Collision Z. Ashley
Waves break against the white sand as we lay there, the sun painting the ocean with light. I look across at Brooke and smile as I gaze into her green eyes. She looks so peaceful as she daws in the sand, hardly acknowledging the sunset. A notification pops up in my Lense, an EM icon flashing brightly. I blink twice to open the EyeMail and my eyes widen as I read.
My stomach is churning as I open the attachment and my heart drops when I realise that this is serious. I close the EM and I look back to Brooke, our eyes meeting. A confused expression clouds her face as she asks what's wrong. “It’s nothing Brooke, just an email” I reply dully, attempting to hide the fear inside me. “That didn’t seem like nothing Ty, are you sure?” She answers with a sigh. I nod my head in answer and wrap my arms around her, carrying her to the car giggling. Our conversation all but forgotten.
Yawning, I open my Lense to check the news and reread the EyeMail from yesterday. Brooke rolls over as I switch my Lense back to normal, my mind made up. I quickly make coffee and breakfast for the two of us and pack our things into the car, listening to her singing while she gets ready. She continues to ask questions, all of which I refuse to answer, revealing only that it was her dad’s idea and we would be there for the rest of summer. Brooke grabs a piece of paper from the glove box and a pen and starts scribbling on it, it's too small to read from here… maybe later. Three hours later and I see the sign that was described on the attachment. We turn onto a barely visible dirt track, hidden from the world by a row of shrubs and trees. I find the man hole that Watson told me about and I begin to climb down, turning my Lense to torch mode. Brooke follows after me and we are greeted at the bottom of the ladder by the others, 3 women & 3 men. Brooke’s staring at me, seeming somewhat irritated, I tell her to wait as I climb back up and get the rest of our gear from the car. I rummage through the gear on the passenger seat… come on. I see the curled edge of paper, yes. Found it, I unfold the crumpled page...
Wednesday 28th January, 2068 Dear mum, I know you'll never read this but I need to do something to distract me from the guilt, I need to confess. I hacked Ty's EM and read the message that he was freaking out about yesterday, I know I shouldn’t have but… I needed to know if it was about me, I had a feeling that it was. He kept looking back and forth between me and the message so I... I just did it. And now I feel terrible. It was from dad, he was telling Ty to look after me, protect me. There was a document attached but I didn’t have time to read it, I think it had directions but I'm not totally sure., Dad sounded really worried in the eye-mail. I really need to see him but I don’t want Ty to suspect that I read the message without his permission. He would understand but I don't know if he would forgive me… The directions that Ty is following are taking us to the middle of nowhere, literally… we turned off the main road about an hour and a half ago and now we're heading north. I think I know where dad's leading us thought, he brought me here once before. The day of the accident, he took me there to protect me and I'm scared because he's not with here this time. What if he gets hurt. I 'm barely keeping it together since you've gone, how am I supposed to if Dad … I don't even want to think about it. Missing you more everyday, Brooke xx
A large shape appears in the horizon as I look up from the diary entry, confused and exhausted from the day. This is it… Archimedes… I quickly throw all of the supplies we brought down into the dark manhole and follow after them, latching the hole closed as I go. The earth tremors and I fall the last four metres to the floor, explosive sounds echoing around us. The last thing I hear before I pass out is Brooke. Her screams rip through my heart… When I open my eyes, I'm lying beneath a sea of grey, I look around and realise that I'm surrounded by rubble. The broken remains of the bunker so much for being safe. Brooke is lying on the ground beside me, moaning quietly. As she rolls over I see a glimpse of her face, covered in dust and blood… The ground begins to shake again and Brooke jolts up, hitting her head on some metal wires and bars that jut out from a fractured wall. She cries out in pain and collapses again… As I stand I push away some of the heavy concrete, waiting for the light to rush in and illuminate us. But it doesn’t, not after this. The sun is but a pin prick on the horizon, the warmth and light it provided us with gone as well. We’ve been plunged into a world of icy darkness… we collided.