The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) (16 page)

             
“Ar
e you serious right now?! Biology, history and anthropology would dictate that in order to conceive a child, one must...”

             
“Don't even start the rambling, overly intelligent monologues with me!” She snapped furiously. “That might work on your parents who a
re so thick they don't even realize you're being facetious, but I am well aware of the fact that you try to weasel your way out of conflict with...”

             
“Would you just let me tell you that I'm not pregnant before you suffer heart failure? I am trying
to save
your life here, Maura!”

             
“And you try to use your dry sense of humor to distract me...” She calmed down, my words settling into her mind enough that she could comprehend their meaning, “Oh. Well, you should have said that right off!”

             
“Well, I apologize f
or alarming you. I did not realize you thought I was so thick-headed that I wouldn't be able to properly utilize contraception methods.”
             

             
“She drives me mad, James.” Maura looked at him wearily as she eased herself down into the chair she had been grippin
g throughout her tirade. “Absolutely mad...”

             
“I've only known her for a little under twenty four hours and I can sympathize. Believe me, I can.” He told her with a shake of his head.

             
“Alright.” I interrupted him before turning my gaze to Maura. “I want t
o say everything I need to say before you cut in.” I looked back at him after registering exactly what he had said. “Shut up, James!”

             
“See? I can sympathize.” He repeated coolly and I fought the urge to pick up the nearest heavy object and throw it at his
head with all my might.

             
“What I am about to say is going to sound ridiculous. But I can promise you right now that we are not playing a practical joke nor have we ingested any illegal substances. Okay?”

             
“Alright.” Her tone conveyed her uncertainty as he
r eyes looked between the two of us again.

             
“The world is going to end.” I paused, not realizing that in the moment of silence, I gave her the opportunity to laugh.

             
“Is marijuana still illegal?” She asked through her hysterical giggles.

             
“That's
random...” I turned my head on the side slightly as I always did when I was confused.

             
“You said you two hadn't ingested any
illegal
substance. That was a hot issue a couple of months ago. Legalizing marijuana, I mean. So did they? Is that what's going on
here?”

             
I sighed heavily and muttered, “I told you to let me say what I needed to say before you cut in.”

             
“You're...”

             
“I had a dream, almost ten days ago now.” James cut me off to blaze forward with his tale without worrying how she might take it. “I saw
the world ending in an explosion. I don't know what caused it but I know that I couldn't shake the awful feeling that I had after seeing it. So, I went online and I did some searching. At that time, over one hundred people reported having the exact same d
ream. The details were the same, down to the most insignificant thing, Maura. The time between this strange silence and the blast, for instance; we all said it was about a minute and a half.”

             
“And this source is credible, why?”

             
“God, I don't know...” I c
himed in sarcastically after exhaling my cigarette smoke out of the back door, “Because over one hundred people described the same thing down to minute details?”

             
“Was it a message board or was it instant messaging? Unless you were talking to someone and y
ou both recanted the details at exactly the same time, what was to stop these other individuals from just reciting your dream back to you? Perhaps they were pulling some kind of cruel practical joke on you.” Maura said reasonably.

             
“One hundred people were
pulling a practical joke on me? People from England, Iran, France, not to mention a variety of different states here? That doesn't sound very logical, does it?”

             
“And the world ending soon sounds logical?”

             
“Look, I don't care if you believe us completely
. I just need you to believe me a little bit. I need you to allow yourself to feel however much belief will convince you to go, pack a bag, and come with us, Maura.” I implored and for good measure, I reached out and grasped her hand in both of mine. She l
ooked down at our joined hands in surprise and then looked back at me.

             
“Come with you where, Brynna?”

             
“We're leaving.”

             
“Where exactly are you planning to run? Where can you go to escape the end of the world?”
The conviction I needed to hear in her voice
was non-existent, at least not yet. She was merely curious to hear what I would respond with.

             
“We're leaving Earth. No, do not even laugh right now!” I snapped at her as my anger bubbled over its steaming pot abruptly. I stopped, took a breath, and spoke
again, this time with my usual air of cavalier, logical, and arrogant calm. “The people in power have known that this was coming. Something has been going on behind closed doors that would cause this. So they were proactive and built an escape. I'm sure y
ou've heard about the other planet that they found.”

             
“Yes. They're calling it Pangea, aren't they? Don't tell me that's where we're going.”

             
“That's where we're going. It's fit to support human life.
All
life, actually. It's our best chance. It's our
only
chance, Maura. I am going to say something now that will convince you. If it doesn't, then you do not know me as well as I think you do. Okay?”
             

             
“Alright.”

             
“I want you to look at me and look at Penny.” Penny had climbed into my lap at the beginning of t
he conversation and was grasping my arm in both hands, looking terrified despite not understanding the magnitude of the situation. Our tones and my own shameless beseeching for Maura's belief were enough to convey that whatever was happening was serious en
ough to be worried about, though. Plus, children are the most instinctual of us all. They can sense the worst before it happens.

             
“I want you to think about Violet and Elijah.” My brother, Elijah was away at college. We were stopping to get him on the way
to the launch site. He would need no convincing.

             
“You have been with us all since the days that we were born. I have this one chance to convince you that what I am saying is true. I have this one chance to tell you...” I stopped, unable to continue. To sa
y what I was going to say next would be the greatest showing of weakness I had ever allowed myself to succumb to without a fight.

             
“What, darling?” She pressed me gently.

             
I heaved a great, reluctant sigh and looked at her.

             
“I
need
you to come with me. I
need you.”

             
I looked away from her eyes when I saw tears rush into them suddenly. Everything I had ever learned about suppressing my emotions had been learned from Maura and now she was outwardly showing that I had moved her with what I had said. I hated m
yself for admitting it out loud. Maura hadn't needed to hear that just to convince her to come with us. She had needed to hear those words from me for many, many years. When I went to let go of her hands, she squeezed mine even tighter.

             
“Look at me.”

             
I s
hook my head ever so slightly, my eyes darting around for something to focus on.

             
“Calm down,” She whispered, “I'm not going to cry.”

             
My eyes raised to look at her and sure enough, she was telling the truth. She had swiped her tears away before they had a
chance to fall.

             
“Are you packed? Are you ready?” She asked me and I nodded. “Did you bring your spare glasses?” I nodded again. “Good girl. Give me ten minutes to get your sisters ready and to grab some of Elijah’s things.”

             
“Okay. I'm sorry to scare you
so randomly.” I replied, my voice steady. I didn't want to embarrass myself by showing anything that even remotely resembled fear. It wasn't enough to convince Maura, in her infinite wisdom of all of my quirks and flaws; she saw right through my steely ex
terior into my fearful heart the way she always had, from my birth until the very moment we found ourselves at currently.

             
“Darling, if this all comes down to you being the one who will save us,” She put both of her hands on my face and smiled slightly,
“then I'm not scared at all.”

XXX

             
We were packed and ready to make our mad dash for Elijah's school and then, the launch site.
Not one of us, not even Penny or Violet, spoke of my parents again. My sisters didn't because they knew we had no time. They as
sumed that our mother and father would be meeting us there. I didn't speak of them because there were no words to explain the complex emotions I felt upon picturing their faces. After allowing the violent to-and-fro of that complication to continue for as
long as I could stand, I forced myself to picture one word. I allowed just one simple word to determine my actions: Overrule. My mission was to ensure the survival of my siblings, Maura and myself. That survival would overrule whatever semblance of love I
felt towards the two people I was meant to call my parents.

             
I will hate myself for that until the day I pass from this realm to whatever comes after.

             
My eyes traveled slowly around the room I was standing in; it was the spacious formal living room where
my mother and father would entertain their high-powered guests. A memory I had long suppressed bloomed inside my head like a dehydrated flower that had suddenly become drunk on rainwater. I closed my eyes and shook my head back and forth.

             
Bitterness, Bryn
na.
I reminded myself,
Nothing can touch bitterness.

             
The parties my parents used to hold in that room were the stage on which our family put on our greatest performances. Unity, love and normalcy were the key points of our act and we succeeded in
conveying all three. They expected award-worthy performances from all of us by the time we were old enough to talk. For a while, I went along with the dubious charade. My siblings were still towing the proverbial line long after I had marched far from it.

             
“I wish I could understand you, Brynna.” My mother had said to me once after a performance of mine fell short of her high expectations. “I will never understand you.”

             
A gasp resulting from the sight of her face appearing in my mind drew an unwelcome and
pinpoint-sharp entry of air into my chest.

             
“Brynna, we have to go.” James told me softly from the doorway. Upon seeing the look on my face, though, he stepped into the room further. “I tried to convince them to let your parents come for your sake. They wo
uldn't budge on it.”

             
“No. They caused this, in their own way. Do you want to know something that I find rather odd?”

             
He nodded, gazing at me intently.

             
“I never knew I had affection for them until this moment. It's not enough to convince me even to call.
It's not enough to make me want to say goodbye. But James, it exists.”

             
He reached out and grasped my hand before saying softly and so gently, it would have brought tears to my eyes if I was capable of crying, “I know it does, sweetheart.”

             
“And there's s
omeone genuinely good that I have known for a long time. I hate to leave him behind.” I looked at the pad of paper that was on the coffee table with the expensive fountain pen sitting on top. On that pad, my mother would scribble notes in the morning, tell
ing us what chores to complete when we got home from school.