Rebellious until “12:03”

Another heat wave happened just down the street from here yesterday. One death and zero Injured. Old man Henry died yesterday too. I guess he was that one person. I personally think he didn’t want the birds to starve while others think he was the rebellious type. He’s a very bitter old man but he loves the birds, says that they are “very poetic”. He fed them every other day at the exact same time. Im guessing he was out of bread yesterday. He always got the bread from the bakery 2 minutes down the road. They do remind us to check our phones everyday nagging and nagging about how you wouldn’t want to get caught up, but it’s for our own safety. I guess he didn’t. Some of the rebellious kids choose not to check, saying that if god wanted them dead then so be it, or saying the entire thing was rubbish and no one should listen to them. Half of those kids had gone out really far and popped up on the news a couple days later reported as a missing child, Silly kids. There’s seventy five Percent of people who do listen, but the other twenty five percent chose to roam around freely whenever they wanted. They aren’t forced to stay inside, only warned when to stay inside. I used to be apart of that percentage, The thought Of not listening to the weather reports sounded fun. Those boring reports of when, and where this Anonymous ‘heat wave’ would strike upon us while we hide out at home in our basements full of cool air from a machine that they made. It isn’t free either and if you didn’t pay, you didn’t get one. you’d have to find a place in your home cold enough to protect you from the heat, or at least dim down the damage it could do. Good thing the people in this town who have more than enough money and are nice enough to buy one for people who don’t have one. I wanted to go out freely for a change so one day I went out. I remember the day so clearly, like it was just yesterday. I didn’t watch the news with my fiancé, I didn’t check my phone for weather notifications, Or notify John to keep the door unlocked. On a stroll to get ingredients for the lasagna I was making for my twenty third anniversary, I got a notification, thinking it was from John, I opened it up. It was a warning message that there was supposed To be a heat wave at 12:03. I wasn’t to happy about it Because I wanted to take a walk that day, say hello to the neighbors, ya know the usual, but I decided that i wasn’t going to take that walk around the neighborhood anymore, besides, it was only going on eleven just now so I could still say hello to Donna and willow. Dismissing it I shrug and continue my walk. Arriving at the grocery store, I see no one in sight except for Tom, the cashier. Weird. Ignoring the fact that it’s pretty empty, taking out the list of things we need I grab a cart and was on my way. Remembering that my fiancé doesn’t like Lasagna without meatballs, I go to The meat aisle. grabbing them and turning around to leave to the dairy aisle but not before remembering I was supposed to make curry for our get together on Thursday. Turning back I grab some chicken as well. Okay..........Cheese, pasta, tomatoes, Peppers....done. Now I just need some bread, cereal and eggs. Grabbing just that and heading towards Tom so I could pay he asks me “Why didn’t you come earlier Rachell?” The smell of cigarettes and coffee mixed in his breath slapping me in the face in the process. Deciding not to be rude I reply “ it was far to hot to be out earlier but it’s warm now, the birds are singing, but no one out today.” Now bagging my things with the help of Tom “well that’s because they went in early today, the news said that there’s a heat wave heading over, didn’t you check?” Not wanting him to worry so much I paid and answered back “I’m going to right now, be safe Tom” walking towards the front. He mumbled “I hope you make it back”. I don’t think I was supposed to hear that. Leaving out and walking back home I got another notification. Looking at my phone the message was coming from my fiancé in all caps. I couldn’t read it all but he was super worried and wanted me home right now saying that it was 11:37 so I shot him a text saying that I’m already walking Home. Continuing my walk and passing by an alleyway, I see a black cat. She had silky looking fur with light green forest eyes and a golden bell around her neck. She came towards me so I crouched down to pet her. As I assumed, her fur was indeed silky, but her legs where severely injured, like she had been burnt. Reaching out to touch it I stopped midway. She had turned to look in the distance at the houses behind us. She looked a little bothered so I just continued walking not wanting to disturb her anymore. I only took about eight steps before I heard hissing behind me. turning to see what it was, it was the midnight black cat I had just pet about 5 seconds ago. She looked at me like I was her prey. I began backing away slowly but that only made her louder And in a split second she pounced, so I ran. Running and running from her my feet began to sore. realizing that I couldn’t hear her bell anymore, I stopped running but I didn’t stop for catching my breath, cats are sneaky. ‘at least I’m almost home now’ I say In my head Continuing on with my walk. as I approached my street I couldn’t see willow or Donna on the steps reading with one another like they do in the afternoon. “To bad, Maybe I could try again tomorrow” I announced. Passing by the lovely roses that Mrs.Eliot grew a while ago for her deceased husband’s birthday, i check my phone. Looking at the time at that moment I panicked. Racing back home as fast as I could while in shock. ‘’ but it was just 11:43!!’. Turning the corner i could see my home up the hill. My hands now fumbling with the keys as I’m approaching. Five steps away from my front door I look down at my phone , 12:02. I’m at the front now opening the gate and rushing up the stairs. Two more steps, I swing open my screen door finally getting the right key. One more step, looking down at my phone while putting the key into the door. The last thing I heard was a bloodcurdling scream. oh...right, that was mine.