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.
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI love the type of story you did. The kind of story in the future where there is destruction and pain, but there are some people who still see some hope. It's a good message. I wish you would've put more detail in the end. The beginning description was amazing but then you ended it abruptly. Next time take a bit more time with the end and you could have a best seller!