I give my thanks to my family for inspiration

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It was a warm summer day, in California. The sun was so bright, and scorching hot. I was so thirsty, I thought I was dreaming when a feminine voice said “Jimmy, would you like some lemonade?” I snapped back to reality, and said “Yes, please.” It was my aunt Jamie; she was now taking care of me. A few months back my father and mother, had mysteriously disappeared. The night they disappeared, they said they saw white light, and wanted to make sure everything was alright. I thought nothing of it, until they never came back. So I called the police and they searched but could never find them. They called my aunt Jamie, and told her the details. So I was now living in the custody of my aunt, Jamie Kenwood. I still can’t hold back the grief, of my parents not being here. I told myself that no matter what happened, I would find out what happened to them. Later that day I decided to take a swim.

CHAPTER ONE

The blue crystal-clear water felt wonderful, against my body. I swam for a few minutes, then noticed a change. The wind started blowing, and the sky was dark. I also noticed, cumulonimbus clouds, started forming. Then I thought to myself, is a thunderstorm coming? The trees were shaking so hard, I thought they were dancing. The bushes swayed back and forth, but there was something unusual about them. The bushes had eyes, even though I was probably seeing things. I climbed out of the pool, grabbed my towel and ran inside. As I watched it rain I thought. That thunderstorm came so unexpected, there were clear skies a minute ago. I started to smell this aroma of food, I ran in the kitchen to find aunt Jamie cooking. She glanced at me and said “Jimmy dinners almost ready, go ahead and take out the trash.”

It was thundering and lightning, outside I didn’t want to go. Especially since I thought I saw eyes in the bushes. So I tried “But, I-” “No buts, take the trash out.” She said looking sternly, then I looked back out the window. Sometimes I really loved my aunt, then again sometimes, I really hated her. I grabbed the heavy bag of trash, and opened the door. Then I gritted my teeth, and walked outside. Leaves were dancing in the air, and trees were shaking from side to side. Then, I remembered the eyes in the bushes. I took one look, and didn’t see any, I went over to our dumpster. I flipped it open, put the trash bag in, and walked towards the house. Everything next was a blur, a tree fell on top of the house. I screamed “Aunt Jamie!”, then as I ran inside there was an explosion. I remember laying on my back, and I couldn’t feel anything, next I must’ve fainted. When I opened my eyes, everything was white and blurry.

Then my eyes came into focus, and there was a woman standing next to me. I asked “Aunt Jamie is that you?” The woman said “No, my name is Abby” in a soft quiet voice. Then it hit me, what about aunt Jamie, was she safe and alright, what happened to her? Thoughts raced through my mind, I needed answers. “What about aunt Jamie?” I asked, she looked confused. I said “Did she make it?” Then she said, “If you are referring to the woman found inside the house, she didn’t make it.” Then she walked towards the door, and said “I’m going to get the doctor, and well run some tests.” She glanced back and said “Do you need anything?” I was too sad to say anything, so I shook my head. Then she just walked out of the room quietly.

CHAPTER TWO | CHANGE

Later on that day, I sat in my hospital bed, wondering where the time went. Then over the next few weeks, changes started happening. Nurses, wore masks everywhere, and so did the patients. Instead of us getting fed regular meals, we got fed through tubes. it was the same thing every day. I decided to find out what was going on, maybe the new channel covered it. I flipped on the TV, and I flipped the channels and they all had the news on. I thought to myself, weird so I decided to tune in. I turned the volume up, the news anchor said “Everyone needs to head to a- “, Then the TV shut off, and the power went out. The room grew dark, and I waited for someone to come in any second. When nobody came I slowly got up, my back ached, but I managed to walk to the window.

I peeked through, to find hundreds of cars backed up, it seemed they were trying to get somewhere. People were frantically running around everywhere; I knew something was going on. It looked like something from a movie. I busted out of my room and looked around for Abby, since she was the only one I knew. People were running ahead of me, bumping people, and not looking a bit concerned. When I got to the elevator’s it was filled with people rushing to exit the hospital. I saw gentleman standing in the corner, and asked him “What’s going on?” He replied with “Only time will tell, young man.” I turned towards the elevator, to see Abby entering, and I rushed inside to greet her. The elevator doors closed, and I said “Abby, what’s happening?” There was a moment of silence.

Then the ding of the elevator broke the silence, with a serious look she said “Nobody is safe anymore, just get to a bus.” Then she rushed out of the elevator. I confused exited the elevator, and ran where everyone else was running to. When I got outside, there was fire and chaos, people screaming and running everywhere. I heard a man yell “Last bus!” Abby had told me to get on a bus, so I headed towards it. There was an angry mob of people trying to get on the bus. I got pushed and pulled, and somehow I was at the doors to the bus. Then the man yelled “One more person!” I started to get on the bus, when I got yanked to the ground. I got the wind knocked out of me, I heard shouting and maybe a gunshot. Something grabbed me and pulled me to my feet.

I turned around it was the gentleman from earlier, he said “Come sit with me, young man.” I got on the bus, and sat next to the gentleman. The bus’s door’s closed, and we started riding away. The crowd followed, some people trying to grab onto the back of the bus. I would have felt sorry for those people, if I knew what was going on. Then the crowd of people grew tinnier, and tinnier until they were a little black speck. In the corner of my eye, I noticed a girl about my age, she glanced at me. So I turned to the gentleman from earlier, He stared off and said “My name is Rufus, Rufus Clyde.” I didn’t know whether to trust him, but he did help me twice. So I said “My name is Jimmy, Jimmy Kenwood.” My father’s last name was Clyde, but I never used it. So I asked him “Do you know