Short+Story

=Journey Home=

March 25th 2023 4:00pm

I walked down the road skipping, singing and dancing to one of my favourite songs on my radio. I don’t know what a ‘crimson and clover’ is but, it sure makes a catchy song. I was very close to the top of the mountains, I could feel the dirty air getting colder as the days passed. As the song ended I felt an all too common feeling of hunger. I left the road and sat down on an embankment and opened my backpack. I had a can of tuna left, 2 jars of peaches, pork and beans and a can of green beans that I didn’t much care for. I would have to come across a store sooner or later and scrounge for food. I twisted off the lid of a jar of peaches and stuck my hand in. I grabbed peach slices one by one and popped them into my mouth. They were so juicy and wonderful that I didn’t even finish chewing the first one before I shoved another one in. After five minutes of gorging I was left with only the juice which was actually my favourite part even though my mother never let me drink it. I could hear her voice in my head as if was with me “ Colin! That’s unnecessary sugar right before your bedtime!”

As I drank the juices I remembered her loud voice and I missed it. Even though this was my favourite part of the peaches, something in me missed my mother’s nagging voice. When I had drank too much of the juice, I lay down on the bank holding my stomach and groaning, then I fell asleep.

When I woke up it was dark, I mean, darker than before. I shot up and listened. Something woke me, something was coming. At once I darted down the embankment further and hid in some dead leaves in the dark and listened. I peered out again, only slightly, so I would not get caught. Suddenly a pair of bright lights appeared. They belonged to a huge truck pumping black smoke out of pipe at the top of the truck. The truck was carrying 5 or 6 people and I got the feeling that they weren’t very friendly so I lowered my head and waited for them to pass. When they were long gone, I pulled out my blanket and fell asleep immediately.

March 27th 2023 9:00pm

My last two days traveling have been uneventful and I’m glad. I have walked and slept, walked and slept and my hunger is only getting worse. My last town was a week ago so I must be coming up to one. I have to find some more batteries too because I think my radio is getting low on juice.

I set up camp in the bushes five minutes off the road getting ready for bed. I wrapped myself in the blanket and tucked in my feet just like Papa used to do every night. I pulled out the picture of my grandparent’s farm and traced the barn with my fingers. I would be there soon. When I was done I put the picture back into the front pocket of my pack and pulled out the picture of my father and mother. I looked at them for awhile, my mother was the most beautiful person in the world. She often had men on the street stop her and tell her how beautiful she was. People joked that her beauty could stop a nuclear war but she passed away right before it happened. My father was stern and handsome, but he had a glow about him and I loved him a lot.

“ Don’t worry Papa, I’m doing okay. I’m safe and soon I will be with grandma and grandpa, just like you said. I wont let you down.”

He gave his life for me but before he died, he told me what to do and I will never forget it. I kissed them both and tucked the picture into the same pocket. I pulled out my gun and turned the light out before I fell asleep, holding my gun, just like every night.

March 28th 2023 9:00am

I woke up today and the air was crisp and felt clean, the mountains were beautiful. I have been traveling over them for around a week and estimate that this feat is coming to an end. As I looked out, I could see that I would soon be over the mountains. I was pretty sure that there was a town at the bottom of the mountain, there had to be. I remember driving over these mountains to visit my grandparents when I was seven. The high elevation hurt my ears but the trees were beautiful. They seemed to stretch out forever. Now they were dying and they didn’t seem so magical anymore. The long road I drove on was covered in ash now and seemed forgotten. I liked to pretend that it was just winter, and the ash was only snow and the trees didn’t have leaves anymore because they had fallen off with the changing seasons but I knew that was just a little lie I told myself to block the reality of what was all around me. I knelt down and picked up a handful of ash, it wasn’t cold like snow and I didn’t want to eat it. I packed it in to a ball, or at least I tried--it all crumbed through my fingers. I laid down and moved my arms and legs side to side then stood up again. It looked like a angel and I started laughing, then I cried.

12:00pm

Simon and Garfunkel were my favourite band because my mom always sang them to me before bed. I knew all the words to every song and that’s what I listen to today. I listened to every song I had on my radio and when I was almost done I saw a street sign that said 1 km to the nearest town. I don’t know how to read very well so I don’t know the name, but a towns a town. I hurried.

It took me along time to get there. When I did, I looked for the first store and went in. I had my head lamp on so I could search for anything. By now all the stores were picked through so finding stuff was hard. On my list I had batteries and any food I could find, even green beans. I spent an hour and a half looking through that store and I found 3 batteries, a piece of mouldy bread, a dented can of spinach, a can of black beans and a old tooth brush. I would say that’s a pretty good find. I left the store and ventured across the street to a house. In the house I found a can of peaches and an old coat that was way to big for me but I still kept it.

When I left the house I heard screaming, I looked down the street and saw a group of men gathered around a child--they were holding guns. My hand shot into my pocket for my gun and I turned around and ran. The men saw me and two of them started running towards me. There were so many tears in my eyes I couldn’t even tell where I was going; I just ran. I ducked into a house and crawled into a closet in one of the rooms. I put my head in my hand and wept, still holding the gun. I heard footsteps entering the room and I held my breath. The foot steps got closer to the closet and I felt my heart pounding out of my chest. The closet door opened and light flooded my view. The men stared down at me with smiles on their faces.

April 2nd 2023 8:00am

It turns out, those men were very nice. They weren’t just men either, there were a lot of them, children and women. They were traveling in the back of a truck heading for Toronto because there is a safe house there. They offered to take me with them but I refused, I had made a promise to my dad and I would keep that promise. The group insisted on giving me a ride there, it was on their way.

There were lots of children traveling with me and I quickly became friends with one of the boys named Joel. He, his mother and little sister were coming from Vancouver and were getting off the truck in Manitoba to find refuge with old family friends. I haven’t talked to another boy in months and me and Joel became best friends.

I arrived at the town of High Prairie in Alberta at 6 o’clock pm on April 2nd 2083. My grandparents town was 1km up the road. Saying goodbye to Joel was very hard. I gave him my father’s radio and he gave me his toy truck. After I said goodbye I started walking up the road. It was almost dark so I turned on my head lamp.

After walking for quite some time I stopped at the top of a hill and pulled out my picture. When I lowered the picture there was the same barn in front of me. I was there, I was home.

I ran. I ran as fast as I could to the front door and when I got there I collapsed in a heap on the front step. I woke up in the morning with a group of people looking over me. I recognized two of them, it was my Grandpa and Grandma, they were smiling and it made me smile too. They reached down and hugged me and my grandma kissed me.

My Grandma said “ You’re home now sweetie. Come eat some breakfast, you’ve had a long night.”