The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza

by Shaun David Hutchinson

  I glanced away from the camera, over at where Mama, Fadil, Naomi, Freddie, and Javi stood watching me. I thought about Conor and Sofie and Mrs. Haimovitch. I drew strength from my love for them and their love for me—even from Javi—as I closed my eyes.

  The crack in the darkness was easy to find now that I knew what to look for. When I’d opened it before, I’d only had to pry it apart enough to allow the light to take a couple of people, but this time I had to split it wide open without destroying the world, and hold it open long enough for those who wanted to escape to do so.

  I wedged myself into the fissure, and as the light shot from the fracture and through me, I understood everything. I was an anomaly. My birth had created the tear. It had started small, barely a pinhole, but it had been enough for the voices to speak to me. And every time I healed someone, the voices slowly widened the rip between our worlds, allowing them to take more people as a result. It was like stretching an ear by slowly increasing the gauge of the plug, and the danger of what I was doing was that forcing the hole open too quickly could cause a rupture that might never seal and would consume us all.

  So I worked carefully, pushing the fracture open until it was as wide as I could make it.

  Beams of light shot from the sky and struck the ground on every continent, in every country and city and village. Thousands of them, tens of thousands—17,703 to be exact, some over a mile in circumference—all leading to somewhere. Better? Maybe. Different? Definitely.

  I opened my eyes and wavered on my feet. Freddie and Mama rushed to my side to keep me from falling. Holding the portals open was taking every bit of my strength and concentration.

  The small crowd outside of Starbucks had created a space around a beam of light that had come down on the patio right where David Combs had vanished. The camera was no longer watching me. It was focused on the light. Tori Thrash pushed her way to the portal. She didn’t look at me. She didn’t look back. She walked into the light without hesitation and disappeared.

  “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep them open,” I said. “So make your choice. Stay or go. It’s up to you.”

  SIXTY-THREE

  I STOOD BACK, watching the fallout from what I’d done, wondering what was going to happen next. I’d performed a miracle for all to see, but I suspected it would be my last.

  Freddie slipped her hand into mine. “That was quite a speech,” she said. “A little preachy though, don’t you think?”

  “Maybe.”

  We stood together in the parking lot and watched more people walk into the light. Kyle went, which didn’t surprise me. I saw Javi eyeing it too, and I wasn’t sure what he’d decide.

  “So,” Freddie said, “the world didn’t end, and I think I’m ready for that kiss now.”

  “What if I’m not?”

  “What if I don’t give a fuck—”

  But of course I was ready. I pulled Freddie to me and kissed her. The world dropped out from under me and we flew. I wrapped my arms around her and time contracted to encompass me and her and her lips on mine forever.

  “Wow,” Freddie said when I finally forced myself to pull away.

  “I guess I had one miracle left in me after all.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself, Mary.”

  SIXTY-FOUR

  I HELD THE portals open for a week. And though it grew more difficult with each passing day, I was determined to keep them open as long as I could to give those who were considering leaving the chance to make up their minds.

  Opening the portals had thrown the world into chaos as broadcasts of my speech spread around the globe, translated into every language. Some nations, like North Korea, forbade its citizens from using the portals to escape. Others, plagued by overpopulation, encouraged it. But no one could force anyone else to choose.

  “I can’t find the bowls,” Naomi called from kitchen.

  Mrs. Haimovitch had announced she was holding her Sunday dinner on Saturday, and she’d invited me and Mama and the kids, Fadil and Naomi, and even Javi, though I’d tried to talk her out of it. We’d run out of dishes and I’d volunteered to fetch extras from our apartment, and Naomi had volunteered to help me.

  “Cabinet over the sink,” I said, coming from my room with a clean shirt for Conor, because of course he’d managed to spill soda on himself within the first ten minutes.

  Naomi pulled out the bowls and set them on the counter by the plates she’d already found. “Do you think we need anything else?”

  “Probably not,” I said. I stood, looking at Naomi for a moment. She’d come with Fadil, and even though I’d told them the dinner was casual, she’d worn a pretty, short skirt and a sleeveless top.

  “What?” Naomi asked. “Do I have something in my teeth?”

  I shook my head. “You make Fadil happy,” I said.

  “Okay?”

  I hadn’t spent enough time alone with Naomi to know her well, and the truth was that I thought Fadil could do better, but it was his choice to make, not mine. “You know he’s one of the good ones, right?”

  Naomi leaned against the counter and folded her arms across her chest. “Is this some jealous thing?” she asked. “You tell me you’ll break my nose if I hurt him or something?”

  “I wouldn’t have put it that way,” I said. “It’s just that he’s special, and he really likes you. He even tried to get me to arrange for the two of you to accidentally run into each other, and then you did and I want to make sure you know he’s not like other guys.”

  A smile crept across Naomi’s lips. “It wasn’t an accident.”

  “What wasn’t?”

  “Fadil running into me at the bookstore,” she said. “I’d seen him there before, so I started going every Saturday hoping he’d notice me and talk to me.” Naomi’s smile morphed into a grin. “Don’t tell him, though. He loves the idea that it was a chance encounter.”

  My opinion of Naomi rose immensely in that moment. Not only had she made their meeting happen, but she understood Fadil well enough to let him believe fate had brought them together.

  “Are you going to leave?” I asked. “You’ll break his heart if you do.”

  Naomi shrugged. “I don’t know what’s on the other side of those portals. And it’s like you said, Fadil’s one of the good ones. I’m not sure whether our relationship is going to last, but I think he’s worth sticking around for to find out.”

  “I hope he’s not your only reason for staying,” I said. “I love Fadil, but making a decision like this because of a boy is kind of dumb.”

  “I’ve got other reasons for sticking around,” she said. “My grandfather’s one, thanks to you. And I’m kind of hoping you and I can be friends.”

  As much as I wanted to keep Fadil to myself, I supposed there were worse people to share him with than Naomi Brewer. “Yeah,” I said. “I think I’d like that.”

  We carried the dishes downstairs and I spotted Javi parking his car, so I handed my bowls off to Naomi, sent her inside, and walked over to meet him.

  The joyful sounds of laughter and conversation echoed from within Mrs. Haimovitch’s apartment, and Javi motioned at the door with his chin. “Sounds like a wild party going on.”

  “Mrs. Haimovitch’s daughter and her grandchildren are here,” I said. “Katie saw my speech and decided it was time to let go of the past.”

  A wide smile cut Javi’s face. “So it’s not the end of the world after all.”

  “Not today.” We walked around the grassy edge of the parking lot, but I finally had to sit on the curb before I collapsed. “Are you going to go?” I asked Javi.

  “Should I?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He seemed to think about it for a moment. Then he shook his head. “Nah. If there’s no you on that other world, what’s the point?”

  I couldn’t help laughing. “You know we’re never getting back together though, right?”

  “Never say never, Elena Mendoza.”

  “Never.�
�

  “Maybe?”

  “Never, Javi. Not on this world or any other.”

  Javi sighed and nudged me with his shoulder. “Can’t blame me for trying.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I really can.”

  Javi helped me up. “Come on, let’s go join the others. I’m starving.”

  SIXTY-FIVE

  IT SURPRISED NO one that our wannabe dictatorial president left on the second day, despite making an impassioned speech urging all patriotic Americans to stay and promising he would do so himself. He slipped away in the middle of the night, along with his closest advisers, leaving the government in a state of disarray, though I had a feeling we were going to be better off for it.

  I’m not sure how many left during the week I held the portals open. Some estimates put it at nearly a billion, others at over half the world’s population. There were countless reasons to leave, and I couldn’t blame anyone who made the decision to do so.

  On the last day, I made an announcement that I would close the portals at sundown, and anyone who wanted to leave needed to do so by then. I asked Freddie and Fadil to take me to the beach, where we walked along the shore. One of the immense portals shone down into the ocean, and it looked like the sky was raining sunlight. We watched a boat full of people motoring toward it, and when they were near enough, twelve dove into the water and swam to another world.

  “You could leave, you know,” I said. “I would understand.”

  “Nah,” Fadil said. “My parents don’t want to go. They said the world is shit, but it’s worth fighting for. Plus, I talked to Naomi about taking things slow and she’s cool with it, so I’ve got that to look forward to.”

  I glanced at Freddie, who shrugged. “I’m not sure anything would be better there. I mean, don’t you think we’d just drag our problems with us?”

  “Maybe not.”

  “But probably,” Fadil said.

  Freddie took my hand and leaned into me. We’d spent a lot of time over the past week kissing, and I never wanted it to end.

  “It’s too easy to turn our backs on the shit we don’t like,” Freddie said. “Change doesn’t happen because we hope for it; we have to work for it. And I kind of like working with you.”

  “Is that so?” I said with an impish grin.

  “Sometimes.”

  “Well, I kind of like working with you, too.”

  Fadil made gagging noises, and I punched him in the arm.

  We walked along a little farther. “Sean left,” I said. “He came by the house to say good-bye to the kids, but they weren’t there. Which turned out to be a good thing, because Mama punched him.”

  “Good riddance,” Fadil said.

  Freddie added, “That figures.”

  “Right?”

  “Tori’s parents left too,” Freddie said. “Most of my friends did, actually.”

  “They might be the smart ones.”

  “I don’t know,” Fadil said. “I think we’re going to be all right.”

  “That’s because you have faith,” I said.

  But Fadil shook his head. “It’s because I have you. Both of you now, I suppose.”

  When it became too difficult for me to walk, we sat in the sand. The sun was waning and I felt my strength ebbing with it. My grip on the portals was becoming tenuous.

  “Do you think you made the right choice?” Freddie asked.

  I’d spent much of the last week—the time not spent making out with Freddie—wondering the same thing. “I’m honestly not sure,” I said. “But at least this way, the ones who left got to make that decision for themselves.”

  “What happens if the world ends?” Freddie said.

  “Maybe it already has,” I said, “and this is it. Now we have the opportunity to start over and try to do better this time around.”

  Fadil nodded. “For what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing.”

  I hoped I had, but there was no way to truly know for sure.

  “It’s time,” I said. Freddie and Fadil helped me stand, and I walked to the water’s edge. I closed my eyes and returned to the rupture in the void. When I’d opened it, I’d also seen how to close it for good. And when I was done, I’d no longer be Miracle Girl. When I was done, we’d be on our own. I’d be nothing more than Elena Mendoza, and that would have to be enough.

  “What do you think will happen after?” Freddie asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But we’re about to find out.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  EVERY BOOK HAS its own unique set of challenges, and I wouldn’t have gotten through them without the help of so many amazing people.

  I want to thank Amy Boggs for helping me shape this idea in its early stages, Michael Strother for seeing its potential, and Liesa Abrams for helping me bring Elena’s story to life.

  I’d like to thank my agent, Katie Shea Boutillier, for her fierce and tireless work on my behalf, even when it interrupted her maternity leave (sorry about that again!), as well as everyone at Donald Maass Literary Agency. It is an honor and a pleasure to work with so many dedicated folks.

  This is my eighth book with Simon Pulse, but S&S feels more like a family to me than a publisher. I couldn’t do any of this without their support. I’d like to thank Faye Bi for her extraordinary work getting me where I need to be, Adam Smith for keeping my commas in line, Anthony Parisi, Mara Anastas, Mary Marotta, Mary Nubla, Jessica Smith, Sarah McCabe, Catherine Hayden, Lauren Hoffman, Chelsea Morgan, Michelle Leo, Sara Berko, Ian Reilly, Christina Pecorale and the sales team, Desiree Vecchio and the Simon & Schuster Audio team, and everyone I haven’t had the opportunity to meet yet. Working with you all on every book is an adventure and a joy. Thank you.

  Thank you to every teacher, librarian, and bookseller—the ones I’ve met and the ones I haven’t—for being such amazing advocates. Not only for my books, but for all books.

  As always, I owe so much to my family for their support. I wrote this book during a particularly dark time in my life, and they carried me when I couldn’t walk.

  This book would have collapsed if not for my best friend and first reader, Rachel Melcher. Her honesty helped me see my flaws, and her encouragement kept me from giving up.

  I’d like to thank my brother and his husband, Syrus, for giving me a place to crash for the winter and for letting me pace their apartment and figure out the plot of this book.

  Lastly, I’d like to thank you. All the readers who make this worthwhile. Thank you.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON is the author of numerous books for young adults, including We Are the Ants, At the Edge of the Universe, and The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley, and has edited the anthologies Violent Ends and Feral Youth. He lives in South Florida with his adorably chubby dog and enjoys Doctor Who, comic books, and yelling at the TV. Visit him at ShaunDavidHutchinson.com.

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  ALSO BY SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON

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  At the Edge of the Universe

  We Are the Ants

  Violent Ends

  The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places,
and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  First Simon Pulse hardcover edition February 2018

  Text copyright © 2018 by Shaun David Hutchinson

  Jacket photograph copyright © 2018 by Dany Derkenne/Getty Images

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Hutchinson, Shaun David, author.

  Title: The apocalypse of Elena Mendoza / by Shaun David Hutchinson.

  Description: First Simon Pulse hardcover edition. | New York : Simon Pulse, 2018. | Summary: Elena, the first scientifically confirmed virgin birth, acquires the ability to heal by touch at age sixteen, the same year that people start disappearing in beams of light, causing her to wonder if she is bringing about the Apocalypse.