Chapter 22 The World Is Ending and the Epilogue

• Waking up in the morning, nothing seemed strange at all. I sat down in front of the television and watched the news. Then I made my children sausage, eggs, and toast before they had to leave for school. Hearing the school bus honk outside, I glanced over at the clock on the kitchen wall and realized that they were late for the bus. That was just the first thing that went wrong today but not the last, I promise. After the kids barely made it on to the bus, with no time to spare, I sat down with a cup of coffee and realized that in the bottom of the cup is a dead fly. Once I took a shower, I went about my daily business of cleaning the house, making the beds, and doing the laundry. Not at any time during this daily ritual, did I ever once think that things would go so horribly wrong before I would close my eyes and go to sleep at the end of the night. But now, it is 4 p.m. and for some unknown reason, the world has gone crazy. I sit here in my house waiting for the children’s bus to arrive when I hear the warning sirens go off from the township hall and start seriously wondering what is going on. Running over to the television, I notice that there is just a warning sign plastered across the screen and it says, “Please stay in your homes, the military will be coming to help you go to a secure location in an orderly fashion.” Darting around the room, I keep an eye on the window as I wait for the children’s bus to show up and it doesn’t. “What is going on?” III murmur to myself before I hear the tell-tale sign of the bus horn in the distance. Hoping that they get here, and the bus doesn’t decide to stop along the road, I run out the door and wait patiently by the side of the road as I stare at it slowly driving down towards home. Shaking my head, I wrench my shirt between my closed fists into a knot and say over and over again, “Please hurry, before anything else bad happens.” Finally, the bus stops and the driver stares at me with a scared look on her face before I turn around and watch a Hummer roll down the road in the opposite direction. Several other military vehicles roll past the bus before she lets the children off and they cautiously cross the road. “What was that?” They chime in as they stare at me all questioning. “Come on, let’s get inside. It’s a military troop and the emergency sirens are telling us to go inside and wait for them to arrive.” I demand as I usher them inside with my hand on their backs in a hurry. Marissa turns around and asks with concern in her voice, “Mom. What has happened? Is there a bomb or are we at war?” She frowns and looks worried but not as much as I am because before we step foot in the door, I hear a loud crash and a bang. We all run inside and close the door behind us. “Why don’t you both go sit down and I will make you some food. I don’t know what is going on, but I am sure they will let us know soon enough.” “Mom. My phone doesn’t work.” Peter says to me while pointing at his phone before pouting.