by Max Lockwood
At the last moment, she realized she was unarmed. It didn’t make her stop, though, as she burst into her sister's room, eyes roving around the room frantically until they fell on her sister.
She felt like her heart stopped again, just for a second, then it was slowing down to a normal pattern as she relaxed a little, relief washing through her and making her dizzy so she had to hold on to the doorjamb or she would have fallen.
Tessa was sitting up in bed, thin arms wrapped around her with her knees pulled up under the covers, and she was rocking slightly. Her face was pale and drawn, heavy bags under her eyes that meant she hadn't truly rested, but that was usual for her. What wasn’t were the tears dripping down her face as she breathed in ragged breaths. She must have been woken by a nightmare.
Clara sighed, moving forward to sit by her sister, previous ire with her practically forgotten. She tugged on Tessa until her sister leaned into her, holding her tight, and tried to soothe her. No matter how angry she got at her sister, she wouldn’t turn her away when she was like this. She guessed she'd been selfish again, fooling herself that she was the only one facing problems.
If Tessa wasn’t joking—no matter how crazy it sounded, if she had somehow predicted that crash, then she would have seen something close to what Clara had. Even if it wasn’t true and she just saw something else, she would have seen something horrific that kept her up at night. Tessa wasn’t an insomniac, but she rarely slept through the night, and Clara knew it was because her dreams were almost always disturbing.
Clara was reminded of how her father used to do the same for her, soothing her when she had a nightmare. She knew most of Tessa's nightmares centered around the death of their parents, whatever horrors she dreamed, usually had them in it, and Clara had to act in their place to comfort her sister. It was after that accident when she'd absolutely refused to step out of the house and her condition deteriorated.
Clara stroked Tessa's head, her hand freezing momentarily as Tessa muttered something about the apocalypse. The emotions that overtook her the evening before were back, momentarily, but she made her hand move. She tried not to lose patience with her sister.
It had been a while since she'd tried to soothe her after a nightmare, and holding her this close made her aware just how frail her sister was. She started humming, rocking her body lightly as her sister trembled in her arms.
Eventually, Tessa went back to sleep. She wasn't sure it was the best idea, but her sister was going to need to be well rested. Whatever came in the next few days, or even longer than that, she wasn’t always going to be able to stand for her, and she wanted her family to be able to look after themselves, even just a little bit.
Well, she was awake now and she didn’t think she could go back to sleep. She went back to her room, to find Cooper had somehow slept through the commotion. She sighed and picked out a change of clothes, then left for the bathroom.
Clara decided to combine her usual morning jog with seeing what was going on in the town. Instead of going her usual route around the block, she headed for town. She ran to the site of the crash, and found the place eerily quiet, with only a few people milling around with medical equipment.
Nothing much had changed since the day before. The plane was still there, all the cars. She remembered taking this route every day for weeks on her way to school and, wistfully, wondered how her day would have gone, yesterday and today, if she was taking the same route as usual. If she'd known and imagined what she had seen yesterday before, she would have been content. No matter how bad she thought her life was before, she now knew it could get so much worse.
Knowing she wouldn’t be much help, she left the area and stopped at a local store on her way back to pick up some basics. She added more food, even though the groceries had been delivered just a day ago, but it would be tiring to have to go so far to keep getting food.
As she paid, the store owner glared at her, and she flinched, wondering what was wrong. She thought it was her, that she had done something wrong, until he spoke, just as angrily as he looked.
"My latest food shipment hasn’t come in, and I don’t know when it's going to make it, so food is going to run out quickly at the shop."
She was confused for a moment, wondering why he was warning her, and then the words registered in her mind. Clara panicked and held up her finger, motioning for him to wait. She went back around the store, taking more food, stocking up in instant meals that only needed hot water instead of the kind she'd have to put in a microwave to cook. She bought a lot more food than she ever had before, as much as her budget would allow, afraid of not being able to get ahold of any later.
Why hadn't she thought of the possible food shortage? With no cars going anywhere, no electricity either, it should have occurred to her. There was no indication how long this was going to go on, but she didn’t think it would be something so easily solved. Even if, by some miracle, one she found incredibly unlikely to happen, the lights came back on and everything went back to normal, she had a family to feed. Not to mention, how was she going to get money to pay for whatever supplies they were going to need, when she couldn’t access her bank accounts?
Carrying so many bags of food was tiring, and it slowed her down considerably. She was sweating when she arrived home, but she just put the stuff down, wiped her forehead and opened the door to transfer everything inside.
Viola was up and about, looking better than yesterday. She looked confused, though, when she saw Clara, and she had to remind her who she was and where she'd been. The older woman still looked confused as she led her to the couch so she could sit, but she was showing some recognition. If there was one thing she would be glad for, though, was if her grandmother forgot whatever fear she'd felt before.
"Sorry. I shouldn't have been gone so long but after my jog I stopped by the store to get some food. Why don’t you wait here for me to get you some breakfast?"
She was gone before Viola could protest, taking everything to the kitchen. She was going to go up to her room to wake Cooper up when he came down the stairs. She motioned with her hand for him to come down and join her in the kitchen so her grandmother wouldn’t hear and become concerned.
"What is it?" he asked, then he looked at what she was wearing, her hair a little wet from all the sweat, and he frowned. "And where have you been?"
She shushed him, glanced over at her grandmother, then tugged him closer and explained everything, keeping her voice hushed.
"I went out to check the crash site this morning—"
"You—"
"I was out for a jog and I thought I might as well. I stopped at the store to buy some food. Cooper, the store owner told me he hadn't received his latest shipment."
He was confused for a few seconds, before it dawned on his face. "The shipment won't be coming in," he stated.
She nodded, wondering why he still looked calm when Clara's insides were churning in unease. She was lucky enough to have realized it this soon, but there was no guarantee it would be enough to save them.
"I don’t know how long the food in that store is going to last, I don’t think I can get any more, anyway. I don’t know how long the situation will last, but I think we need to start preparing for the long haul."
He glanced behind her into the open kitchen, where her overfull grocery bags were left on the floor. He gave a sharp nod as he looked back down at her. "Of course. We can sit down and work it out together."
She spared him a smile, and then tugged him into the kitchen with her so they could start.
CHAPTER TEN
"Is this everything?"
"Yeah," she muttered, feeling anxious as she glanced around at everything they had.
It didn’t look like a lot, really. She could guess, feeding four people, it wouldn’t last very long.
Clara and Cooper had made a mess in the kitchen, removing food from any nook and cranny and placing it all in plain view, taking inventory of what they had. Clara was distressed, knowing al
l the food in the freezers was going to go bad if the power didn’t return, so it would all have to go first. It would buy them a day, maybe two, but that wasn’t nearly enough. They would have to ration the food for when the shipments stopped coming, hell, they'd probably do good to start immediately, no matter the hope that the situation was somehow fixable.
Cooper, as usual, noticed her distress. He was across the room and pulling her into his arms again, rubbing soothing circles around her back with his wide palms. She didn’t relax, couldn’t let herself with the situation they found themselves in, but she let him make her feel better.
"Don't worry, it'll be okay." He sighed as he pressed his face into her hair.
Clara wondered how many times she'd heard those words from him, how many more times she was going to hear them in the near future. She had to keep it together. Leaning on him when she was having a bad day with her students was one thing, but Cooper would need an equal for something like this, not three dependents he never asked for. She gave him a squeeze and made herself pull back from his warmth.
He didn’t let her go, though, holding the top of her arms and shaking her a little until she glanced up at him.
"Look, later on we can go to my flat and gather some supplies from there. It won't be much, but it's something to add to the pile. I have some money there, and I can go buy some stuff, too, while the store is still selling."
It calmed her a little, knowing Cooper had a plan when she wasn’t in the right head space to be thinking one up, and she smiled, relaxing.
A knock on the door interrupted their moment, and they pulled back from each other. Michelle was standing on the doorway to the kitchen, and when she looked behind her, Clara could see she'd come over with Dante and the kids, who were left behind with Viola.
"Hey, Clara. Sorry, but your grandmother let us in."
"No, it’s fine. What can I help you with, Michelle?"
Michelle looked around curiously at all the displayed food as she walked into the room. Clara was surprised, though wondered why she still was at this point, when the older woman hurried over to her and dragged her into a hug.
"I wanted to make sure you're all okay, and I couldn’t leave them behind."
Clara was hit again by how nice this woman was, with her husband, the man she had been sleeping with for way too long, just a room away. She couldn't think about that, though. She was pretty sure she was done with Dante, and she had bigger things to worry about currently.
"Thank you so much for your concern, Michelle. This is Cooper, he's a friend of mine and a fellow teacher at the school."
Michelle showed him her megawatt smile as they shook hands, while Cooper's was more polite. They'd never officially met before, though they'd seen each other plenty of times when Cooper came to pick Clara up every morning for work. Then they moved back to the hallway where the older kid was running around the room curiously with Viola looking on with an indulgent expression, Dante carrying the other baby strapped to his chest. Clara didn’t even glance in his direction.
"Cooper and I were actually at the scene of the plane crash yesterday. It happened right in the middle of traffic, we were lucky enough to get away."
She didn’t mention Cooper's car getting crushed, or any other detail. She could tell they were shocked at the news, but she didn’t want anyone hysterical, especially her grandmother or the kid.
"Please, why don’t you sit down? We can have coffee, if you'd like." The invite flowed from her mouth before she could think about it and remember they had no electricity.
Michelle, being the amazing woman she was, saw the look on her face and gave her a pat on the arm. "It's okay, honey. We will be fine with just water."
She nodded at the other woman, and then went to look for a pitcher and glasses.
They all retired to the living room to discuss the events of the past day. Clara took the love seat next to Cooper, her grandmother took her own single seat, and the Townson family took the couch, with little Abigail, with blond curls and as beautiful as her mom at five and tanned skin like her dad, sitting between them. She moved as they talked, though, growing bored with the adult talk. She went to Clara and crawled into her lap, which made sense since Clara had babysat her a lot before. She knew the little girl was a little wary of her mother because she didn’t see her as much, though she was a daddy's girl, in love with her father like plenty other girls that laid eyes on the man. Michelle didn’t seem to mind, and Clara avoided looking at Dante.
Michelle laughed. "Can you believe Abigail is happy with the power cut, since she doesn’t have to go to school for now." Then she wrinkled her nose and gave an excellent pout that somehow fit her face even at her age. "Of course, this is awful for my business. I went into the salon this morning, but I couldn’t use hot water or any of my other utensils like hairdryers. I ended up having to close because there wasn’t anything for me to do there."
Clara listened to the complaints, feeling strange after yesterday. Not angry, though, she was glad for the distraction. As far as Michelle cared, her life had just hit a small blip and would be back on track in no time. Clara had some doubt, but she wouldn’t express it. Michelle wouldn’t understand—wouldn’t want to understand—and Clara couldn’t blame her.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Michelle," she said sincerely, bouncing the little girl on her knee. "I hope things will return to normal. Preferably soon."
Michelle was going to say something in answer to that, when something distracted her. Clara followed her gaze to find Tessa had decided to make an appearance. She was dressed as usual, hair still wild, bags dark under her eyes. The look she leveled on them instantly soured the mood in the room. Michelle smiled, though it looked a little strained around the edges.
"Hello, dear. I haven't seen you in a while."
It made sense, considering Tessa rarely left the house, her own room, and Michelle didn't come by often. Her expression barely changed as she cleared the stairs and stoop at the bottom with her arms crossed over her chest, not bothering to step farther into the living room.
"I suggest you all get used to life without luxuries," she muttered, her tone flat. "Life as you know it is over. Going on like you're going to get it back is foolish."
Though she'd wanted to be patient and understanding with her sister, she couldn't help the spike of annoyance. Even if that was true, there was no reason to say it out loud and scare a child and their aging, ailing grandmother.
"Stop it, Tessa," she scolded, keeping the child close to her chest so she wouldn’t look up and see Tessa as she looked, who was usually locked in her room the few times Abigail stayed over. The few times Abigail saw her, she'd run off scared. "Please stop trying to scare everyone, it’s rude."
Tessa just scoffed and snuck away. She went to the kitchen, but Clara didn’t feel like calling her back. She turned back to the couple in front of her with her lips pursed. They were both looking after her sister, confused.
"I apologize for her behavior. The current situation is getting to all of us, even my sister."
Clara felt another stab of irritation. Excusing her sister's behavior, being the one to apologize for it, was the last thing she wanted. But she knew if she tried to force it, her sister would just make everyone more uncomfortable. Cooper cut in before the atmosphere turned awkward and she was so grateful he'd taken her up on her offer to stay with them.
"Why don’t you all stay over for dinner, since we're using up all of the freezer food?"
"Oh, but we couldn’t—"
"It's going to go bad anyway, if we can't keep it refrigerated. You're already here and we could use the company, at least. Please, say yes."
Clara watched them give in, seeing Dante give Cooper a narrow eyed look, while his wife and daughter stared at him with open affection at his warm tone and equally warm, devastating smile.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Clara stood at the doorway where Michelle was giving her a last hug before the family went back to their h
ome. She glanced over the older woman's shoulder and Dante met her eyes, but she looked away almost immediately. She was going to ignore him like he didn’t exist. She had a family to take care of and so did he. She'd warned them, at least, about the food in the stores, and because it was a distance on foot, it was going to have to be Dante who went while his wife stayed back with the kids.
"Keep in touch, okay? We wouldn’t want anything to happen to you." Michelle pulled back and gave Clara a tiny smile.
"You, too. If you ever need me to look after the kids, let me know."
She huffed and rolled her eyes. "It won't be any time soon with both me and my husband stuck at home now. But if I think I need it, I'll take you up on your offer."
After bidding the neighbors goodbye, she closed the door and leaned back against it for a moment, letting remorse fill her for what she'd done to that woman. She was going to do her best to help them, if only for that alone, but she wouldn't compromise her own family when she'd been looking after them for years already. They had to be her first priority.
The moment gone, she pushed off the door to go and look for Cooper. There was no time to waste on things that didn’t matter. Tessa and her grandmother were back in their rooms, her grandmother likely laying down for a nap.
She found him in the kitchen still putting away their food. He was frowning, and his lips moved. She wanted to know what was on his mind, but she waited until he was finished with his task and noticed her.
"Are they gone?"
She nodded. "The whole family. Are you finished?"
"Yeah, I'm done. Actually, I was thinking we could head over to my place right now and get that out of the way. We're lucky I put my key in my pocket or we would have had to break the door down. Usually, I put it in the car, between the seats on the drive when I have to rush to leave the house."