Warning: suicide, graphic death
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Sitting on the roof, I stared up at the sky.
Why did they look like that?
They kind of reminded me of sleeping angels, heads resting on thier chests as if praying.
The ropes kept them suspended, all three of them. Mum, Dad, Child.
I took a sip of my can beside me, staring at the grand old tree decorated with the angels.
Every branch had at least one. All praying or gazing up at the bright sky hazed with heavy grey clouds of the impeding storm rolling in.
Would it hurt? What if the rope wasn't tight enough when they jumped?
I gazed down to the ground to see nobody there. Seems like they all knew where to go.
Maybe someone shared thier methods around to make it painless?
Swishing the dregs of my drink, I slurped it while running my eyes over the tree in all its morbid glory.
From a distance, it looked like colourful leaves. Now that I was here, the artistry was making me take a long look at my own life, if you could call it that.
The storm cracking in the distance was making me nervous. I had to find my own shelter before I ended up something like these unfortunate souls.
Enough with the tree. I couldn't reach any of the items dangling from it anyway.
Crawling back through the window to the attic, I scurried down the stairs and to the front door. I closed it behind me, I planted my empty can beside it to mark the house as one I had scavenged through.
I planted my fingers into my mouth to let out a piercing whistle.
Excited barking shot up from a few houses down. Out of the door shot a lanky black great dane that was still growing into its fumbling legs.
The wirey coat on it made it look disheveled. The dog's collar hung off it like a blue participation ribbon.
"Let's go, Gyper" I grinned and rubbed it's head when echoes bounced from the empty homes "I've got a can of beans calling my name somewhere out there."
Gypsy drooled and bounded away to split off into another home further down.
The storm was still closing in. We couldn't be caught out in the rain.
But...
My eyes tracked to the houses lined either side of the road I walked down the middle of. One of them was bound to have some sort of food inside. I'd be damned if I came all this way to inspect a death tree and leave these perfect opportunities unturned.
Peering up again, I frowned.
We would be cutting it close.
I left Gypsy to dart to the house on the right. The front door was already buckled and hanging off its hinges.
That made me worried about how I'd find the kitchen.
Creeping in, my suspicions were confirmed when I saw the kitchen to the left had been decimated. Cupboards and drawers were thrown open or crumpled on the floor.
Utensils gleamed amongst broken junk. Paper was ripped and strewn across the tiles. It even looked like someone had smashed the porclean cups just for the hell of it.
My shoes were held together with peeling black duct tape. I couldn't risk piercing the soles of my feet.
The cupboards were bare anyway. There would be no use even checking the fridge.
Slumping out in defeat, I scampered to the house opposite and was met with a more promising sign of a locked door.
The curtained window was no match for the stupid garden gnome planted on the doorstep.
Hearing it shatter inside, I knocked out the rest of the glass and crunched over the shards to slide into a loungeroom.
The kitchen was across the hall. From the looks of it, every damn cupboard door had a lock across it.
Why? What was the point when they would have been leaving in a hurry?
No-one stayed behind when evacuations were posted. It only made it easier to loot the houses.
The locks wouldn't be a hassle. It would only make it more satisfying when I broke into the treasure trove.
There was a rumble of the storm and a crack of thunder. I could feel the moisture building in the air when I threw open the front door for Gypsy to bolt through when she needed.
We could set up here for the night. Really make use of the nice house and it's locked kitchen.
It was already too late to try and brave the elements. The clouds had smeared across the sky to form a buzzing, swirling paint of blackness that crackled within.
I heard Gypsy barking and still running around. Her claws scraped the tar until they scratched open another door across the road.
Smiling to myself, I turned back for the kitchen to start the task of yanking at the locks.
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Cans, packets of food, and glass jars were all spread around me when I used a tin of carrots to smash open the last lock.
Sacrificing something I wouldn't eat anyway was a no-brainer. The can was so crumpled and misshapen that it didn't even resemble something containing food.
"Gypsy!" I called out when I tossed aside the carrots to lean up and scrape out more supplies into my arms "corn! Beans!"
The sight and scent of all the food still swimming well within thier use-by's made tears prickle in my eyes.
I breathed in the earthy aroma of kidney beans, snorting at the saltiness seeping right through them and dribbling off my fingers scooping them up.
"Gyper! You're missing out!" I laughed and sighed at the taste tingling my taste buds "beanies! Your favourite!"
Giggling when they coated my throat, I slid off the bench with the red beans and dawdle to the front door that was still wide open.
"Gypsy?" I called out with another mouthful "food!"
I knocked a knuckle on the can. The metal clanging was drowned out by a snapping split of thunder and the blinding flash of lightning.
Then, out of nowhere, came the rain.
It bucketed down and sprayed across the road. Steam hissed and billowed with every wave drowning the land.
I used the door to shield myself when wind blew the rain towards the house. I could hear it crashing through the broken window and devouring the paint off the walls.
Gypsy wouldn't be out there in it. She hated the rains.
Sure enough, I saw her slide out of the house opposite me and pace the verandah dripping with rain. She whined and whimpered, barking out through the rolling thunder snarling over her.
She was so desperate to get to me, but my gut clenched seeing her deciding to tempt death.
"STAY THERE!" I screamed over the howling wind and pounding rain "STAY!"
More silent barking. More pacing and recoiling when she tried to slip down the verandah into the rain.
Her long tail was tucked as she kept looking for a way across.
I couldn't make it. The rain would strip my skin bare the moment it rolled down over me. Even the light misting of wind blowing particles to the door had my face stinging at the contact.
Every storm was like this. It had been for two years now. Rather than find a solution, people ran. I heard there was a town out there somewhere that lived entirely coated in concrete to block out the weather.
The intense sun melted holes through anything it touched. The acid rain made sure there was nothing left.
In cover, it was comfortable. Out there, it was death.
We were on both sides of it.
Another crack of thunder made Gypsy shriek. I heard her clearly over the rain, right before she ran out into it towards me.
Screaming, I dropped my can and threw the door open to tumble out onto the doorstop.
Rain sizzled into my skin. Gypsy yelped as it pierced her body. She stopped her track for me and panicked on the road, trying to dodge the acid instead.
I'd give that dog the shirt off my back, but fear had me rooted where it was safe.
I could see blood mixing with the acid rain. Her bones melted through her skin.
I had to save her! I found her out here! She was my only friend!
But, nerves betrayed me. They screamed for me to remain safe; to cower back inside and close the door.
Tears sizzled over my cheeks when I saw Gypsy's eyes start to fizzle. Her poor whimpering and cowering body limped towards me now as her legs started to give out.
It was too late for her. I hadn't been quick enough.
"I'm sorry, Gypsy" I whispered to the Great Dane dragging the skin off its chest, closing the door to block her out forever.
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