by T. Rudacille
***
“I am trying to be delicate about this, baby, but I know that we’re running out of time. We don’t have any time to look for him.”
“He’s my father, Quinn! I already killed my mom, for God’s sake! You won’t at least give me a day to look for my dad?!” She shouted in fury as I threw her clothes into her suitcase.
“We still have to go to my house and pack some things. I still have to say goodbye to my parents.”
“You’re just going to leave your parents?! You don’t even care?!”
“Of course I care! It’s just…” I trailed off, unsure of where my apathy was coming from. I had always had a good relationship with my parents until recently, when we had begun to spar over mine and Alice’s romance.
“It's just what, Quinn?!”
“I know there’s nothing I can do for them. If I try to tell them about this, they’re going to… I don’t know… interfere! They’re going to tell you to go home, and then they’re going to try to lock me up until they can arrange to have me put away somewhere. They will never believe this, not even if I beg them to. I know it seems like I’m the worst person in the world for being so ready to leave them, but we have to get out of here. They’ll stop us from doing that.”
“But they’re you’re parents, Quinn.”
“I know.” I sat down, feeling a lump form in my throat that I immediately tried to diminish by taking a drink of water. “I know, Allie.”
We were quiet for a long time, and I swiped at the tears that had formed in my eyes every time she looked away from me. Finally, after that long minute of heavy silence, she spoke again.
“You can’t leave them.”
“But I can’t tell them what’s happening. They’ll stop us, and then we’ll die. We’re running out of time, Alice. Look at this.”
I handed her the papers I had printed from a discussion forum I had found online. I joined the forum to add my own two cents, telling the other posters (from many different countries, I might add) that I had the same dream, on the same night, down to the very same details.
“What is this?”
“That dream I had… Other people had it, too. We need to go meet them.”
“We don’t even know them! They could be crazy people, Quinn! What is wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me is the fact that we’re running out of time before the world explodes, Alice!” I snapped at her and instantly regretted it. She pulled her knees close to her chest and put her face against them, crying again. I knelt down beside her and tried my best to apologize, but she wanted no parts of it, at least not then.
“We just have to go, Allie. I know how hard it is for you. It’s hard for both of us…”
“What are you going to say to your parents?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they already know, and they’ll come with us. But I know I won’t be able to convince them, so I’m not even going to try. They already think I’m rebelling against them and now they’re just going to think that I’ve lost it, too. So, I guess I’ll say that I love them, and I’ll try to make it seem like it’s no big deal that I’m saying it.”
I was silent for a minute, picturing saying goodbye to them for the very last time. The finality of it stole my breath more painfully than a swift kick to my stomach could. I loved them as most sons love their parents. I had always wanted their approval and accepted their praise and even criticism until I met Alice. After they objected to her, I couldn’t accept anything from them anymore. It was so foolish of me. It was so childish. They were wrong about her, but that should not have shifted my feelings towards them as dramatically as it did.
I knew that I had to lie to them. I knew that I had to pretend that we would be back soon, even though after the dream I had, I knew that they wouldn’t be alive after that cataclysmic event occurred.
“So, you’re just going to say ‘I love you,’ pack up a bag, and walk out the door?”
“I don’t know. I guess. I don’t think I have a choice, Allie. I know I don’t.”
“You idiot.” Her hands grasped my face, and she turned my head with painful abruptness so I was looking at her. “You do have a choice. Well, actually, you don’t. Because if you think that I am going to let you leave without at least trying to convince them to come with us, you are out of your freaking mind. So, you’re going to try, and I’m going to help you. And together, we’re going to convince them. And I know that we can.”
