Doomsday Fell on a Wednesday

Eartha Voss,

sold her small hobby farm and moved herself, and daughter to Washington.

Months went by, the two settled in a travel trailer a mile from the beach.

As the duo made memories at the local ice cream shop. Scoops of ice cream falling on concrete was the least of their worries.

Eartha tucked her daughter in and sang her a lullaby- BANG a loud noise shook the axles. Orange flames, rose like streamers. “Mom, what was that?” panic in her voice.

Quickly, Eartha scrambled out the aluminum door, sleepy daughter underfoot. As they watched the tin melt away and the neighbors eyes swell, from pain of open wounds exposed to the night air, tenderness of flesh made him grimace.

“Is he going to be okay mama?” She whispered.

“I don’t know baby, I just don’t know...”

She could feel her voice trail off with uncertainty.

The neighborhood became estranged. Some were convinced the fire was started by a local who held a grudge against him.

Now winter was fast approaching, Eartha was preparing for the long haul.

Jugs full of drinking water and non perishable food items.

However, Mother Nature had other plans for these two.

A large snow storm barreled in, and took out the main power supply.

The whole island was without power, and being without a power, comes no heat source...

The roads were filled with back to back traffic, inching closer to the ferry line.

Everyone rushed to board, the ferry, looking like rats jumping ship. As cars took off like wind up toys, there was no vacancy’s in hotels with back up generators. There was a mad rush, to the camping and electronic sections.

The aisle of candles was bare and even kid play flashlights were rounded up. Eartha went to the bedding section and filled her metal cart to the brim with quilts. Her daughter came running down the aisle, “Look what I found mom!” She dangled a pair of kid walkie talkies in-front of her face. The packaging read batteries included. Eartha shook her, “Good find little one! Now let’s get out of here before the storm gets worse!”

On the drive home, the street lights and stop lights were out of service. As if they were driving right into the edge of an abysses.

Eartha could feel her anxiety build. As she was trying to focus on the faint lines on the road, being night blind was not helping the situation!

As, they boarded the ferry, the waves were roaring, rocking the boat back and forth. Eartha tried to distract her daughter with her favorite nursery rhyme. But as they slid into port, she let out a huge sigh of relief. The drive home was daunting, as pairs of large and small round eyes made eye contact with her; as she passed them with high beams.

She looked over her daughter, to make sure Esther was still bundled up. The two trudged through the slushy snow knocking off their boots at the door.

“Inside, we need to get into night clothes quickly.” She helped her daughter into footie pajamas which were her least favorite. “Mom, I am cold burr!” she snuggled into her mother’s chest. Instantly, she remembered she had heating pads that didn’t need to be microwaved.

“Crack”the metal activator, caused the salt in heating pad to warm to the touch, shoving it into an extra pillow case laying, as she placed it across their toes.

Piling on the quilts like they were sandwiches.

Each day, that passed, was a degree colder, and daylight shortage. Many of the communities food began to spoil. As Eartha switched her RV fridge to propane. As long as they didn’t run out of the highly flammable resource. They should be able to last a few weeks.

Doomsday fell on a Wednesday;

Eartha tried to reach her sister but with the blackout cell towers were down.

She pulled up to her beach cottage, and white flowered blackberry bushes overnight grown up the side of the house, blocking all the natural light from her picture window.

“Hey sissy are you here?”

Esther, ran up and down the hall in search of her cousins. But the rooms were all empty.

All the keys on the key holder were missing...

On the dinning table, rested a 14k gold locket the clasp popped open.

Behind the family photo rest a torn landmark. Tiny numbers were jotted down that could only mean one thing, the distance on a map scale.

“I wish, I was better at reading maps!” Eartha scowled.

“I am a good reader mom!” Esther chimed in.

“I know baby,you’re getting so big!” She responded proudly.

They must be heading to, the natural hot springs of the northwest.

“Come on babe, we got to find the nearest gas station and figure out the scale of this trip.”

Eartha grabbed the locket, and secured the chain around her neck.

The petite heart-shaped locket weighed heavy on her sternum. This fine crafted jewelry was the only clue, and the last hope she had finding her sister and the kids. Something she couldn’t bear to lose...