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Description
I put the phone down on the kitchen counter. I knew I must prepare myself for a long journey on foot, so I got my dads hiking gear. After replacing his clothes with mine I stopped.

"What else?" I asked in a whisper, "Food, but will I have the room?"

The hiking bag of my dads was full, and I knew it contained only a few snacks even though it was geared for an overnight hike. So with a sigh I dragged out my large duffle bag.

"But what to take?" I though back to all I had learned, "Stuff that won't go off of course! I know cans!"

The last was said with a clap and a smile; busying myself helped, I felt stronger. And so with the hiking bag weighing down on my back and the duffel bag not even half full and tied to a skateboard I went into town.

Going into town was a mistake. The town, my town, it was empty.

"Just like home." I remember saying to myself.

I think I somehow knew, even before I reached the town that I would find no one; but that made it no easier to cope with. I had to walk the length of the town, past the dead houses. They were silent, a silence deeper than any other I had heard.

"They're all just at the main street."

Even at the time the sentence seemed so weak. I wondered how I could even think of that idea. Maybe part of me hoped saying it out loud would make it true.

"The main street, it'll all be fine when I get to the main street."

I kept repeating that to myself, half convincing myself it was true. But as I got closer it only got worse. Cars had crashed into each other and into trees. At the main street it was at its worst; more cars, more carnage, but no blood. No one in the cars or on the pavement, no one in the town.

I walked through it all in a haze, only one image stuck in my mind; A pram, abandoned and empty, its straps still done up as if to hold a baby and between them a dummy.

That scene changed me, but not in the way you might think. Walking through the main street I made myself a promise.

"I won't let this change me, I'll stay happy, keep my spirits up, for Jenna"

Description
I put the phone down on the kitchen counter. I knew I must prepare myself for a long journey on foot, so I got my dads hiking gear. After replacing his clothes with mine I stopped.

"What else?" I asked in a whisper, "Food, but will I have the room?"

The hiking bag of my dads was full, and I knew it contained only a few snacks even though it was geared for an overnight hike. So with a sigh I dragged out my large duffle bag.

"But what to take?" I though back to all I had learned, "Stuff that won't go off of course! I know cans!"

The last was said with a clap and a smile; busying myself helped, I felt stronger. And so with the hiking bag weighing down on my back and the duffel bag not even half full and tied to a skateboard I went into town.

Going into town was a mistake. The town, my town, it was empty.

"Just like home." I remember saying to myself.

I think I somehow knew, even before I reached the town that I would find no one; but that made it no easier to cope with. I had to walk the length of the town, past the dead houses. They were silent, a silence deeper than any other I had heard.

"They're all just at the main street."

Even at the time the sentence seemed so weak. I wondered how I could even think of that idea. Maybe part of me hoped saying it out loud would make it true.

"The main street, it'll all be fine when I get to the main street."

I kept repeating that to myself, half convincing myself it was true. But as I got closer it only got worse. Cars had crashed into each other and into trees. At the main street it was at its worst; more cars, more carnage, but no blood. No one in the cars or on the pavement, no one in the town.

I walked through it all in a haze, only one image stuck in my mind; A pram, abandoned and empty, its straps still done up as if to hold a baby and between them a dummy.

That scene changed me, but not in the way you might think. Walking through the main street I made myself a promise.

"I won't let this change me, I'll stay happy, keep my spirits up, for Jenna"