Fantasy The Plague of Man

[Pura234]

(Hello LillyToffee)


The summer was coming to a quick end. The humid heat was still present but the public pools were closing and stores were advertising their back to school adverts. For Alex the end of summer was bitter sweet. To end the summer meant to return to the regular mundane routine of life and see Tony more frequently however it also meant stress and even more pressure to get into a good school and graduate with honors.


Alex took the summer to work part time at a boat shack a few miles from the city. It was relaxing for the most part gave him enough time to text, read, and study for SATs. He barely had enough time to see his good friend of nearly ten years Tony this summer and was ecstatic to have the day off so he could go to see her.


Alex lived with his father who was a single parent. They divorced when Alex was 12 and now his mother had re-married and had more children and never made much of an effort to contact Alex since. It wasn't too much of a problem as Alex's father was a good passive man who didn't really get too involved with his kids life. As Alex stepped out of his cold shower and toweled off his long chestnut hair he headed towards the living room where his father Bob was sprawled on the couch watching the news.


"News really? You never watch the news? All fear mongering hippies?" At the last question Alex made a mocking voice to sound like a hillbilly. It was true Bob rarely watched news unless it was sports related.


"I know I know, but look now. They're trying to scare us with a new HM00 flu they say," Bob snorted a little. He rubbed his balding head and reached for the remote. "Same thing as they always say, tryin' to scare us of something that will never even leave Africa." The news had a woman reporting at a news desk.


"If you know of anyone experiencing extreme fever, or delusions please report them to the police as soon as possible." The lady's face was stone and cold. Maybe she believed the same thing as Bob that nothing would ever cross the boarder.


"What's it caused from?" Alex asked while turning on his Iphone.


"Dunno, tainted water or something." Bob flicked the channel to the fishing network and took a sigh of relief.


After the phone had booted up Alex began to type out his text to Tony. Miss you? nah. Hey wanna hang? Too casual. Alex finally decided on, "Hey, we should hang out it's been a while. I'm free today. Should at least hangout before we go back to prison... I mean school."

 

[Lillytoffee]

Antonia stepped out the shower, she grabbed a towl of the rack and dried herself, dressed and headed back to her room. Picking up the brush from her dresser she ran it through her blonde hair before heading downstairs.


"Hey kiddo." She said ruffilling her 8 year old brother, Collin's hair.


"Hey." He smiled at her as she grabbed a bowl, came back to the table and poured in the content of one of the small veraiety packs of cereal.


Her Dad was reading the newspaper while her Mom was as usual busying herself with things around the kitchen that simply had to be done.


Her phone bleeped, she took it out of her pocket and smilied as she read Alex's message. "Sure, I'd love too, where do you want to meet?" She texted back.

 

[Pura234]

As the narrator of the tv went on about large mouth bass Alex quickly responded to the low buzzing of his phone.


"I have a place in mind pick you up in five?" Alex didn't really wait for a response as he headed off the couch and grabbed his hoodie for later on.


"Taking the camero?" Bob asked without ever really looking to see what Alex was doing,


"Yeah be back soon,"Alex waved not thinking to much of it.


The car was a navy blue like the night sky and the seats on the inside smelled of warm cotton. The car was ageing badly and the ignition always needed several tried before getting started. Antonia didn't live far infact he could have easily walked but there was a place he wanted to go that the two of them both hadn't been to since they were children.


He pulled up to her house where she had lived for so long. He got out and knocked on the door. Her parents intimidated him to no end and every time he was there he could feel the walls close around him.

 

[Lillytoffee]

"I'll be back later." Was all the explanation Antonia gave her parents as she left the kitchen and opened the front door. Antonia's family was a wealthy one and they didn't approve of Alex or anyone else they considered "beneath" them and always did their best to make it known.


She opened the passenger door of the familiar navy blue car and got in.


"So where is this place you had in mind?" She asked as the car pulled off.

 

[Pura234]

"Kay, ages ago we would go to the old drive-in, you know the one with the park beside it ?" Alex started up the car and began to reverse the car.


"We used to go as kids with my mom, it shut down like 4 years ago or something?" It was quite a drive to the next town where the drive in was. The drive in was out in a field in the middle of no where and over grown with tall grass and old equipment. The main building where a family could buy refreshments was boarded up but unlocked and made it the party central of hooligans.


"Unless you have a better idea?" Alex asked.


He remembered when he was maybe eight or nine and leaving his mothers car to go for a walk. His mom and dad were fighting over top of some action movie and Alex couldn't handle it when he was so young. He wandered over towards the swing sets that over looked all the screens. There was a cartoon playing to the east and a romantic comedy to the south screen. He remembered getting mad and kicking a slide and seeing Tony there. He didn't speak to her much at that time but they attended the same school. He remembered how relieved he was to see someone who was his age something to distract himself from a horrid family night out.

 

[Lillytoffee]

"I remember," Antonia nodded."The one where we first met. I didn't know it had closed down." She remember when Alex had first approched her they had started talking and they become fast friends not too long after. "Nah, I don't have any better ideas." She added in reply to his question.


A little more than an hour later they arrived at the drive in. It was nothing like Antonia remember it, the grass was overgrown, the main building had graffiti all over it and most of the park equipment was badly rusted.


"I was sat right their when we first met." Antonia pointed at the swing set as they got out the car.

 

[Pura234]

"I remember my parents brought me to see American Beauty who let's their 8 year old son watch that?" Alex said with a laugh.


He walked closer to the park equipment and ran his hand along the painted rust. So many memories left here just to waste away.


"What'd you do this summer?" Alex asked. It had been far too long since he had seen Tony, long enough that anything could have changed. For Alex this summer was about making money and forgetting his ex. Antonia was like a breath of fresh air and a sign of the end of summer isolation.

 

[Lillytoffee]

"Not a lot, my dad has decided he wants me to go to medical school when I graduate." She sighed and sat down on one of the swings. "My parents don't seem to think I can't make any of my own decisions in life."


It was peaceful here with just Alex away from the constant demands of her family. She pushed the swing back and forth slightly with her feet before speaking again.


"What about you, how was your summer?

 

[Pura234]

Alex was about to answer about his boring job and his three week break up with his "high school sweet heart", before he could managed the words his palms began to sweat and he felt a little nauseous. He stepped behind her swing and pushed Antonia lightly.


"It was long too long... I wish we could have seen each other more," Alex said sincerely.


After each push his muscles became weaker and weaker until one swing gave weigh to his legs and his body shook. He collapsed on the ground barely bracing himself with one arm. Lucky for him he managed to just barley land out of reach of Tony's swinging feet. Nothing felt right at this moment his hands both hot and cold his head in pain yet crystal clear. Something was wrong.

 

[Lillytoffee]

Antonia hurriedly skidded her feet on the floor to stop the swing.


She knelt down beside him and putting his arm over her shoulder she helped him up and seated him on the swing.


"Are you okay?"

 

[Pura234]

Alex waved his hand initially to signal he was fine but on second thought maybe he wasn't okay. He tried to struggle to stand and could feel his body become cold all over. Maybe he got some form of summer flue but he didn't feel nauseous just strange.


"Antonia..." He managed to whisper through gulping breaths.


The ground began to spin for a moment underneath him and the rocking of the swing didn't really help to much.


He took a deep breath to try to calm his panic. The breath he drew was icey cold like snow even though the weather was still humid. He could feel a chill work its way along his hands and back. He felt colder then he could ever remember being before.


"I'm...sorry..." Alex managed to spit through chattering teeth.


(I'll try and make the paragraphs a bit longer for you to include more detail for you to work off of)

 

[Lillytoffee]

(Thanks, they were already fine though. )


Antonia whatched anxiously as her friend shivered uncontrollably not sure what to do. You can't just stand here she thought to herself.


"I-I should call an ambulance." She said more to herself then Alex. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and hurriedly dialed the number.

 

[Pura234]

(Can you add a bit more detail in future posts then at least a paragraph or so?)


Alex grabbed her wrist to stop her from dialing the number. Insurance was expensive and he didn't need to burden his father with any higher bills then what they had already.


As Alex grabbed her wrist he could feel a cool breeze shoot from his finger tips on to her arm. Her arm felt frozen after grasping it and he pulled his hand away quickly. Almost like one might receive a shock from the laundry the instinct was that he hurt her.


"I'm sorry?" He wasn't too sure if it was just him that felt it or she did too but a he could feel her energy pulse all around him.