The Apocalypse | The Umbrella Academy

xiv.

Evelyn, Five and Vanya each had a cup of coffee their hands. Evelyn and Vanya were listening to Five talk about his time at the end of the world.

"I survived off scraps. Cans of food, cockroaches. Typical apocalypse stuff. You know that rumour that Twinkies have an endless shelf date? Yeah, well, it's not true." He was mainly staring at his coffee mug, not wanting to make eye-contact with his sisters.

"I can't even imagine," Vanya said.

"We got through it though. Whatever it threw at us, we overcame."

"We?"

"Yeah, we?" Evelyn asked. "You didn't tell me anything about another survivor."

"Got anything stronger?" Five asked Vanya as he shook the cup of coffee in his hand.

*

Vanya poured whisky into plain glasses for her brother, sister and herself. She passed the glasses to them. Evelyn looked at her gratefully while Five just took a swig of the drink.

"I... just don't get it," Vanya said.

"What exactly don't you understand?" Five asked arrogantly.

"Calm down," Evelyn said to Five, her voice lowered.

"Why didn't you just time-travel back?" Vanya asked. Evelyn rolled her eyes at Vanya's dull simplicity.

"Gee, wish I'd thought of that," the teenager said sarcastically. Evelyn choked on her drink, the whisky coming out of her nose. Five looked at her in disgust.

"Where's your bathroom?" Evelyn asked Vanya.

"In my bedroom," she answered.

"Thanks." As she walked to the bathroom, she took out her black lip-ring and her black nose stud.

"Don't you think I tried everything I could to get back to my family? I went into the ice and never acorned," Five answered Vanya once Evelyn had gone out of the room.

"You're right. I'm sorry," Vanya said. Evelyn walked back into the room, cleaned up. Her piercings were now secured onto her face and the glass of whisky was empty. She placed the glass in the sink and walked back over to her siblings. "Why are you a kid?" she continued once Evelyn was done.

Five walked over to the bottle of whisky and filled up his glass. "I told you already. I must've gotten the equations wrong." He sounded aggravated.

Vanya looked at Evelyn in desperation and confusion. "He won't tell me anything different," Evelyn said to her.

"Dad always said that time-travel could mess with your mind," Vanya reasoned. "Maybe it's that."

"This was a mistake," Evelyn muttered.

"You're too young. Too naïve," Five said and went to walk out of the small apartment. Evelyn started to follow him.

"Wait," Vanya said, making Evelyn and Five turn around. "I haven't seen you in a long time and I don't want to lose you again," she said to Five. "I just... I need to sleep and I'm sure you do too." She walked to the sofa and pulled out a blanket for Five. "We'll talk in the morning, okay? I promise."

"That's my cue," Evelyn said. She grabbed her helmet from the side and said goodnight to her brother and sister before leaving.

"Night," Vanya said to Five once Evelyn was gone.

"Night," he repeated. Once Vanya was out of the room, he searched his pockets, pulling out an eyeball with a chocolate brown iris. Squiggles of red outlined the eyeball but not by much. He turned it over, revealing a serial number and the name Meritech on the back.

Five stood up, looked at Vanya's room and left the apartment.

*

Evelyn sat on her bed, sighing at the long day. She flopped onto her bed instead. She then got out her phone, unlocked it and texted Diego.

Evelyn:
Five's up to something.

She only had to wait a couple of minutes before she got a response.

Diego, knife boi:
Tell me about it

Evelyn:
I picked him up at Griddy's earlier.

Evelyn:
He was bleeding.

Diego, knife boi:
Griddys doughnuts ??

Evelyn:
Yeah. Why?

Diego, knife boi:
There was a shooting earlier

Evelyn:
What time?

Diego, knife boi:
Idk around 10

Evelyn:
Picked him up at 9:58...

Diego, knife boi:
Thats not good

Evelyn:
No. No, it's not.
Seen, 11:36

Evelyn sighed at her now teenage brother. He'd always been one to get into trouble but a shooting? This was too far.

Evelyn took off her make-up, changed into pyjamas and slipped under the cold sheets. She lay awake for a while, thinking about Five and how destructive he had always been. She sighed and the empty embrace of sleep eventually pulled her in.