Page 19 of Shattered Love

But it was too late as he took off sprinting, leaping with both legs and cresting the height of the flames. He was several inches above the licking fire, bypassing it easily. Landing on both feet, he immediately stumbled, crashing to the ground and rolling.

Hoots and hollers erupted, all of us cheering him on. Rainer sprinted to his side, lifting him into his arms and hoisting him up. Running around our circle, we all cheered for him, as if he had just won the Olympics.

The antics continued late into the night. After Murphy’s triumphant jump, we set up different obstacles with piles of wood, seeing who could jump the highest. Even Warner joined in the participation.

Mina and I could barely leap over the smallest stack, Aiden not far behind us. To say we weren’t an athletic family was an understatement, there was a reason we all went into the medical field.

To my surprise, Rainer couldn’t keep up with the others, although part of that could be because he was stumbling over every step. His smile was wide as he tripped around the wood, the alcohol allowing his grumpy demeanor to fade.

Warner, Murphy, and Sasha were battling head to head over the last stack of wood, which sat near my waist. Warner went first, his eyes focused and lips flat. Taking off into a sprint, his feet twisted with each other, tripping him before he even reached the wood. Landing flat on his face, we all quieted. But when he rolled over with a groan, peels of laughter echoed throughout the star speckled sky.

Sasha was next. “Ten bucks says I beat your ass,” she shouted to Murphy, getting into her stance.

“But none of us have money!” Mina reminded her, falling against me as laughter shook her body.

I held her body up as we watched Sasha race toward the wood. Her jump was clean, and I thought she was going to make it, until her right foot clipped the wood, sending her tumbling. Aiden was at her side, the doctor in him never fading even when he was drunk.

However, he didn’t need to worry. She stood up quickly, throwing her hands over her head with a wide smiling gracing her lips. Murphy was next and, of course, he made the jump easily, being crowned the winner once again.

After a few rounds of arm wrestling in which I lost to everyone and Warner won, a silly game of tag that had us all out of breath, and a game of charades that ended in more confusion than guesses, we all settled back around the fire.

It was deep into the night, the sunrise right around the corner, and the drunken haze was beginning to fade. Aiden sat on my right, my head resting against his shoulder as I stared at the fire.

“I miss my parents,” Mina said softly, the words slipping from her uninhibited lips.

Everyone was silent for a moment, none of us used to talking about our families. It was a pain we all held, but mostly ignored.

“I miss my sister, her birthday was last month. She turned twelve,” Sasha added, smiling wistfully as her eyes pooled with tears.

“Alex would have been thirty-two in a couple weeks,” Aiden added and I pressed my head harder into his shoulder.

I couldn’t help but notice the difference between Sasha's and Aiden’s words. Sasha still spoke in the present tense, having hope that her sister was alive. We knew our brother was dead.

“Do you think this is happening everywhere else? The camps?” I asked.

Although I didn’t understand the science my dad had been researching, Emmanuel had explained that because of the size of the meteorite, no one above ground would be able to survive the impact, or at least not for long. Dust from the impact would cause the surrounding area to heat, killing all life. And then the rest of the country would cool dramatically, killing off the rest. Add in the earthquakes and tsunamis and, to put it lightly, everyone was fucked.

“I’m sure they are. Rounding us up like cattle for the slaughter,” Rainer spit out angrily.

“How do you think they chose who gets to go to the bunkers?” Sasha asked, and this time Warner responded.

“Whoever has the money. That’s how the world works. Even when it’s ending, you can pay your way into survival.”

His words were just as bitter as Rainer’s. I realized they had lived a different life than I had, one filled with struggle. And I couldn’t help but notice that although I had shed some of the naivete I had held onto, I still had a lot to learn about the rest of the world around me. If only I had the time to do so.

None of us wanted to focus too long on the upcoming death that awaited most of the world, the topic changing back to the families we missed. Each of us shared stories of the loved ones we had left behind, reminiscing not in sadness, but in memory.

The only one who stayed quiet was Murphy and when he eventually got up, walking toward the woods alone, I knew he was thinking of his mom. He had always been so optimistic, hoping she was alright. But he wasn’t the same man anymore and worry settled in my chest.

Standing to my feet, I trailed behind him, stopping when he did. He leaned against a tree, blocking us from view of the others. And when I spotted the tears in his eyes, I knew why.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I whispered, stepping closer to him.

Squeezing his eyes tight, he let out a shuddered breath. “I was stupid to think she’d be okay. Living in a make believe land where everyone would be alright.”

His words were so broken, his shoulders slumped, and I hated to see him like this. He was a bright light, one that didn’t deserve to be extinguished by the cruel world around us.

Taking another step closer, I gripped his hand in my mine, waiting until his eyes opened. “You are not stupid. Before I knew the truth, I wanted to believe my family was okay. And then I found Aiden.”

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