Alyse's Journal

         It was three days since the bombing. Still, no one knows why or how the bombs went off. It just happened and rendered us hopeless. The air is now heavily polluted with toxins of all sorts, and we're told it’s important that we all stay indoors. That would be easy if “indoors” wasn’t blown to pieces. There were a select few buildings that actually withstood the blow and remained clear for inhabitants. The only downside is when I say “a select few”, I mean two school gyms and a building for banking. Therefor, not enough space for everyone. That’s why my story begins on a train ride out to the nearest big city. They said that the local convention center was open for those who had nowhere else to go for safety. So we packed our bags with what little we had left and hopped aboard the next train there.
         “Alyse,” David said. David has been my friend since I was a freshman in high school. He’s three years older than I am, and shares a common interest with me in video games and anime. “How long is this train ride going to be?” He asked. He’d never ridden the train before. It’s been a long time since I’d ridden as well, but I remembered riding the train as a kid to the same destination for some 4th of July event.
         “Shouldn’t be more than 40 minutes. Probably a little longer with the stops we’ll have to make along the way.” David sighed and opened his suitcase, pulling out a set of headphones and a cracked music player. I looked at the clock. 11:45 P.M. The trains never used to run this late. I thought. Just then, without warning, the train jerked forward and began speeding towards our destination.
         The windows of the train were covered in dirt and debris, but were still clear enough to view the destruction outside. There were buildings with only about a quarter of their foundation still standing. Cars were flipped over onto their sides, some with the alarm still going off. I was able to get a view of some of the back yards as well. All of the swimming pools were filthy and full of parts of roofs, walls and gardens. Children’s toys, bicycles and patio furniture littered the town, half melted and ripped apart. The site that really crushed me was that of a child, walking with a baby in his arms, his brother or sister, presumably. He wandered around aimlessly with his shirt covering his nose, no doubt from the awful smell hanging in the atmosphere. David must have seen what I saw too. He shook his head and pulled down the window cover. "Get some sleep, Alyse." David said.
         "Attention: Please move all personal items aside to make room for on-coming passengers." The conductor said over the P.A. system.
         "Great. More people to crowd in with." David said.
         "Maybe it won't be so bad." I replied. David raised an eyebrow at me. I didn't think there was anything wrong with being a little optimistic. For how negative I always was, I thought it was a good time to try and get some positive thinking in my mind. Just then, a large crowd of people began flooding the train, pushing past each other and throwing their things onto seats to claim them. Babies cried and men shouted, pushing for seats so they wouldn't be forced to stand on the long journey. David and I chose a seat towards the doorway as to not be in the way of anyone. We weren't expecting such a rush, but I suppose we made a pretty good choice of seating.
         The crowd was finishing settling in when suddenly, out popped to young girls, falling right onto us. The girl that landed on David was dressed in a red shirt, white shorts and a brown bandanna. Her skin was very dark, and her eyes very slender. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She said, scrambling to her feet. "I didn't mean to fall on you, we were pushed over and- Oh! Alex, get up, quick!" The girl shouted to the girl that fell into my lap. "Alex" looked older than her, maybe the same age as me. She had on a red shirt as well, along with white pants. Her hair was long and black, pulled back into a braid. Her skin, too, was rather dark, but paler than the younger girl.
         I'm really sorry! Please accept our apologies!" Alex begged.
         I giggled a little. "It's not a big deal, really. Hey, there's room here for you guys. Why don't you sit with us? We don't mind." I smiled.
         "Really?" The girl said. "Thanks a lot!" She sat down and pulled out a black laptop bag, holding it close to her. "By the way, I'm Tory, and this is Alex!" I looked to Alex, who was dragging a large black case under her feet.
         "Well, I'm David, and this is Alyse." David said. "What's with the big case?" He asked Alex.
         "Oh, we're future reporters!" Tory said excitedly
         Alex looked down at the case. "I'm the camera woman. She's the actual reporter." She said quietly, pointing to her friend. Tory placed her hands on her hips and proudly smiled, laughing a bit.
         "You guys seem pretty happy for the situation that's been going on." David said.
         Alex looked to him. "Are you kidding? This is the report of the century, and when people see the footage we gather for it, we'll be all over t.v., internet, radio, and medias of all kinds!"
         Tory looked to her friend. "It'll be a dream come true!" The girls smiled and laughed together. "Oh!" Tory said, reaching into her bag. "Can we interview you guys for a news paper report?" She pulled out a small pad of paper.
         "You guys do news papers, too?" I asked in total awe at the girls' determination.
         "Of course we do! If people would read it, I'm sure it would be really popular!" She answered. She adjusted herself in her seat and pulled a pencil from behind her ear. "Now, where were you guys when the bombs hit?" She asked.
         David scratched his head a little, then thought of his answer. "Well, I was actually on my way to the liquor store by my house when I heard the first bomb hit. At first I thought it was a car accident until I saw an orange light coming from the left of me." Tory started scribbling down notes in the note pad, then nodded. "I freaked out. I had no idea what was going on, so without thinking I jumped behind a nearby brick wall and prayed that it would actually do something to keep me safe."
         "Did it?" She asked.
         He lifted his right sleeve up and showed her his gashed, bruised, and burnt arm. Tory and Alex gasped and covered their mouths. Tory quickly jotted more notes down. "What about you, Alyse?" She asked.
         "I was at home at the time. I was just online, doing some homework when I heard the explosion. I felt a lot like David at the time, terrified and unsure of what to do. I didn't think much about where to hide either. I actually jumped under the kitchen sink to keep myself from getting hurt by anything. Of course, I still got injured, but it kept me from getting incinerated, I guess." I explained.
         Alex looked at me. "Did you get it from the explosion?" She asked. I looked at my arm and saw the bloody gauze.
         "No, actually." I said. I scratched at the back of my head. "I got that when I was hiding under the sink. After the explosion, I stayed there for a little over thirty minutes. I would have stayed longer had I not noticed a cockroach climbing up my knee. I freaked out and pushed though the cabinet doors, and on my way out, I must have brushed my arm against a damaged part of the wood." Alex and Winced at the thought of the splintery wood cutting into the sensitive skin of the forearm. "It's no big deal. It's just a scratch."
         I looked at the gash and noticed the gauze the medics had put on there earlier that day were already becoming heavy with blood. I could feel the cotton fibers sticking to the wound as I gripped it. "You okay?" David asked.
         "Yeah, I'm fine." I said. "The gauze is getting pretty soaked." I added.
         The train began to slow down. "Attention: Please move all personal items aside to make room for on-coming passengers." The conductor said again. We heard the doors open, and more people climbed aboard the train. Several people grabbed their things and ran down the steps to get off.
         "Why would they be getting off?" Alex asked.
         "Maybe they have family in this town that they want to check on." Tory replied.
         As a crowd of people pushed by, I noticed three girls take the seats across the aisle from us. Two of them seemed pretty solemn, but the other looked highly irritated. "I just want to sleep!" She said. She was pretty short, Looking only about twelve years old. She had dark skin and black hair that was up in a messy ponytail. She had on just a pair of shorts and a grey sweater, probably from her school.
         "Just settle down, Lizzy. It won't be long before we get there. Then we can sleep." One of the other girls said. She was the tallest, almost 6 feet. She had long, brown hair with highlights lining random parts. She pulled her blue, denim bag up onto her lap, her set of keys jingling as it settled.
         The irritated girl dug through her pockets and groaned. "I lost my headphones!" She yelled. "Doreen, do you have some I can borrow?" She asked the girl sitting by the window next to her.
         The girl looked like she was about to knock out. The dark circles under her eyes were obvious, even under her glasses. Her hair was a dirty blond, and she wore a bright green shirt with a black and white jacket, some of the white print wearing out a little. She dug into her own pocket and drowsily dropped a pair of white headphones into the girls hand. With a smile, she plugged them in, thanking her friend. The girl said nothing and leaned her head back against the window of the train.
         Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a loud, thunderous growl erupted from the short girl's stomach. "Great." The tall girl said. "Now we have to hear about-"
         "I'm hungry!" The short girl blurted out, interrupting the tall girl's complaint.
         I looked down at my bag, remembering the two granola bars I had thrown in it before leaving. The medics handed out small portions of food to the people in my town. Maybe they didn't in their's. "Here," I called, holding the granola bar out to her from across the seats. "I have another one in my bag, you can take this one."
         The girl's face lit up as she practically snatched the granola bar out of my hand. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!" She chanted, tearing the wrapper off.
         "Be polite, Lizzy." The tall girl said. She turned to me. "Sorry, she can be a bit of a handful sometimes." She said, watching her destroy the granola bar.
         "It's not a problem, really. I suppose at that age kids can be a little out of control."
         The girl gave me a strange look. "I don't think I've ever met an 18-year-old that acts so childish." I was stunned. 18 years old!? I thought.
         "But she's so-"
         "I know." The girl said. "She's just very short. Oh," She held out her hand. "My name is Lorie." I took her hand and shook. "This is Lizzy."
         The little girl looked up from her granola bar and smiled. "Hello!" She said with a mouth full of food.
         "And that's Doreen. Her mom got injured during the bombing, and she's been up for a majority of the three days. She's incredibly exhausted." I looked to the girl sitting by the window. She didn't move at all.
         "I'm sorry to hear that. Well, my name is Alyse. I came here with my friend David. And these two are-"
         "Tory and Alex, future news reporters!" Tory yelled, startling Lorie. "Say, can we get an interview with you guys?" She asked, raking her fingers through her boyish haircut. Lorie laughed nervously and nodded. "Great!" As they began the interview, I slowly began drifting out, looking at the window. I grabbed the blind and began letting it up, when David grabbed the other end, pulling it back down. He shook his head. I sighed in annoyance and sat back, watching the remaining streetlamps pass by through the mesh screening. The train began turning, and the intercom came on.
         "Attention: Please grab all items and prepare to exit the train." The conductor said. I felt the train begin to slow down, some of the passengers holding onto their seats to maintain their balance. I sat against a wall, to the pressure just pushed me against it even more. Finally, I pulled up the screen and watched the broken buildings go by. The destruction in this city was just as bad as that of my own. It was probably worse with how close together the buildings were. It looked like a majority of the buildings stood up, but they were probably just skeletons, now. All of the windows were blown out, creating a hollow shell of where life once was.