What Comes After | ✔️

Chapter 20

September 6

I thought I got caught. Everyone sleeping together in the living is a nightmare beyond anything that I've ever imagined.

Even after I had managed to already pre-pack the cans (which I thought was the hardest part), I needed to sneak them out of the door and into the safe spot, something that I could not do yesterday because Mom and Dad were milling around and gathering wood.

Luckily for me, only part of the door was visible from the living room, and I kept my bag low and close to me to avoid detection in case someone woke up. Unfortunately for me, the front door is so creaky, and when I opened the door, the creaks reverberated through the house. I managed to move the bag into position and put some dried-up weeds over it before I heard someone say, "Neal?"

I nearly had a heart attack, and I managed to let out only a small sigh when I saw that it was Mira before for a second. I thought it was May since with the pulsing heartbeat filling my ears, they sounded the same. Even though she wouldn't dare expose me to Mom and Dad, having more people know my secret would make every week more and more risky.

"Yeah," I said. "Do you need anything?"

"Is this how you do it?" she asked. "Giving food to Charles."

I nodded. "It was the door, wasn't it? We definitely need to grease up the hinges."

"Maybe have Dad do it this afternoon?" Mira suggested. "Or maybe have it be a brother-sister thing, you know. And who knows? It might be useful in the future."

"I've got to talk with Charles this afternoon," I said. "To make sure that he's alright. After the earthquake, I don't know."

"He's going to be alright," she said, and I nodded even though the pessimism drowned my thoughts: Charles trapped under debris, Charles killed by food raiders, Charles dead of dehydration. I've got this bad habit of imagining the worst all the time even though I always tell everyone that everything is going to be alright.

"You remember the last time that we were out here?" she asked. "I was in a bad place, I guess, and you told me how everything's going to be alright."

"Yeah," I said. "You think he's going to be alright?"

"He is," Mira said with such firmness that I didn't know whether she actually believed me or whether she was just putting on this mask of strength to stop me from worrying. "And I know this because of the sun."

"The sun?" I said. "This better not be some lecture about the sun shining again."

She laughed a little. "It's not— Okay, maybe it's a little bit of that. I just feel hopeful now, and I can't really explain it. It's just that I never really expected to see a sunrise again and here it is in its gold and amber glory. And with the letter delivering from all the way in LA, I just feel like our dream might come true."

"You're kinda scaring me," I said. "With all this optimism."

"Yeah. I think I might be going a little crazy," she said. "It's probably the sun."

"Nah," I said. "It's definitely the moon. You're probably not getting enough sleep because it's shining so bright."

"Maybe," she said with a smile that slowly faded away. "Tonight was the first night where I didn't dream about their deaths and wake up and fall back asleep to the same nightmare. I know Mom and Dad don't agree with me, but I feel a sense of purpose doing the night watch and helping people, and I'm going to work and win them over."

"Mom and Dad aren't going to change their minds," I replied before pausing and adding. "Why are you always trying to win them over? I mean you can just do it for you, you know."