January 11th

 1


We woke up at the same time. And that was when we saw the message. It was written in blood on the front window. Backwards so we could read it without going outside. 

“Want to pursue your glee yet?”, was all it said. 

I stood there, mouth open. I looked at Erin and saw her reading it. Our eyes met. “Maybe we should think about it?”, Erin said.

I didn’t know what to say. I know I was shocked that she’d consider it. It must have shown on my face. Erin walked over to the front desk and sat on the floor, putting her head in her hands.

“It was that morning you found me, they came to my home. We’d been arguing, arguing for a long time. Felt like years. The week before I’d asked for a divorce. We didn’t love each other. Or we did but we didn’t love each other in the way we used to anymore. I don’t know. You know how it goes - you meet someone, you date, you fall in love and then you kinda drift apart over the years. We’d been married for 5 years at that point and I was scared and he was scared but I think we both wanted out of that marriage.

But then they broke through the front door. Chris turned to them to… I don’t know. Knowing Chris, he probably would have asked them politely why they were there. He never responded right to situations. I remember a time when a guy backended our car and Chris jumped out, I thought there’d be a fight but then Chris ended up apologizing - apologizing -  to the other person for being in the wrong place. 

Anyway, Chris went to those people. He started to say something, I’ll never know what. Because that was when they went for him. I saw one of them rip his throat with their bare hands. The blood splatter is where I got this,” pointing to the now long dried blood on her shoulder, “and he went down. They descended on him. I slipped out the door and ran and hid and…

I’m tired. I’m tired and I know I’m in shock and we can’t keep living off snack food from a vending machine forever and I know they know where we are. They could come in through that front window any second and… and….”, She started crying.

I walked over and sat down beside her. Put my arm around her shoulders. I didn’t know what to say so we just sat there for a long time.


2


After awhile her sobs ended and she seemed to slump back in sleep. I put my jacket over her and walked to the window again. How many of them were out there now, waiting to see what our response would be. Would it be as simple as just walking out and becoming one of them to stop the fear? Would that make the stress go away? It was so tempting. So tempting to just throw away the fear and terror and just join them.

Then I thought about the man I’d seen, holding an arm in his hands like a club. I wondered what life was like for them. Did they live in homes and sit on twitter all day, singing the praises of this new god of theirs? Maybe. Would that be any different, really, then life before all of this?

Could I be happy if I did that? What type of happiness would it be.


3


That night I couldn't sleep. I was turning these questions over in my mind, thinking and trying to decide. I can’t say why but i knew (or felt) that as long as I was honestly debating my response to their message they wouldn’t attack. It was only if I made a choice - a choice they didn’t like - that my life would end.

But finally sleep came.

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