“NaNoWriMo 2020 Pt. 24”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Additional note: In honour of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), all 30 stories written in the month of November will (hopefully) create a single multi-part story that will reach its conclusion by the end of the month. Stay tuned for a new story part every day!

Read the compiled NaNoWriMo TTtW story here!

Prompt: Write a story including the phrase “The weather was awful.”

MASON’S POV

Maddie wakes me up bright and early for more work. Oh joy, just what I wanted to do first thing on my second day in my new home.

We head to the upper floors and clean our rooms in silence. I don’t really want to tell her that I saw her crying outside before, but I know myself, and if I started talking then that’s probably the first thing that would come out of my mouth.

We’re heading downstairs to lunch when Maddie finally breaks the awkward silence.

“Hey, do you remember the Day of the Halving?”

I frown. “Of course I do. It’s not every day that the apocalypse begins.”

She glances at me with exasperation before continuing, “For some reason, the thing I remember most is that the weather was awful. I was caught at my boyfriend’s house because the storm was so bad, and then this whole mess happened.”

Her eyes drop to the ground and she sighs. “I haven’t even seen my family since then.”

I shift uncomfortably, unsure if I should put a hand on her shoulder or something. “I’m sorry,” I end up saying. “If it makes you feel better, I actually saw my older brother die, so…”

She raises an eyebrow. “Are you trying to out-sad my story?”

I shrug. “Did it work?”

“Challenge accepted,” she smirks. She turns to face me, her arms crossed. “Like I said, I was with my boyfriend when the apocalypse hit. Two days later, he was hit by a car.”

I wince. “Sorry to hear that.”

“I’m not done,” she says, holding up a finger. “He wasn’t killed by the car, just badly injured. I helped him as best as I could, but his leg was broken and it became infected. We eventually had to amputate it, but the infection came back. He died a week later in my arms.”

“I’m–“

“Still not finished,” Maddie says, narrowing her eyes at me. “The night he died, I held his body for hours, just crying my eyes out. I was so scared to be alone, especially with all the crazy stuff that had been happening.

“About five hours into the night, he suddenly started moving again. He sat up and turned to me. His infection was completely gone, and his leg had even grown back.”

My mouth drops open. “And you’re sure you weren’t delirious or something?” I ask slowly.

“I definitely wasn’t,” Maddie says, shaking her head. “I can prove it to you.”

“Prove what?”

“That he’s still alive.”

“How?”

The elevator door dings open but Maddie doesn’t leave. Instead, she lowers her voice and whispers, “Well, for starters, that room we just cleaned? Yeah, that was his.”

Final Comments: I have to say that this was one of the easier prompts to incorporate into the story.

Overall Rating: 😲