Grandpa Bernie Monologue

677 Words2 Pages

It had been raining for a week. School had been cancelled. No one would go outside. Endless footage of the lethal rain poured out of the television. Before the static on the TV appeared, newscasters had warned us to stay inside, as if we weren’t already huddled up in the bunker. This had happened before, according to Grandpa Bernie, in the 1930s. Back then, they had no defense against this kind of science. Most of the population had been wiped out, and not just from disintegration. Crops were dissolved, making the rain the only thing consuming anything. Houses were shattered, collapsing on anyone inside and providing intact souls with a new status: shelter-less. Now there were steel plated roofs that measured five feet thick. Anyone stupid …show more content…

It smelled. The fragrance fell somewhere between burnt broccoli and spoiled milk. Drops came from invisible clouds. Runoff ran through degraded ditches, seeming to multiply with everything it destroyed, passing on its acidic behavior to whatever it touched. It was a Tuesday when the roof collapsed in on us. The food in the bunker was running dry. Stomaches were gurgling, moaning to alert us they were empty; we were already aware. Someone had to go get more food. “I say we send Grandpa Bernie,” Emily broke the silence, reaching a finger to her nose. “He’s old and hasn’t got long to live.” I heard Mom’s squeak before I saw her look of horror. Her eyes fell to Emily’s finger, and her own rose to touch the tip of her nose. “Not it,” she mumbled, frightened. Two more hands flashed up to their corresponding faces - Andrew and Dad. I glanced at Grandpa and he glanced at me. Neither of us moved, and I wouldn’t until he gave up. He shook his head firmly, but I grabbed his hand. His eyes closed mournfully as I lifted his finger to touch his nose. I stood up. I wasn’t scared. I had always wondered what the rain felt like. No one had lived long enough to tell …show more content…

What if they never let me back in? Would I die all alone? From a drop of rain? Calming myself down, I forced myself forward and crept up the basement stairs. Luckily, I didn’t have to go far. The kitchen was at the top of the stairs, right where it had always been. I rummaged through everything - cabinets, drawers, the fridge - but to my dismay, there was nothing. We had grabbed all the food and run to the bunker with the first drop of rain. Something sizzled behind me, and I whipped around at the sound. The rain was burning through the ceiling. A single drop fell to the middle of the kitchen floor, immediately beginning to expand. I turned, terrified, to climb onto the counter, but something burned my ankle, something I didn’t dare consider. I leapt from the counter to the top of the stairs, a move that shouldn’t have been possible. Taking the stairs three at a time, I almost tripped and fell. Somehow I managed to stay upright until I was safely back inside the bunker where I collapsed on one of the cots, exhausted. It should have hurt. It should have killed me. Yet I was still here. It was so intriguing. And so deadly. Maybe. With the next drop that fell, I made my decision. So once everyone was asleep, I stepped back through the seven foot thick steel door and felt the

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