By: Tiffany Hu

Dry, dead, dark, and lifeless were the words I thought to myself as

I looked at the small strip of land that I had been farming on for the

past six months. I poured a bucket of dirty water on my crops, that I

had just used to wash my clothes. If there was only one piece of living

thing growing on my field, a bit of weed or flower perhaps? Or maybe

even some grass? I would pluck it out before my neighbours would.

Right now, anything that is edible is valuable. After the world has

gone upside down there is barely any sunlight, there is no life and no

electricity. My brother and I are two of the few survivors.

As I stood outside the house door I cried out “open the door!”

“Who is it?” said Sean inside the house.

“It’s Susan!” I replied impatiently.

“What’s the pass?” he asked.

As I rolled my eyes I said softly and quickly “three-zero-four-zero-

four-six.” Then I saw a little crack of the door open, and saw half of

Sean’s face with two chains attached to the door and the side of the

wall above him. He closed the door and opened it again, but it was a

bit wider and the chains were loose. I walked in and took my worn

out shoes off. “Did you find anything to eat?” Sean said happily,

expecting good news.

I looked down to the floor and solemnly said “no, did you clean

around the house today?” I asked.

“Yep!” cried Sean in the living room playing with his three small cars.

Sean was very organized for a four year old. He makes me feel lucky

that I have him for a brother.

I unscrewed the tube connected to the water tank and let the

water run down the big round bucket I had on my hand. I walked in

the bathroom and cried “bath time!” Sean excitingly rushed over to

the bathroom. The water was usually cold but Sean never complained

about it, He is very understanding. After his bath it was my turn, we

reused the bath water. After my shower it was around three to four

o’clock pm, the sky was already dark. I walked over to the living room,

where the window was located and the sun can shine through for

about a quarter of the day, I went to collect my clothes that were

drying on the chair in front of the window.

Now would be the time I made dinner for my brother and I. In my

broken down fridge there was 10 pieces of dried fish, dried up

vegetables, 20 cans of soup, 1 bag of chips, 5 bags of frozen chicken,

and 10 bags of frozen vegetable, there is also a bag of seeds to grow

lettuce and tomatoes. My mother was always ahead of herself;

therefore she stored this food underground, which I dug out. Today,

for dinner I am going to boil one tenth of the bag of frozen vegetables

with one tenth of a fish. “Can you get some water from the pond

outside Sean?” I asked.

“Sure thing” replied Sean.

I unlocked the box filled with matches and lighters and got right on to

cooking, my Dad and I always admired the pictures on the match

boxes and the design on the lighters. I lit the fire place and cooked

over it.

“Why are the vegetables so soft Susan?” asked Sean.

“These are frozen vegetables not fresh ones” I replied. My family

grew some vegetables in the backyard before, but my brother and I

finished them all in six months.

“Susan, can I get another cup of water?” Sean asked

“Of course, I boiled a bit more water today” I replied, we reused the

water to boil vegetables and fish with.

My brother and I lived in the basement of our house, because it

was unsafe and hard to keep clean in an actual house. I moved all the

furniture I could down to the basement. Every room in the basement

was relatively small. The basement was also conveniently beside the

water tank; therefore I can make sure no one steals water from me. I

folded the dried up clothes and washed more using the bathwater

from today, and went to get more wood from the pieces of furniture

sawed up and put it in the fireplace to get ready for tomorrow. Before

I went to sleep I looked at a picture of my family I had been keeping

all this time and I would show it to my brother so he would not forget

what his parents look like.

I woke up this morning and did the usual, I farmed on my land, and I

will keep farming on it because I believe this farm, one day, will grow.

I believe that the world would go back to normal one day. When I

walked home I noticed Sean was looking a bit pale and had a little

cold. I brought out my mother’s jacket, I felt it, and I felt like crying

because I missed my mother, I missed the time when I hugged her

and felt the softness of her jacket on my face, but I snapped out of it,

and I gave him my mother’s jacket to wear because it was really

warm. I had also kept my mother’s jacket for the whole time because

when I missed her, I would close my eyes and hug the jacket, and it

would be just like it used to be.

Today I cooked chicken wings, my brother and I really enjoyed eating

them! My brother and I hopped into bed, but before sleep my

brother could not stop crying, so I told him a military story that my

dad used to tell me, to cheer me up. I brought out my dad’s military

hat that he gave me and showed it to him, he really liked it and

wanted to try it on, he ended up falling asleep with it.

I really miss my parent’s; my dad went out to war and never came

back. I believe he is still alive and one day, he will come back home

and take care of me and my brother. My mom sadly did die, because

she wanted to get more food for me and my brother, she risked her

life and stole, but was unlucky and got shot. Her last words were “I

believe in you.” To me this meant that I can do it. I can raise my

brother until he is old, very old.

I woke up and felt something really warm beside me, it was my

brother. He seemed to have a fever, so I decided not to farm today

and take care of my brother. I boiled a lot of water and let him eat

more. Weeks went by and his fever just get worse, my farm has died

and water was scarce. Even when Sean was sick he still was very

playful, he pretended to be a soldier using my dad’s military hat and

asked me to join him and play with his cars. We had some quality

time. Instead of taking cold baths I boiled water and mixed it in with

the cold water so it would be warm because Sean was sick. Every

night I made more and more food for him, but it doesn’t seem to

make him feel any better. Two months had past we have a quarter of

what we had and half the water in the water tank. I woke up a bit

more earlier than usual and I hear whimpering noises, it was my

brother. I asked him “what’s wrong?”

“I don’t feel so well, and I want mommy and daddy” said Sean

“Daddy is going to come home soon, I know it! Mommy is in a really

safe place. Would you like to eat anything special to make you feel

better?” I replied acting happy, but I felt horrible and felt sorry for

Sean to have to go through this at such a young age.

“I would like you to read a story” said Sean. I got out a book that I

really liked and read it to him, this book were also one of the many

things I kept with me. I cuddled with him and read him the whole

book. “Are you hungry Sean?” I asked.

“No, I’m not. I just want to stay here, and can you please get me my

car’s please?” he replied and I agreed. He fell asleep, and then I fell

asleep.

I woke up, Sean was cold, he was not breathing, and in his hands

were three rusty old cars. I felt horrible I felt failure, I had let my mom

down, I had let Sean down, and I am alone. After three to four hours

of crying, I had finally decided to do something. I took out all the cut

up wood and made a coffin with it. I placed Sean inside it and in his

hands was still the three cars; I took one and held on to it tight as I lit

the wood on fire. I stood there in front of it watching it burn and

every once in a while I would look at the car. It took one day for the

fire to turn to ashes, but I did not pick the ashes up and store it in a

jar, I just simply let it be. I watched for about two hours watching the

ashes blow away.

Two months after my brother’s death there was a quarter of the

food of what I had before, but no water, my lips are so dry. I feel the

best when I sleep because I dream, so I went to bed to dream. When I

closed my eyes I could hear a voice calling my name but I was too

weak to see who it is, so I sleep.

The end.