This month's prompt:
The End (of the World)
Yes, since the predicted Mayapocalypse only fails to materialize once
every 500 years or so we are piggybacking on it. Write what you will
about the end of the world (those disinclined to eschatology can write
about "the end" in a broader sense). Hopefully, after these ends of the
world as we know it, we'll all feel fine.
Below my story there are more. Check out the links of my fellow blogging buddies from Absolute Write.
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“Do
you still hear that hummin’ in your head Dave?”
Dave
nodded yes and the two men continued their morning chores in the barn. Dave and
Jimmy were brothers and had taken over their daddy’s farm after he passed five
years ago. They were hard working men struggling to keep the farm going to
support their wives and children along with Maw and Old Uncle Ned. Jimmy spoke
to his older brother again,
“You
know Uncle Ned’s in the kitchen talkin’ about Nam. I think the metal plate in his
head come loose again.”
Uncle
Ned didn’t have a metal plate in his head, it was just the family’s way of
noting Uncle Ned might be in one of his ‘spells’.
“So
I locked up his shotgun just in case he decides to go chasin’ Charlie.”
Jimmy
heard nothing from Dave which disappointed him. He would rather chatter through
the day than listen to the mysterious droning hum they all started to hear a
couple days ago, giving them all a headache. Today especially, it seemed to be
louder and now followed by a rotten egg odor. But Dave appeared to be in one of
his quiet moods. Jimmy looked up towards his brother. He wasn’t there. Jimmy turned
around to look for him. Dave was standing in the barn doorway with his hands on
his hips.
“Dave
what ……..”
Dave
held up his right arm and motioned with his hand for Jimmy to come to the barn
door. He put his shovel down and walked over. Standing next to Dave, he followed
his eyes towards the pasture that was filled with their dairy cows. It was
December and the cows were out grazing because they hadn’t seen any snow, the
temperature had been hovering in the high 50’s all month long. It was almost
Christmas but it felt like Spring. Anything was possible with Northeast
Ohio weather.
Both
men stood watching the cows in the pasture. Every one of them slowly walked in
their own little circle, they’d wobble a little bit and then fall over. Once on
the ground they’d shake their heads, get back up and start all over again.
“They
look like they’ve been on an all night drunk. Some day we might laugh at this
but right now I’m scared enough to piss my pants.”
Before
Dave could respond Jimmy’s two little girls ran towards him from out of the
chicken coop. Their faces were streaked with tears and they were visibly
shaking. He told them to go to the main house,
“Your
momma’s in there with Grama.”
He
turned to Dave, he wasn’t by the barn door. Jimmy had to search for him. He
found that he had moved closer to the pasture watching the cows. Dave turned
around and looked towards Jimmy, not at him but he seemed to be looking through
him. Jimmy turned to see three boys running out of the woods, two of them were
Dave’s boys and one his own son. The boys were wide eyed with fear. Before they
could speak Jimmy sent them to the house.
The
family was all together today decorating the Christmas tree, the women were
baking in the kitchen and Uncle Ned was sitting in his favorite chair talking
to no one in particular.
“Dave,
I’m going to go tie up the dogs. There’s something strange going on with the
animals and I don’t want them runnin’ loose.”
Again
Dave was not where Jimmy last saw him. He spun around again looking for his
brother. He spotted him at the front door of the house. They each stood still
for a moment and then Dave faded into the front door.
“Doctor
we have a situation in Mr. Douglas’s room.”
Dr.
Howard Penner was making his rounds with a group of fresh interns. He asked the
nurse that called out to him,
“Did
you have to restrain him?”
“Sorry
doctor we had to, this is a bad one today.”
“Okay,
hold off on his medication until I have the chance to talk to him.”
Then
he addressed his interns,
“You
won’t be going in to see this patient but here is his file. Study it and watch
from the observation room.”
Dr.
Penner gave his students a chance to get to the observation room then walked into
James Douglas’s room. James was restrained on his bed with his familiar wild
disheveled look of confusion. This patient was a challenge for the doctor but
he would persist, he never gave up on a patient and wasn’t about to start now,
“James
can we talk?”
“My
name is Jimmy.”
“Sorry
Jimmy, did you have your dream again?”
“It’s
not a dream. Just let me go back to the farm. Please my family needs me.”
Dr.
Penner proceeded to walk Jimmy through the events that happened on December 21,
2012. He painstakingly went over that day with him almost once a week because
one day he knew he would reach Jimmy and then hopefully they could move
forward.
The
interns watched intently as they read the file of James Douglas. A pocket of
methane gas had been building up for days seeping into the air and exploded
under the main farm house with his entire family inside. There were no
survivors except Jimmy who had run to the barn to tie up their dogs.
Dr.
Penner stopped for a moment and asked Jimmy,
“Do
you understand what I just told you about December 21, 2012 Jimmy?”
The
room was silent for about five minutes. Dr. Penner waited quietly for Jimmy to
respond. He watched as his patients eyes darted around the hospital room. The
wild confusion, the product of one of his vivid dreams, seemed to quell. No
longer was he straining to free himself from the padded restraints attached to
his bed. He took a deep breath, tears welled up in his eyes and he finally
spoke,
“December
21, 2012, that’s the day my world ended.”
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