(Copied and pasted from elsewhere to be continued. Meghan is Lin, I am Tenzin.)
The morning was already hot even and the sun was still barely cutting through the heavy fog. It was complete silence save for the chirping of birds outside the house that they were squatting in. The house wasn’t in too bad of shape, it could’ve been worse, though it could always be better. The world stopped one day, long ago when the two children were too young to remember.
Lin, who was only barely 14, laid still in the bed that she and her companion shared for the night. The sun filtered in through crooked blinds and a warm breeze came through the shattered window. She laid her arm over her eyes to keep the light out and tried to remember a time when she wasn’t hungry - she couldn’t.
All she could remember was the stink of the dead and the dying, and the soft whisper of her mother hiding her in a closet when men came into the house that they lived in together “Cover your ears, I’ll be right back.” she said before she shut the girl in the dark. And nothing, there was nothing. She never came back.
Lin rubbed her face to try to get the past out her mind. There was no past that she’d like to remember, even her mother’s face was a blur and only her voice stayed with the girl.
She sat up on the bed and put her feet on the floor, there’d be no need to change clothes, or even put shoes on because they often slept with them on.
Turning, she shook her friend, “Tenzin. Get up.”
---
It’s certainly wasn’t the first time the two squatted in a derelict house before. At least this one was relatively clean - only a thick layer of dust coated furniture almost like ash gray snow, the few intact windows grimy though it reminded him of fog.
Aside from a number of broken windows everything seemed to have never been touched as if the residents living there had simply vanished. Tenzin always found this eerie and voiced if often.
"Tenzin. Get up."
Her voice cut through the stale silence. Tenzin opened his eyes and turned his face toward her, the light making it hard to make out her features. Dust floated in the air and he thought it looked like glitter.
"It’s morning already?", he muttered quietly as if someone could hear.
---
”Yep!” She said cheerfully before getting up. She stretched her hands toward the ceiling and let out an exaggerated yawn.
”Rise and shine, sleepy head!” She smiled and moved to the foot of the bed to rummage through her bag for her comb.
She took pride in her appearance and combed through her wavy black hair everyday. Seeing kids their age and people even older was often a scary experience. They were always dirty and looked as if they hadn’t bathed in weeks. If they looked like that they must be desperate, and desperate people do terrible things. And she and Tenzin, they weren’t desperate.
”Think we should look around this neighborhood a little longer?” She asked as she combed through her tangles. They’d only slept in that house out of exhaustion, only bothering to check for signs of life before falling into dreamless sleep. Who could know what, or who, was in the rest of the neighboring buildings?
---
Tenzin frowned at her peppiness and sat up on the bed, blinking the sleep from his eyes. Sometimes resented the fact that she was a morning person, her loud rowdy voice was always the first thing he heard as soon as the sun came up every morning. He turned and placed his feet on the floor and slouched his shoulders.
"Probably." he replied, resting his eyes, "This place seems pretty quiet. It’s probably worth sticking around for a little bit at least."
---
Her thoughts turned to food and water. That’s what it always came down to. Sure, they’d be fine for a few more days without a meal but when would be the next one? And where would they get it?
”Maybe we’ll find something to eat.” she said, turning to the broken window to look out at the surrounding houses after returning her comb to the bag.
It looked like it had been a picturesque neighborhood, the houses must have been nice once. She tried to imagine the paint before it had begun peeling and the bushes and grass before they became overgrown. They were probably like the pictures that she’d seen in moldy old magazines. Perfect.
”I’m hungry.” she continued as she came back to the bed, it was almost a forbidden word, hungry. She grabbed the strap of her backpack and slung her bag over her shoulder, it was pale blue and childishly covered with clouds and rainbows but she liked it very much.
---
Tenzin took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. Facing the day, he thought, was more of a conscious choice most mornings. Either that or a really hard habit to break. He stood and rummaged through his own backpack that slumped against the wall near the bed. He was looking for something.
"Mhm." he replied, sitting on his knees on the floor. "I do have something though."
Tenzin pulled out a granola bar, many years old and sealed perfectly in it’s shiny plastic container. He hold it with both hands and looked at the shimmering plastic.
"Here. I was saving it for a rainy day." Tenzin smiled a little at her and held it out.
---
She took the bar and inspected the packaging before opening it. It was sticky and still surprisingly soft for its age.
"Is this even still edible?" She smiled as she broke it in half. She held out half of the bar, "If we get sick and die of food poisoning it’s your fault."
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