Annihilation

Boom! Another bomb sets off. I run to the kitchen and look out the dirty window. House D28. I go to the calendar and mark off a day. Today is the five week mark until my house explodes. I'm not the most excited. I look out the window again and see a horrible gray sky, smoke so thick you can't even see all the houses. What has this world become? The government won't tell us a single thing. All we know is that they're trying to cut down the population, and if you don't find the bomb in your house in time it explodes. One house everyday. 35 days till mine explodes and I still have no clue where it’s at.

I walk into my bedroom and use Morse code to talk to the person next to me. Well somewhat Morse code. We kind of have our own language. His name is Lanter. I ask him if he has found his bomb yet, and he says no. I’m D63 and he’s D62. He’s been my neighbor for years. When we were 10 we got put in these houses all by ourselves. I think I'm 17 now?  Lanter says he's 17 too. I say goodbye to him and go to the kitchen. I reach into the refrigerator and grab a container that has been sent through the walls into here. It's teriyaki chicken and rice, my favorite.

I sit at the kitchen table and think. I think about where the bomb is. I also think about my mom and dad. I try not to think about them too much or I’ll get too sad and distracted from finding the bomb. I need to find this bomb before time runs out. I scoop the last of the rice into my mouth and throw the container into the garbage. 

I take a shower and then lay down for the night after saying goodnight to Lanter. Although I’m tired I can’t sleep. I look at the ceiling and think. I wonder where my brother is in this world. I wonder if he is even still alive. My eyes drop heavily and my mind wanders off into a deep sleep.

I wake up from a nightmare panting and sweating. I catch my breath and think back to my dream. It was about my house blowing up and my brother too. He’s two years older than me but I haven’t seen him since I was eight and he was ten.

The next week goes by fast. I spend most of it looking for the bomb and thinking. Today is the 28 day mark till mine explodes or I guess you could say 4 weeks. Every time I think about this my palms get sweaty and I feel like I’m going to faint, so I try to keep it off my mind.

The last time I fainted some people who work with Omega came in and put me on my bed. They also left me pills to control my fainting. I walk over to the cabinets and grab them. I go to the sink and get some water in my mouth and swallow the pill.

I grab my meal. It's pancakes and bacon. This place's food isn’t half that bad. I eat my meal and look at the walls for two reasons; one is to investigate and two is just because I'm bored. They don't give us much to do, so I decide to go sit on my front porch. I sit on the chair outside and see that the smoke has gone down.

You may be wondering why I don't just try to escape outside. Well I’ll tell you why. First off if you touch the fence that's around your house it shocks you horribly, by horribly I mean death. Secondly, if you do manage to escape, the forgers get involved, and no one gets past the forgers. People say it's just a suicide mission. They say that the forgers are soldiers that have trained their whole life just to be one. But unlike most people I actually want to live and see what they have waiting for us.

I look at the front of the house and examine everything about it. The color, the shapes, and anything else to look at. Anything that would give me a clue. The front of the house is so bland though, that I doubt anything is there. I go back inside and take a nap.

The weeks fly by so  fast and I have no clue where the bomb is. Today is day 14. It's official, i’m done for. I have no clue where the bomb is and I only have 2 weeks left. I repeat mostly the same stuff I did last week. I also talked to Lanter for a while. We talked about our childhoods. It's hard for us to talk though because our knuckles will turn red and even bruise up the next day. We mostly have our own language now because Morse code takes too long to spell out stuff. I would talk with my other neighbor, but I don't have one. The houses are grouped in pairs and are in rows of 10. The houses go on and on as far as I can see.

The bombs of the houses wake me up each morning. They get louder the closer they get. I look at the calendar and realize I have 5 days left. I’ve never felt this scared. Lanter will blow up before me, which is terrifying to think about. I’m worried to lose him and my brother. These are the people I am closest to. Everyone's parents are dead like mine, so all I have left is them.

 I look along the walls trying to find the bomb and all of a sudden there is a ding at my door. I run to the door to see who it is. When I open the door no one is there. I look all around and see a note taped to the door. I grab it and close the door behind me. I slide down the door and sit on the floor.

When I open the letter it has my name on it and it reads:

Dear Elaine,

We notice you have 5 days left so we are leaving you a little riddle to help you out… 

You press on my friend and I speak up for him

When I speak up you come along and check what's going on

I’m loud and annoying, but can be useful when someones coming

May luck be with you Elaine,

Sincerely Omega Inc.

I sat there for the rest of the day thinking of what this could mean. I go outside to get some fresh air and think some more. I study the house all it has on it that I can see is a few plants, a doormat and a doorbell. I think about each of these items. With the urge to stand up I walk over to the doorbell and think...When you press my friend I speak up....I run inside and look for the doorbell speaker.

That was the first time I actually was excited for the whole 7 years I’ve spent here. I found my bomb. I could see the flashing red light now. I bring a chair to the wall and reach up to pull it off. I set it on the table and as I’m about to disable I think about Lanter. I need to make sure he gets out alive with me. I run to my bed room and knock on the wall. He comes and answers and I tell him to tell me his riddle. He repeats the words that are on mine. We have the same one! I tell him where I found mine and he finds his there too. 

We disable them together and I hear a click. Our doors unlock. We walk outside and see each other for the first time ever. We are safe and we are together...or so I thought. A group of forgers come up to me and say, ”No one thought you would go this far without a partner to help you, but I guess you managed to do it.”

"What do you mean?"

My hands start shaking and my vision is blurry. Too much is happening right now. I finally got out of the house. This is real. The only part that wasn’t real was Lanter. I never had a neighbor or a partner. All those knocks on the wall were pointless. Are those feelings for someone who didn’t even exist. Was I going crazy? Am I crazy?

I look over at his door hoping to see this is fake, hoping to see the real Lanter I cared so much for. I see a movement in the corner of my eye. I look over. Just a glance and I see something. I’m so confused. I see Lanter at the corner of his house sitting in a chair. I point at him and say, “He’s right there. Look.” They look, but seem confused.

“There's nothing there kid.”

“How do you not see him,” I look over and he’s gone,” He’s……...gone.”

“Look kid we have no idea who you're talking about, but we don’t have time to waste, so let's get going.” I follow them to the gate and they put me in cuffs. They take me to a big, black, van like car. I get in and on the way to wherever we are headed I see him. He’s at one house and then the next as we drive. His body follows me. What's happening. Can I see a ghost? Can I see a dead Lanter?