It was Smokey day; people crowded the sidewalks around the burning rubble and ash. The coffee shop that Saoirse had been living across was now standing tilted, its windows missing along with all of its contents. The life that was just there a few weeks ago was now empty and hallow, with no sign that it had ever been there.Saoirse had watched that shop everyday since she was 10. After being thrown into a tiny apartment with her aunt Charlotte, her life had consisted of looking out windows and reading old books with maps in them. Saoirse knew it wasn’t safe to go outside without Charlotte, but
Charlotte seemed too distant and aloof to do anything. Charlotte had been in her room for weeks now, occasionally coming out to go receive weekly rations but even then the haunting look never left her face. Saoirse’s growing urge to run into the night was a small flame of curiosity and necessity that always seemed to be extinguished by the everlasting shadow of fear. She was reminded of this as she stared out the window at the coffee shop how dangerous her world was. People had become so desperate for food that they had thrown a bomb into its windows, shattering the glass and consuming its whole building into flames.
Saoirse had been running from stuff like this her whole life. Saoirse had been sent to live with her father’s sister (Charlotte) in the city when she was 10. Her father and her had lived in a large country house with her mother until she was killed by a bomb in the city. After the crop diseases came along with the ones threatening to humans the world had gone into flames. Her father sent her to the city thinking it would be safer then living in the disease zones or rebel territory. Saoirse and Charlotte had been barely getting by for years now. The last few months had felt like isolation to her. Because of Charlottes feelings she had been cooped up for months, never seeing the outside. Her sunlight consisted of the large window she found as the only place that connected her to the outside world. This day had been an especially rough one for her, the sun was blocked from the ash and Charlotte hadn’t made a sound all day. The only sounds Saoirse heard was the old man’s television next door which hummed like the crickets she used to hear in the country at night.

Saoirse sat for a while, daydreaming herself in different places. All was quiet until she heard a thump coming from the bedroom.
“Charlotte?” She called
Everything was quiet, as Saoirse listened to hear if Charlotte had decided to get up. “Creeeek”
Saoirse jumped at the noise. ”Charlotte? Are you up?”
No answer, Saoirse stood puzzled and shaken at the odd noise. She slowly walked her way down the hallway. Her heart had began to beat like gunfire.
She put her hand on the cold as ice door knob,
“Charlotte?” She called in one last attempted to reach her.
Slowy Saoirse gathered herself and began to open the door.


Her heart had stopped as she took in what she was looking at; Charlotte hung, lifeless from the ceiling, as the rope tied around her now veined neck bobbed in motion. Unable to take in the sight any longer, Saoirse shut the door and sunk to the floor. She was now more alone then she ever imagined.