Kim’s Earth: Poppy: Waking Up (part 5)

[k_a_webb]

This entry is part 10 of 30 in the Kim's Earth collection

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

This entry is part 10 of 30 in the Kim's Earth collection

It was hard for Poppy to believe that her parents really were dead. She’d expected them to be a part of her life for years to come, but they weren’t going to be and, for the first time, she wished that she was dreaming. Then she could wake up to find that everything was back to normal, the death of her parents, and, probably, everyone she knew, was simply a nightmare that she’d had because of the injection. She knew it wouldn’t happen though, no matter how much she hoped it would. What she needed to do was start letting go of her old life, even though she really didn’t want to, because letting go of the old one meant accepting that the new one was real. Running a hand through her greasy hair she sighed, before zipping up the bag that held all of the clothes she thought would be useful.

Fortunately it was summer. That gave the survivors, however many there were, a chance to prepare for the winter, as long as they didn’t have another wet autumn. Poppy shook her head. Living in the new world meant that she was going to be one of those people and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to survive alone, so that meant she had to find someone to work with in order to begin readying them for the future. Even though she doubted it was going to happen she might be lucky enough that one of her friends, or even someone she’d known at school had survived, because that would make things much simpler. The mere thought of relying on strangers made her feel uncomfortable. She’d never found it easy to trust people, which might well become an asset.

Picking the bag up she went looking for other things that might be useful. Candles were something she knew would be, but neither her or her mum had ever been the sort of person who collected them, unlike a couple of Poppy’s friends. They had hundreds of them, or at least it seemed that way, different types, some scented, and it would be helpful if she’d been just like them. Without electricity she was really going to need them. Even though she still had some light it was fading quickly and she still had no idea what her next step was going to be. As she stood in the middle of the hallway, trying to think, she found herself wondering what someone else in her position would be doing.

Maybe they were even dithering, the way Poppy was and knew she shouldn’t be, but she couldn’t help it. It was her way of trying to hold onto a life that didn’t exist any longer. None of the plans she’d made for the rest of her life meant anything, because that was the old world. An unwanted tear trickled down her cheek. The old world was where her parents were alive, instead of lying in their bed together having lost their lives to an injection that was meant to make the world a better place – but it had become much worse and she knew that without leaving the house. Losing all of the little things, like electricity and running water, was going to make everything very difficult.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.