I'll Be There For You

VANI

Year: 2342

Month: August

Date: 15

Destination: South Eastern part of Western Earth – Earth

Vani was asleep when she heard the gunshot. Well, she was asleep when most things happened. She groaned and pushed herself off the bed to head up to the window to see what the commotion was about.

Her vision adjusted to the dark and she saw what was happening. Right in front of her house, two people had decided to play a game of who shoots whom in the face. Vani was pissed.

She opened her window and yelled at the two strangers, "Hey! You morons! It's 5 in the morning. Go play somewhere else or I'll have to come down there and knock the two of you dead!"

The two people, startled, dropped their hands and looked up. Vani choked.

One of them was a boy. A boy her age.

"What the hell.", she muttered and, finally giving up on sleep, decided to walk down and find out what was going on.

This kind of scene was very common in her area. She lived in one of the places where the calamities had hit the worst. So it had affected the people the worst.

She wasn't originally from here. This place was formerly called Greenland. But her origins were from India.

During the shifting of the continents, this region had suffered severe floods, tsunamis, cyclones and hailstorms. The food market had crashed and production of goods had stopped. It was a mess out here.

So naturally, people had resorted to violence to get what they wanted. Almost every adult had a gun with them. Almost every adult knew how to shoot one. Almost every adult had shot someone.

But she'd never seen a boy, a kid with one. A kid handling one with such expertise that too.

So she headed down.

Once she reached the two of them, she looked at them closely.

She knew the man. He was her neighbour.

"Hey Snow! What were you gonna do after shooting this kid? That to 5 in the morning? Didn't you just steal some rations from Mrs. Beetle from down the street?"

Snow sighed. "How many times have I told you. It's Mr. Snow for you. Look kid, I'm sorry I know you hate it when I use the gun when you're sleeping. But you're always sleeping. And this boy has some real sass. I happen to be free. So I thought I'd teach him some manners."

The boy was watching this conversation with mild amusement and disbelief.

"I don't care Snow. You don't ruin my sleep! Now go!"

He huffed and walked away muttering something she ignored.

Vani turned to the boy. He was probably a year older than her. He had green specks and curly short hair.

"So who the hell are you?"

He jutted his chin out and said, "I'm Phoenix and you are weird."

Vani gaped at him.

"So, your accent sounds different. You're definitely not from here. So why would you want to come to this shack?" She ignored his comment.

"I'm not telling you."

"Uh huh. Listen kid. I honestly don't care if you live or die but as a proud citizen of this hellhole, I must tell you. Get out of here. You won't last a minute here."

"Ok first. Don't call me a kid. And second. I've lasted here,", he checked his watch and then looked up, "for exactly 3 hours and 13 minutes."

She stared at him again.

"Ok fine you suicidal freak. Do what you want to."

And with that, Vani turn to walk away.

"Wait! I'm sorry. I mean, I'd really appreciate it if you could give me a place to crash for the night?"

She turned to him with a smirk. "Say please."

"Please.", he was glaring at her.

Vani laughed, "Come on. Oh and, put that gun inside. If my dog sees that he'll kill you."

Once she opened the door to her house, Blue pounced on her.

"Hey Blue. I found you a toy to play with. Look! It's name is Phoenix. You can do whatever you want to do with it." Vani tickled him behind his ear.

Blue lapped at her and barked at Phoenix with excitement.

"So, you never told me your name."

"I'll tell you my name when you tell me why you're in this region." she said, still fixated on Blue.

It was silent for a while. He didn't answer. She didn't expect him to anyways.

Vani pointed at the couch.

"There. I'll give you a blanket and a pillow and you can sleep there."

She looked him from head to toe. He froze under her eyes.

"You must be hungry. I'll get something."

Vani walked over to the fridge and pulled out some bread and juice.

"Why are you helping me?"

She shrugged. To be honest, she didn't know why either. But she was so bored with this life that she grabbed the only opportunity at something new.

The boy huffed. "Fine. I came here to scavenge some books I'm interested in."

Vani dropped the bread she was holding on the plate.

"I didn't ask.", she said very quietly.

This time, he shrugged.

"You do know that books are illegal now right? You could get in serious trouble."

"I know. But it's difficult to explain. I've been collecting books for more than 3 years now. I have a good collection. And now, as I'm saying this all to you, I realise how incredibly stupid I am to tell all this to a stranger."

Vani smiled and handed him the bread and juice. He gulped the juice down in one huge sip.

This boy is crazy. He just told a girl he met 5 minutes ago something that could get him prisoned.

Vani sized him up.

"How many books do you have?"

"About 7000."

She started laughing so hard. "Stop joking around kid."

He looked irritated. "Don't call me kid and yes I'm not lying."

She examined him. Looked for the tells of lying. There were none. Her eyes widened. He's telling the truth. Holy shit.

Just then, Vani decided.

"I can get you at least 1000 more books if you decide to join me."

He had bread in his mouth which all came splaying out and landed on her dog. Blue started barking, Phoenix started coughing and then Vani realised she had soup on the stove which had boiled and the heat had broken the glass and the smoke had triggered the alarm.

Vani didn't do anything. She just walked over to her room, turned around and said, "Think today. Tell me tomorrow. Good night."

And then she lay back on her bed and sleep welcomed her within seconds.

***