Medicine for Morgan

by, Taylor Richard

                “Get back here you rodent!” The old man ran down the street, waving his wooden cane in the air like a maniac.

“I wish I could sir!  But you know things don`t work like that anymore!” Marilyn raced down the sidewalk, carefully avoiding and debris in her way. The big brown sack on her back bounced up and down, clinking things around making lots of noise. Marilyn cringed with every loud noise. She knew that if too many people heard her, then she would have a problem. She turned right on a corner and went down an ally.

The ally was dark and dank and she knew it wasn’t the safest route home, but many people in the city don’t take the allies because of the amount of thieves, including herself. She didn`t like living the life of a thief, but after the war broke out two years ago in 2048 she had no other options. 90% of the world`s population were either killed in the war, died of starvation from lack of supplies, or caught diseases and died. Marilyn’s family were some of those unfortunate people. The only ones left alive were her and her younger sister, Morgan. And the other 10% of the population anyways. The rest of the people were just left behind to scrummage.

               

By the time Marilyn got back to the shed that she liked to call “home”, it was almost completely dark. The only light on in the entire city came from building fires and the moon. Most nights Marilyn preferred the light from the moon. It was her safe haven.

               

Marilyn unlocked the many locks she had on the door and walked in as quietly as possible so she didn’t wake up her sister. She opened up the brown sack and set everything that she stole from the old man on the counter. With everything that she put up there, she felt more and more guilty. She used to go by a rule that she couldn`t steal from old people or children, but things got harder and harder. You can`t really steal from a man who is 40 years old and twice your size and weight. There are two kinds of people in this world: the strong and the weak. If stealing from the weak means keeping her younger sister alive, then she`ll do anything.

               

“I`m glad you’re okay.” Marilyn heard a voice and flinched, getting ready to attack whoever was there. “Relax Marilyn, it`s just me, Morgan.” Marilyn looked closely and the short, blonde hair, big eyed girl. She was only 12, but stress had made her look at least 17.

“Morgan, what are you doing out of bed? I told you that you couldn`t leave until you got better.” Morgan looked at her older sister and laughed, confusing Marilyn.

“You already know I`m not going to get better.” Marilyn`s heart sank. She knew it was true but she had to have faith. Marilyn very quickly put away the stolen items and led her sister back to bed.

“Get some rest.” Morgan said before hugging her younger sister and turning off the lights. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

Another morning came and Marilyn woke up feeling depressed. She didn’t know how much longer her sister had to live and she knew that she needed medicine but didn`t know how to find it. She decided that she was going to go on a walk to clear her mind and figure something out.

The sun had just barely come up. The sky lit up with multiple colors like pink, red, orange, and yellow. There was hardly and clouds in the sky and Marilyn was met by a light warm breeze.  It pleased her to know that not everything was completely horrible. Suddenly, two great big army jeeps appeared to be heading towards the city. Marilyn ducked behind a few bushes and watched them as they passed by. She saw them stop their jeeps and step out onto a sidewalk. They all looked very healthy, and they carried big guns with them. The hairs on Marilyn`s arm stood up. She continued to watch them and soon realized that these men must be rich in supplies. That would mean they probably had the medicine Morgan needed to survive. 

Marilyn`s heart raced as she stepped out of the bushes. She knew that trying to steal from these men would most likely get her killed so she decided to just ask them. As she walked towards them, she noticed that none of them were talking and they all had the same hard look on their faces. “This is not going to be easy.” She thought. As she got closer, one by one the men started to notice her. She struggled with keeping her head up but she wanted the men to think she had more confidence then she actually had.

“Um… Hello.” She said as she finally got close enough for the men to hear her speak. For a while, they just watched her in confusion, wondering what a small 17 year old girl was doing on her own. There was nine men all together, all of them looking like they were at least 30 and older. “I couldn`t help but notice how big your jeeps are, which had to mean you had more space to put things… like supplies.” The men just stood there and stared at her. “So I was wondering if maybe I could borrow something.” They all just stood there in silence, but this time with little smiles on their faces, they were looking around at each other and all of a sudden, they busted up laughing.

“You… You want us, to give you something of ours?” They all stopped laughing for a split second, but were right back at it again. “Why don’t you just go along now? You aren`t getting anything from us.”  Said a tall obnoxious man.

“Please sir, look my name is Marilyn and I-“ The man cut her off.

“I don’t care what your story is little girl. Goodbye.” Marilyn put her head down and headed towards the city. When she was sure that they couldn`t see her, she hid in a half way demolished building and waited. She didn`t know exactly why she was waiting, but she was. She waited for about a good three hours until the jeeps came rolling through. Just as they were about to pass, she ran out and jumped on the back of the second jeep, and prayed that they didn’t see her. After about five minutes of driving, they didn`t pull over so she knew she was in the clear. Her arms were getting tired of holding on and her legs were cramping up from sitting there so long, but she wasn`t about to give up what she already started. Although, she still didn`t know what she was doing.

Finally, the jeeps came to a stop and very quietly, she stepped off the jeep and crawled underneath. The men circled the jeep and opened the back, where she had been holding onto. They began carrying boxes into what looked like an abandoned house, but she could see people moving around in there.

After a while, people stopped coming outside and she decided the coast was clear. She army crawled out from underneath the jeep and stretched out. She felt relief that she could finally move around. The door to the house swung open and Marilyn leaped into an old empty trashcan. Marilyn was beginning to think that this was all just a bad idea. The men who walked out were older and carried heavier weapons. About five of the men started walking down the street and the other four got into a jeep and drove away. Marilyn hopped out of the trashcan and peeked through the window, from what she could see, there was no one there. She walked to the front door, looked left and right, the slowly turned the doorknob clockwise. Surprisingly, it opened.

The insides of the house were even fouler looking then the outsides. There was trash everywhere and yellow paint that was obviously once white, was peeling off the wall. It smelt like a sewer. As she advanced further into the house, she realized that is must be where those men were planning to stay. She saw pant buckets, mops, sleeping bags and carpets all in one corner. Most of the bedroom doors have been nailed off, but only one wasn’t. Marilyn headed into the room to find totes and totes full of food, clothes, and medicine. After debating with herself for a while, she decided that she was going to only take the one thing that she needed: medicine for Morgan.

She found an old trash bag and started grabbing the items that she needed. The bag was definitely way too big for the little supplies that she needed, but she decided that it would be fine. Footsteps entered the house. Marilyn froze. She looked out the window to find that the jeep had returned. She continued to throw medicine in her bag as quietly as possible.

“Do you hear that?” a deep scratchy voice asked. Marilyn stopped.

“It`s those darn raccoons again, Boss. Should I grab the stick?” An overly excited voice replied. The deep voiced man that was referred to as “Boss” sighed.

“I guess, but please try not to get blood on the floor! We’re trying to clean this place up not destroy it even worse”  

Suddenly, the man cheered and she could hear him running up the hallway. As soon as he found that stick, Marilyn was dead. She panicked.  She ran over to the window and tried to open it but it wouldn`t budge. Her heart was racing.

“Found it!” The man yelled. Marilyn was so panicked that she grabbed the wooden chair by the window and smashed it in. She jumped out the window and ran all the way home.

The next day, the men found her. They shot at her and Morgan until they left their house. Morgan and Marilyn didn’t know where to go so they just started walking. They walked until they saw a barn. They barn was big and red. When they went inside, it was filled with supplies. Medicine, clothes, food, shelter, etc.

Marilyn decided that the best thing to do would be to offer the men back supplies that she had stolen from them and more. When she got back to the city, she gave back to everyone that she had stolen from. Marilyn and Morgan went back to the barn and vowed to never steal again. Eventually, Morgan got better, and life in 2050 wasn`t so bad after all.