The Beginning of the End

A Story by Jesse Jacques

The storm came up out of the southwest like a fiend, stalking its prey on legs of lightning. The wind was blowing, and objects fluttering as the storm grew more fierce.

“Hurry! Down to the cellar!” Violet shouted as the ho wling wind slammed the front door into the wall, peeling away some of the paint.

One by one, Violet’s little sisters, Grace, Alexandria, and Kylie stomped down the wooden steps, only pausing to jump over the broken box at the foot of the stairs. Then, huddled in a group, they ran across the cold concrete floor and crouched beside a metal door hinged to the floor.

“Alright. Kylie goes first, then Grace, then Alexandria!” Violet ordered as soon as the rusty door was opened. She watched carefully as first Kylie wobbled down the ladder and jumped to the floor when when she reached the last rung. Then Grace slowly went down, her eyes closed the whole time, for she was afraid of heights. Next, Alexandria stepped down the ladder with almost inhuman speed, looking up when her feet were planted safely on the floor.

Violet spun around and began collecting things they would need while they were down there: four sleeping bags, two gallons of water, and a duffel bag full of non-parishable food. She had always been cautious, planning for anything that might happen. Something like a storm as bad as the one raging outside and shaking the walls.

“Heads!” She yelled as she first peeked, then threw the provisions into the underground room. “Flashlights,” she muttered to herself as soon as she spun back around and grabbed them. These she piled into a backpack for items that might break. Or, if she needed, the backpack could hold the things when they got out of the cellar.

About ten minutes later, Violet was on the ground of the room and the door was locked.

“You dropped the water on my foot!” Alexandria cried as she pulled her shoe and sock off. She stuck her foot out at Violet as she did this and Violet turned away as she saw the blackening foot. “I can’t even walk on it.”

Violet ignored her, instead unrolling the sleeping bags and placing them so that they were only a few feet apart. Then, she pulled the heavy flashlights out of her backpack. Placing one next to each sleeping bag, she turned to her sisters.

“When you need these and only when you need these, they’re next to your sleeping bags, okay?”

Mm-hmm,” they all nodded.

“Okay, we are going to eat dinner in a few minutes. So, Alex,” Violet said, using her sister’s old nickname. “Wrap your foot with this.” She then grabbed a bandage from her backpack.

“Okay. But you’re gonna take care of my foot when we get out of this hell hole,” Alex said, yanking the bandage from her older sister’s grasp.

“Alex! Watch your mouth! You know we don’t speak of the place beneath our feet! Ever!” Violet shouted, her fingers closing around a silver cross around her neck.

“Sorry…I-I’m sorry, Violet.” Alex stuttered, turning away so her sisters wouldn’t see the lone tear that rolled down her cheek.

“I know you are. I’m sorry I yelled at you…okay, it’s time to eat, guys.”

They all gathered around and waited patiently as Violet shuffled through her backpack and brought out two cans of vegetables- one was green beans and the other was peas. She handed the green beans to Alex and placed the peas in front of herself.

“Alex, you and Grace share. Kylie and I will have the peas.”

Alex and Violet both shared their vegetables, giving more than half of the can to each of their sisters.

When each can was empty of the last morsel, all the sisters crept to their own sleeping bags and lay there until their eyes closed, one by one.

They all awakened next to eachother the next morning in complete silence. No sounds could be heard. There was no howling wind, slamming doors, or even a mouse scuttling about.

“Stay here. I’m gonna go have a peek upstairs,” Violet whispered, as if she were afraid any noise would awaken something upstairs.

Her sisters watched as she slowly crept up the stairs, only stopping to push open the rusted door. After a few moments, she came back down the ladder, leaving the door open. She quickly crossed the room and started pulling the cans of food into her backpack. Then, she tossed another backpack to Alex, only pointing to the water bottles.

Within twenty minutes, the four sisters were standing upstairs in what used to be their house. Now, it was nothing but a pile of debris. All that remained was one wall of the house, standing up all by itself.

The sisters started on their journey, never looking back, for they feared that if they did, they would go running back, not wanting to leave what was left of their home.

This was the beginning of their journey. Or, perhaps it was the beginning of the end.

© 2011 Jesse Jacques

Author's Note

This was for my English Common Task. I was trying to finish it withing the 45 minutes we had, so tell me what you think! Does anybody think it could become a book?

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Reviews

emily

For fourty five minutes that was really impressive. One of the hardest things in the world for me is getting something written QUICKLY. So this level of prose in so short a time really blows me away.
I feel that this could definitely be a book, a hundred percent. In all honesty, I opened it thinking it WAS a book and didn't know what to do when there was no 'next chapter' button. Besides the obvious little blips that always come with speed writing, I didn't see a thing wrong with it. I would love to see more!

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