Allison

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The huge tree that sat in the middle of the neighborhood was in flames. As I ran from the house the heavy bag on my back bounced and the things inside banged against each other. I turned around to see people running and smoke. I had to keep going. I threw open the car door and sat down. I put the bag full of supplies in the passengers seat. I could hear people shouting in the distance. I kept driving. I couldn’t miss that train. It might be the last one for a long time.

I came up to the train station. There was a young mother holding a screaming child. A homeless man sat on a bench. I got out of my car. The sign said the next train was coming in 2 minutes. Just in time. The woman sat. I sat next to her. She calmed the baby down and looked at me. 

    “This place has really gone to shit, hasn’t it?” She said, holding the child close to her. I nodded.

    ”It sure has.”

The train drove up to the stop. The doors opened. No one got out. The woman and I stepped inside. We sat next to each other. There was a young girl, no older than 17 sitting in a seat crying. A boy about her same age wrapped his arms around her. The baby fell asleep. 

    “What’s their name?” I asked the woman, looking at her child.

    “Crescentia,” she said with a smile.

    “That’s beautiful.”

    “What’s yours?”

    “Nevia,” I said.

    “I’m Allison,” she said. She was amazingly pretty. She had dark hair that curled in thick waves and landed just at her shoulders. Her lips were dark and soft, her eyes round and caring. We talked for hours.  We shared our food, which consisted of an apple and a sandwich. When night fell, we were the only ones left in the train. It was still an hour until we got into Washington. It turns out she was going near where I was. Allison was 20, only a year older than I was. When the train stopped at my destination, she went with me.

    “I wasn’t really planning on anything specific, just looking to get a bit away from there.” She said, turning as if she could see Portland at the skyline. The moon was full and bright. We crossed the street and walked until we found a motel. 

    “A room with two beds, please.” I said. 

We ordered room service and sat in our beds, watching TV and eating French fries. I woke up in the morning with the sunlight dripping in from the poorly closed blinds and the TV playing softly. Allison and Crescentia were asleep. I turned the volume up a notch and watched.

    “The fires have been spreading from California to Washington. Many towns were demolished, leaving thousands homeless. Fire traveling at an alarming rate, leaving poor air quality across Northern America.” Said a middle aged man. The green screen behind him showed a map of the United States, with red and orange areas around California, Arizona, Nevada, and creeping into Oregon. I got out of bed and grabbed a fresh shirt and the same shorts I wore yesterday. I showered and got dressed and brushed my teeth and hair. When I came out of the bathroom Allison was up and ready, dressing Crescentia. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail, with strands poking out in all directions. Still she was gorgeous. How, I don't know. 

    “Nevia, lets get some food,” she said. We went to a little coffee shop. I got a bagel and she got tea and eggs. There were beautiful hanging plants all over the shop. A little succulent sat in the middle of our table. We finished the food and bought some bottled water. We would need it. We stopped by the grocery store before we got on another train to get more diapers and some medical supplies. We figured out that we should go far into Washington, and find a place to stay for a while. Not only were the fires moving upwards, but by that afternoon they were beginning to move to 

the right. We got on another train that took us to Bellingham. Not only was it further east, it also had low taxes. There were many people in this train. I had to stand, and a man let Allison and Crescentia take his spot. Eventually the number of people lessened and I got to sit with Allison. We arrived in Bellingham and bought non perishable food and tampons. We arrived near a forest and decided to try and get away from it. We walked and found a campsite of some sort. I figured we’d rent a cabin of some sort. There was a worker at the front desk. 

    “Do you have any open cabins?”

    “Yes, actually. There’s few people here at this time of year. And because of… never mind.”

    “We’ll take it.” I handed him the money. He led us down a path and through a beautiful flowery meadow. Colorful mushrooms and grasses and flowers covered the ground. A two story house with light wood walls and tall, elegant windows came into view. 

    “Wow,” Alison said under her breath. Crescentia giggled. He handed us a key and left. The house was huge. We put our bags down on the blue table. I went upstairs to see 2 big bedrooms. I went into the smaller one. There was a huge window from the floor to the ceiling and a big pale yellow bed. There was a dresser full of empty drawers. I peeked into the other room. A blue bed and a wood desk. I went back downstairs, and Allison was exploring the kitchen.

    “There’s nothing in these cabinets. Or the fridge. Ah! Glasses!” She said from inside the pantry. Crescentia was crawling around the living room. Allison chose the room with the blue bed. I woke up in the middle of the night to sniffling. I opened my door and looked down the staircase. There was Allison sitting at the table crying. I walked downstairs. I put my arm around her.

    “I miss my mom,” she said. “She’s hated me ever since Crescentia.” She told me about how her parents kicked her out, how she moved to America around a year ago. I made her a cup of tea and we sat on the couch cuddled in a blanket and watching a movie. I fell asleep in her arms. When I woke up in the morning, we were cuddling with the blanket on the floor. I picked it up and put it around us and went back to sleep.

    For lunch we had a little picnic in the meadow. We put down a blanket and sat in the flowers. I made cookies and sandwiches and we bought sparkling water to pour into wine glasses. Allison picked a white flower with a yellow center and put it in my hair. And we looked in each other’s eyes for a second. And I kissed her. 

And it was lovely.