Year: 2032
Date: November 29th
This was the day the Earth fell apart.
The day my life fell apart.
It all started with a simple call.
"JoAnne, he won't leave! He refuses to leave the bed . Says he'll deal with what comes.", my mother-in-law whimpers into the phone with complete exasperation of my son.
My son Dean is now happily 18, and unfortunately the most stubborn child I have. He always thinks he knows what best, but his judgement in this case is severely lacking.
"If he stays, he'll die. That's not an option. Get to safety, I'm on my way".
"But", is all I hear before slamming down my phone. I will NOT let this happen.
You see, yesterday started a change in our atmosphere. Our climate has decided we are not worthy of this beautiful, lush place we call Earth. It all started with a violent shake.
We reside in a small town in Mississippi. My mother-in-law, whom my son went to visit, lives in Louisiana. Approximately an hour away.
We were woken early that morning with a thud, being thrown from our beds as the world shook around us. We don't get earthquakes here in the South. We just don't. My husband Tom and I hold tight to each other for what seems like hours, although it was realistically only a handful of minutes. Finally, the shaking subsides. Immediately the phone starts ringing. I manage to crawl to the receiver and snatch it up.
"Hello".
"JoAnne, are y'all ok? We just got hit by an earthquake!"
"We're ok. It got pretty bad but we are ok. And y'all?"
"We're good. Just wanted to make y'all were ok. We have a few busted windows and a few trees down, so I better get out there and help with some cleanup. I'll check in later".
"Ok, call if you need us", I said with a sigh. The fact that it was felt all the way over there doesn't bode well.
The rest of the day is spent with Tom and I cleaning, while the younger boys stay in their room where they will be safe.
After what felt like an eternity, supper time had arrived and it was time to whine down from a very stressful day. We made due with a quick snack of ham sandwiches and chips on the side, then headed for bed.
Sitting in bed watching the news to see if there was any information on what happened, Tom and I cuddled up expecting some simple " oh, we had a brief and rare quake down here in the South, but all is well", but what we got was something much more heart wrenching and devastating.
"Earlier today, an earthquake was felt throughout the world. As phenomenal as that may seem, it's far from over. The worst is yet to come".
We sat in complete and utter shock as we listened to the new reporter tell everyone that this quake felt around the world was ushering in (extraordinarily fast may I add) a new Ice Age. One like we've never seen the likes of. Bunkers we didn't know existed were already in place in multiple cities around each state.
We frantically called to coordinate where we would all meet for this, trying to have us all together. The closest one was a few miles out from our town. My mother-in-law agreed, and a plan was set to meet first thing in the morning here and go straight to the bunker from here.
Everyone was instructed by the government to get to a bunker as fast as possible, as we had just a little over 24 hours before it starts.
With a plan set, we went to bed and prayed we would survive this in tact.
Little did I know, that would all change the next morning with that one phone call about my son.