truck’s tank is already on E, and he fears he may not be able to make it.

With two miles to go the truck rolls to a stop and refuses to start again. Thomas is still asleep in the back seat, so Tim pours some water on his face. Slowly, the young man opens his eyes, and is startled to see the man standing over him.

“Is your name Thomas?” Tim says loudly.

“What?” The boy yells back, unable to hear.

“Is your name Thomas?” Tim yells.

“My name is Thomas, but I go by TJ.” The boy yells back, not realizing that he is on the verge of screaming at Tim.

“Can you hear me at all? How is your breathing, and do your lungs hurt? Are your eyes burning?” Tim says slightly quieter this time.

“All I can hear is a loud ringing, but I can read lips pretty well. My lungs are on fire, and my eyes feel like I poured salt in them, but other than that I think I am alright. Who are you, what happened, and why am I here?”

Tim hands some goggles to TJ and tries to think of a way to answer his questions.

“My name is Tim. I’m not sure what happened, but it sure looks like a mess to me. I found you at the gas station passed out behind the counter, and I didn’t want to leave you alone, so I brought you with me. I hope that is alright. I am sorry to spring this on you, but we are going to have to walk from here. There are only two miles left until we reach her school. Do you think that you can do that?”

“Whose school are we going to? Why are you going to a school in the middle of all of this? I have no idea what is going on, so why would I just up and come with you in the middle of chaos?”

“My wife is a high school teacher. Her name is Eve Morrow, and ever since I woke up in a mining tunnel my only thought other than keeping you from being alone is getting to her. If you don’t want to come you can go on your own. You can even keep the truck, but I’m going whether you come with me or not.”

“I think I’m going to stick with the truck for a little bit and think about what I’m going to do. What school are you going to, just in case I decide to catch up?”

“Westry Quietus High School, it is on the south end of Blue Mountain Drive. If you hit the cul de sac you went too far.”

With that, Tim begins to unpack half of the cans and waters that he had taken from the gas station. He gives a curt smile to TJ, and walks away in hopes to find his wife. He walks the two miles at a heavy paced stride that just barely falls short of a run. The air is still thick with ash, and the duffel bag thrown across his shoulder makes him droop with the unrelenting weight, but he never stops. The sign for Blue Mountain Drive sets every hair on his body on end. He begins sprinting down the street, and finds only half of the Westry Quietus High School sign standing before the schoolyard.

The school looks more like a construction zone than any other building Tim had seen prior. There is debris and support beams everywhere, and a large portion of the building is no longer standing. His heart falls, as a small gasp rushes from his mouth in a flurry. There are cars parked all around, and most are destroyed with smashed hoods and shattered windows.

He is looking in wonderment at the cars when he sees it. Eve’s car is parked in spot twenty-two; where she parks it every morning. The windows are all shattered, and the front is destroyed. He reaches his hand to the back passenger door. She always leaves it unlocked in case she loses her keys, which she very commonly does. The door gives way under his grip, and glass shards sprinkle across his boots.

Looking at the mirror makes his expression falter. There is no way she had been back to the car with the intent to get somewhere more safe. The shining golden heart is still dangling from the rearview mirror, and she would never leave it. Tim shakily grabs the locket from the mirror, and clicks it open. The photo of them holding their lost daughter, Dawn, made tears fall once again. He sat on the ground feeling defeated.

The sound of an engine brings him a spark of hope, and he turns to the sound. He feels a prick of disappointment when he sees the black pickup truck, but cannot help but feel relief. He is not completely alone. He could be the only person here dealing with devastation, but he was not. TJ gave a smile as he rolled down the truck window.

“I walked back to the gas station and filled every gas can as much as I could. I have the codes to the register. Where is Eve? We should get going.” TJ beamed over his genius.

Tim just warily shakes his head; dread covering his features. TJ withdraws his smile, and gives a sad nod back.

“Come on, man. We still have time to look. You never know what could have happened. Hop in.”

Tim simply clutches the locket to his chest and walks out into the rubble of what was once his wife’s place of work. He walks to about where her classroom would be and sits, because there is nothing left to search for. First goes Dawn, now Eve, and there is no longer a purpose for Tim Morrow.