What Comes After | ✔️

Chapter 3

May 20

School let out early today. We only had thirty minute periods and most of the time we didn't do much in class. More people were gone, maybe around twenty percent of our class was left. I guess everyone's worried about more flooding and decided to move away, possibly to higher grounds.

The gym was still filled with patients from the hospital, and temporary fences were installed all around the building to keep us out, though no one could resist gawking. Some of the classrooms were converted into shelters for the displaced families, so in some of my classes, we ended up sharing a room with another class. Everyone was pretty quiet though, so it didn't end up as bad as I had expected.

Charles and I took a detour when we were walking home today to see the flood zone. There was bright yellow tape around cones marking the borders of the danger zone. High tide was rising, and you could see the murky blue ocean water sweeping up the debris in the distance. On the other side of the border, the rows and rows of houses stretching across dozens of blocks were stained tan and the grass was soggy.

"Do you think it's going to be like this forever?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"That's a terrible answer."

"Fine. I do think it's going to be like this for a long time."

"Do you think the government is going to come and save us and maybe everything will go back to normal?"

"I don't think so."

"Some part of me is happy that this happened," he said. "Because now we've got a beach in our backyard."

I chuckled. I know I shouldn't have. Lots of people died from the flooding. But I think he was trying to lighten up the mood. "Wow," he said. "You just laughed about the death of thousands of people."

"Oh no," I said sarcastically. "I'm such a terrible person."

And he laughed, and then, even though I felt bad for making this joke, we were both laughing at something that wasn't even remotely funny because it's the only thing that we can do. We passed a whole line of cars and a horde of people by the gas station. Gas prices have risen already to nine dollars a gallon. I think all the offshore rigs got destroyed with the tides and most of the port cities are badly damaged from all the flooding.

I dropped him off at his house. I think he's getting worried about everything that's happening. This whole world around us is changing so fast. And it feels too fast for me to keep up with.

The power at home went out, so I couldn't open the garage door with my phone, but luckily, I had a house key in my backpack. There weren't any cans scattered on the floor anymore, and boxes seemed to be stacked neatly on the side of the house. Mira was sitting on the ground.

"Are you going back to college?" I asked.

"Mom wants me to stay," she said. "She's worried about all of us after what's happened, but I don't know."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You promise not to tell Mom and Dad?" she asked, and I nodded. "I have a boyfriend."

"Ooh, so scandalous," I said sarcastically.

"You know how Mom and Dad feel about dating," she said. "No college boyfriends!"

"Wait, didn't Mom and Dad meet in college?"

"Hypocrites," she said, and we shared a soft chuckle before everything became serious again.

"But I'm worried about him," she said. "Our college is a couple of miles away from the coast and I'm scared that it flooded. And with the power being out and cellular service down, I have no idea what happened there."