"Tell me a story, please?"

I didn’t know what it was.

All I knew was that something shook the earth so hard, I couldn’t imagine it not reaching every corner of the planet.

I was tending to something in the front yard of my brother-in-law’s ranch house when there was a loud and thunderous boom. I didn’t see anything to have caused it, but I lost my balance and fell to the ground shortly after the shockwave reached me. Stunned for only a moment, my first instinct was to text my husband while my second was to head for my crazy brother-in-law’s bunker.

He was one of those nutcases that always thought the world was going to end. He’d recently become obsessed with building one of those bunkers hidden deep underground with two entrances: one outside, and one in the house. I was helping tend the house while he worked on this project because crazy or not, he was paying, and my husband and I could use the money. It was ironic that he was right about the world ending, and wasn’t home to use his own bunker.

Absolutely terrified, and hoping I was just overreacting, I went down.

I didn’t know what he needed to finish, but it was nearly done and surely I wouldn’t actually need it. I closed the door tightly, left it unlocked in case my husband came home, and explored.

I had always thought bunkers were small. Stale. Cold. Concrete. I couldn’t tell the difference between this bunker and the furnished basement of a house. There was carpet and a TV and a DVD player and a whole collection of movies. In another room, there was an entire library! Forget the house, I’ll clean the bunker from now on.

Being the OCD brother-in-law he was, every inch of this place was perfectly detailed in a handy manual on the table in the library. You could seal rooms and turn them off to conserve power. He had emergency stashes of tools and food in every room in case some of them became damaged or unusable; it was quite amazing. No wonder he was paid the big bucks to be some fancy architect.

I’d lost myself for a time and finally decided to check what was going on upstairs, since I’d heard nothing else.

I climbed up the ladder, hearing a loud whooshing sound with each rung closer to the door. The tiny window to the outside was blacked out but upon closer inspection, I noticed it was the air itself. I didn’t know if it was smoke or what, but I couldn’t see anything at all. So, I went back down and left it alone. I thought maybe I’d forgotten to turn something off in the kitchen and something exploded and perhaps my poor brother-in-law’s house was on fire now. I knew it wasn’t right, but that’s what I told myself. I then decided to check on the house entrance, just in case.

It was blacked out too.

I started to panic. After a minute or so of pacing at the bottom of the ladder, I took a deep breath. Perhaps a distraction might help. I went and perused the library as I was much more for reading than watching. I discovered that my brother-in-law had quite the sense of humor! No wonder he was a doomsday nutjob. He had every dystopian future and post-apocalyptic story you could think of; a lot I didn’t even know existed. I picked up The 5th Wave, as I’d been meaning to since it was one of the few movies I liked, and plopped down on a couch to read.

I woke up some time later having passed out somewhere during chapter thirteen. I checked the doors again and the windows were still dark. The whooshing had stopped, but it distressed me to see the outside so black.

By this point, I began to wonder if it was a meteor, or nuclear blast, or perhaps Yellowstone finally exploded as I’d heard it’s been meaning to for centuries. Well, at least the bunker held up, but this made me incredibly sad. I didn’t want to think about not seeing my husband again. I didn’t want to think about life being different. I liked how it was. Before I could panic again, I hurried down and continued reading. I would much rather imagine a dystopian fantasy than live in it.

So I did.

I made a habit of this each day. I’d read a chapter in the manual, then a random book, then I’d check the doors and go back to reading. Apparently, what my brother-in-law was still working on was the refrigerator. I mean, it’d be nice to have cold water and ice and he made sure to have the makings of homemade ice cream in storage, but those things seemed like an awfully fancy commodity for a bunker, so I did just fine without, to say the least.

I’d found a calendar and started marking off days but I never found a clock to see if I was on a daily schedule. My phone had died two days in and I couldn’t find a proper charger either. Why can’t Apple and Android just use the same thing? Anyway, when it reached the two week mark, I let myself cry. Being without my husband for a time was no unusual thing because of his work, but not going beyond two weeks was an unspoken rule we had. I began to shiver and shake, spending the better part of the day just lying on the ground in a ball.

I finally let the thoughts in.

He’s not coming.

It took me another two weeks before I finally locked the doors.

Never having that final confirmation of his death took a toll on me. I never realized how important it was to be told someone was dead. Not that I could imagine life going back to normal, but I will never take that for granted again. Knowing is a powerful thing.

Over the next year or so, I’d gone through most of the books and started with the movies. My head was filled with dystopian ideas and I felt like whenever I ventured out again, I’d be fully prepared to face the new world. Perhaps that’s why my dear brother-in-law chose those books. It was just another level of preparedness. I hoped it wasn’t zombies. I also hoped there weren’t too many people left behind because I really didn’t want to have to shoot someone over food.

Fourteen and a half months in, the window cleared up. The sky was an awful color, but it was the sky. I excitedly searched for something to exit in and found a couple different suits packed with all the tools I needed to test the air quality and radiation levels. I decided to wait a couple more weeks before I ventured out since instruction books stated that it might not be gone just because it cleared up.

After the initial month of being inside the bunker, I’d forgotten to check the house door and made a habit of only looking through the outside one. Otherwise, I would have known before I stepped out that the house was gone. The trees were gone. Dear God, everything was gone. There were obvious remnants, but nothing resembling what was once there. I searched the area more thoroughly and found the second entrance fully intact. Still don’t know what happened, but thank you, brother-in-law.

There was no radiation, but the air quality wasn’t good. I didn’t fully understand the instruments, as I’d skimmed some of the dry reading, but I knew the number wasn’t what it was supposed to be for the air quality, so I went back inside.

It was nice to be able to venture out though.

I did this everyday for a couple of months using the hazmat suit instead since it was lighter. One day, the number started entering the “acceptable range”, but I still gave it a bit before I took the hood off. If you could believe it, the air was more stale than in the bunker. I didn’t pay it much mind because it was breathable regardless, and god it was great to be outside again.

I started making trips knowing the rations weren’t endless, even if they would still last another year or two. It began with a couple hours turning into longer and longer periods of time exploring. It eventually got to where I was gone for days. There wasn’t much to see. It wasn’t a dust bowl, but it was empty.

After a few weeks, I came across my first building. It was barely standing and there was nothing of import inside, but it was a building! A few weeks later and I came across another. I’d never been the adventurous type, but it was a nice reprieve from the bunker and the exercise felt really good. I noticed the seasons no longer existed as it passed from summer to fall with almost no change in weather. It was unnerving, but I appreciated the consistency and let it go.

I finally found another building that was mostly intact. I had begun exploring when I discovered for the first time in just over two years that I wasn’t alone. It was an older gentleman I’d say was at least twenty years my senior. We were both absolutely terrified of each other and it took us days to finally approach.

He was an odd sort of person, but harmless as far as I could tell.

I shared my food and we didn’t talk much, but I found his presence more calming than not. One night, as I was falling asleep, I felt him lightly brush my leg. I knew it was an invitation, and I knew that in the old world it wouldn’t have been… okay, but this was the new world, and I too longed for someone. The post-apocalyptic dystopian fantasies rarely talked about the uncontrollable desire, save for I Am Legend which I appreciated.

It was gloriously intimate. I’d nearly forgotten what it felt like.

I fell asleep in his arms and woke up alone.

I’d wondered if I imagined it, but found a single silver locket left behind. There was a picture of a handsome young man and a beautiful young girl that could’ve been his children, but I didn’t exactly have an explanation since he was gone. I kept it close for it was the only reminder I had of that moment, until nine months later.

“Did you ever learn his name?” My daughter asks, sitting in my lap as I tell her my story for the first time.

I shake my head, my hand going to the locket on my neck. “All I know is he was alone, and so was I. Until I wasn’t.”

“Because of me!” She raises her arms excitedly and I laugh.

“That’s right, because of you.” I touch her nose with mine and carry her to her bed.

“Will I get to wear it someday?” She reaches for the necklace as I tuck the blanket in around her.

“Only if you promise to take care of it.” I slide it over my head and tentatively offer it to her.

She carefully cups her hands around the silver heart and stares in wonder at the yellowed pictures inside.

“Technically, they could be your brother and sister.” I nod, hoping that it’s true.

“You think I’ll ever meet ‘em?” She looks up at me with her big, sweet brown eyes.

“Who knows, but it’s time for bed.” I kiss her forehead and take back the locket.

“Mommy, what was the old world like?” She asks, sitting up.

“Now, sweetie, I told you.” I warn, turning out the light.

“I know.” She lies back down and cuddles under the blanket. “Only one.”

“Only one.” I repeat, closing the door.