Thursday, May 19
This morning when I woke up, I hoped it had been a dream. I hoped that the asteroid really hadn't hit the moon and there weren't any crazy tides and that everything was normal. But I couldn't pretend for long.
Elisa wasn't sleeping in the trundle bed, so I assumed she had gone downstairs. I went down, where I saw Elisa, my mom, and Courtney sitting at the table. I looked up at the time on the microwave, but it wasn't there. I mean, the microwave was, but the time wasn't. It wasn't on the oven either.
"We lost power," my mom said. "Late last night, right before I went to bed. There's no word on when we'll get it back. And school's cancelled."
"What time is it?" I asked.
Mom looked at her phone. "9:13."
"Have your parents called yet?" I asked Elisa. "Like, either of them?"
She shook her head. "Not yet."
"I wonder why the power's going out," Courtney said. "It's got to have something in the moon. This morning on the radio they were saying that there's been widespread power outages in every state and country, but they're not positive why. I just hope it comes on soon. Thursday is my laundry day."
"What else happened?" I asked. "While I was asleep. Did the tides recede? Did things get any better?"
"Better, worse," my mom answered. "Some places the tides pulled away but in others they sprung up. Los Angeles didn't get anything last night but as of this morning they've been battered. Ground communication with Miami has ceased since 11:30 last night. Z100 must have been flooded, because there's no station for it. What else is new?"
"And the supermarkets are low on food," Courtney added. "I went to Shop Rite earlier this morning to get bagels because the kids were hungry and I didn't have anything. There's people in there taking everything they see."
"Really?" My mom said. "Why's that?"
Courtney shrugged. "They're nervous about everything now. That the moon could destroy crops somehow and there's a possibility of food shortages even without natural famines. I heard it on the radio this morning."
"That doesn't sound like a small deal," I said. "Shouldn't we get food?'
Mom bit her lip. "Maybe we should go to the supermarket later and get some food. There's no harm in getting some. Do you want to come, Courtney? And Elisa, we can swing by your house to see if your folks are home and they just couldn't call because there's no connection."
"Okay," Elisa and Courtney both said, almost simultaneously.
I went to toast my bagel but there was no power, so I couldn't. I decided to have cereal, and I got the milk out, but Mom gave me a warning.
"Keep the refrigerator closed as much as you can," she told me. "They said the power outage could last as long as a week, and we don't want to loose everything in the refrigerator."
So I had my Cheerios regularly. Maybe the world wasn't really ending if I was having Cheerios.
After breakfast, me and Elisa went upstairs to get dressed (she borrowed my clothes because she hadn't brought any when she came over last night.) It was about 75 degrees outside, cooler than it's been the past few days, and the sky was a gloomy shade of gray.
"I think it's going to rain," I said, to nobody in particular.
When me and Elisa went back downstairs, we saw that Mom was on the phone and Courtney was sitting alone. "Liam and Daniella don't want to come," she said. "They're tired. Didn't sleep very well last night."
"Ok," my mom said on the phone. "But as long as you're safe. Ok, I'll tell them. Yep. Alright. Love you."
"Who was that?" I asked.
"Your father," she replied. "He's fine. He was coming home last night when the meteor hit. He was on the bridge and everybody totally freaked out. They closed the LIE and the Belt because there was flooding in some areas. He got a room at some hotel in Queens. The roads haven't reopened, so he doesn't know when he'll be home, but he just wanted to tell us he was fine."
"Good," I said.
We all got into the car and started driving towards Elisa's house. The roads were surprisingly full, but it seemed like everybody was heading into town, towards the supermarket. From what I could see, electricity had been lost pretty much everywhere. The streetlights and the stop/go lights were out, but we didn't see any police cars coming when there had been a few accidents. I guess they had more important things to do down by the shore.
Mom turned up the radio. "...and a string of severe storms is causing evacuations of areas devastated by waves last night due to the asteroid that hit the moon...reports of thousands of more power outages across the area, including a total loss of electricity in Manhattan and nearly 90% of LIPA's grid out this morning...Con-Ed has reported 385,000 outages and has said that they are trying to fix outages as best as they can but the outages are 'out of their control'..."
When we got to Elisa's house, we got out of the car and knocked on the door. Nobody answered. We knocked again, and then went to the back door, but still nobody answered. We went back to the car.
"Maybe they're like my dad," I said. "They just couldn't get home last night because the roads were closed."
The rest of the drive to the supermarket was silent. I think Elisa was expecting her parents to come home, so she was a little bit frazzled when they weren't at her house. It's been more than 24 hours since she's seen either of them, so I could see how it could upset her.
We pulled into the supermarket parking lot (which was packed) and Mom stopped the car. "Ok, I got fifty dollars bills," she said. "The power's out so there's no way they're going to be checking every single item. Here, Jessica, take some," she said, handing me an envelope full of $50s. There were five of them. I was holding $250 in my hand.
"Elisa, take fifty dollars," my mom said, handing Elisa a fifty. "If you're mother doesn't get home until tomorrow or the next day or however long it is and the supermarkets are already closed or out of food, at least you have some. Courtney, you have money, right?"
Courtney nodded.
"Alright. I'm going to get canned foods and soup, in case the supermarkets are closed for awhile and we can't get a lot of food. Jessica, you get other stuff. You know, some junk food, but mostly things like Band-Aids, Aspirin, tampons, etc. Don't go to crazy on the cold foods. I heard a rumor that the power's going to be off into the summer and even if that's not true it's safer to stay away from them, anyway. Oh, and get bottled water. Elisa, Courtney, you guys get whatever you think you'll need or want. Everybody ready?"
We all nodded, and got out of the car as if we were soldiers going into battle. There were a ton of people running into the supermarket but we just walked in. It was near 80 degrees but the sky was a frightening shade of gray and it was very muggy. I assumed those 'severe storms' were headed our way.
"Okay, good luck," Mom said, as we all took carts (that were running low) from the front of the supermarket.
Inside the supermarket was like a hellhole. The electricity was out but the emergency lights were on, which ominously lit the market with dim yellow lighting. There were people running around and snatching things off shelves. There were cracked eggs and spilt milk cartons and crushed produce on the floor. It was as if a tornado had ripped through the supermarket itself.
"I'm going over to food," Elisa said, and we separated by the door.
I decided to start by going to the produce section. It had been ransacked but I figured getting some fresh food would be better than just canned stuff did the supermarkets close like they said they were going to. I got some tomatoes and Romaine lettuce and Iceberg, too (Dad loves Iceberg; he says Romaine tastes like he's eating leaves.) Then I moved on to the junk food. I didn't go crazy, even though normally I would have. I got some Oreos and Chips A'Hoy and Lays potato chips and a few boxes of cereal and some crackers, and then a few boxes of pasta even though we had a lifetime's supply in the basement. Then I moved onto the cosmetics/pharmacy section (where I passed Courtney getting a few cases of water, which Mom had said she'd gotten covered) and got going. I loaded up on the tampons; Playtex for me but Tampax for Mom; I made sure to get the fat, light-adhesive Band-Aids, and I got aspirin, Benadryl, Motrin, and a few other drugs. By the time I was done, my cart was overflowing and I resorted to carrying two of the little red plastic bag-like things to get as much as I could. I didn't wait in a very long line.
"How much do you have?" The lady at the register asked me. "I can't check all of that. Nor do I want to."
"I have 250," I said.
She inspected the carts and the red bag things. "Give me 175," she said. I handed her $200 and she gave me 25 in change. It was difficult wheeling the cart and carrying the bag things out at the same time, but at least I knew that I was getting way more than $175 worth of stuff.
Mom and Elisa were already at the car, unloading their things. I had seen Courtney back in the supermarket, checking out.
"You did good," Mom said, looking impressed. "I don't suppose you have any money left?"
"I do," I said, giving Mom the $75.
"Wow, great," Mom said. "I'm going to go back in and get more stuff. You two stay here, and help Courtney." We saw Courtney wheeling her overflowing cart across the parking lot to the car.
Just as Courtney got to the car and we opened the trunk to help her unload the food, it began to rain.
It started off kind of light but as we unloaded the last of the bags, it began really coming down. And then came the thunder. It was loud, even through the safety of the car, and scared me even more than the first bright flash of lightning. Within minutes, it was a full-fledged thunderstorm.
"Wow," Courtney said. "Severe was right."
The thunder boomed, louder than I think I'd ever heard it before. The car said that the temperature had dropped from 81 degrees to 72 degrees in only 15 minutes as the storm bashed down. The lightning flashed and the rain pounded down and the wind picked up. The wind really picked up. The car began shaking. I couldn't see anything outside because it was raining so hard. A tree branch fell and smacked against the side of the car, causing us to scream.
"I think it's a tornado!" Courtney screamed, through the loudness of it all. "Cover your heads!"
I don't know how that was supposed to help, but we all did it anyway. More things smacked against the car (which I really hoped were branches and rocks, not people) and the thunder boomed even louder. The lightning flashes were as little as ten seconds away from each other but you could barely notice them, anyway, because it was raining so hard. The intense storm lasted for what had to be almost an hour. Usually strong summer thunderstorms are only about twenty minutes, but it was definitely an hour.
Although the extremely intense storm had ended, it was still raining pretty hard and the thunder was still loud, but the lightning strikes were less frequent and there wasn't as much wind by the time Mom came back. She was soaking wet.
"I was caught in the supermarket!" She said, shivering as she came into the car (the temperature outside had dropped to 58 degrees). "I took more food after I checked out, though. It's going to be tough to get all of this inside."
"Let's get going," she said. "I want to dry off."
"Can we drop by my house again?" Elisa asked. "You know, just to check if my parents came back or something."
"No problem, sweetie," my mom said, and we began to drive away from the hectic supermarket.
The storm was still going pretty strong (minus the tornado part) by the time we got to Elisa's house, but she insisted she walk to the front door and knock, anyway. We could see that a lot of trees had fallen down around the area and that there were power lines strewn across the place.
As if we were going to get power back anytime soon.
Elisa came back quickly, soaking wet, and sat down in the seat. "They're not there," she said.
We drove back home. Mom and Elisa went inside to dry off so I was elected to help Courtney get all the bags back to her house. Liam and Daniella joined after we dropped off the first load, so things sped up after that. But by the time I got to go back to my powerless house, I was just as wet as them.
"And I can't even take a hot shower," I said as I peeled off my wet clothes and changed into my dry sweatpants and t-shirt.
It rained the rest of the afternoon. The power stayed off. We got no new word on how things were everywhere else in the world. No new word from Elisa's parents.
No new word from Dad.
Friday, May 20
When I woke up this morning, Elisa was still sleeping. It must have been early, because it wasn't very bright outside but since the power was off, I couldn't tell what the time is. I only woke up because I heard a lot of commotion downstairs.
Mom was alone.
"What are you doing down here?" I asked her. "I thought there was a party going on it was so loud!"
"I'm nervous," Mom said. "Really, really nervous."
"Why?" I asked. "Is it Dad? What happened to him? Why isn't he home yet? Did he die from floods?"
Mom shook her head. "No, thank god. I got through to him about an hour ago. But I also got through to Grandma. And she hasn't heard from Aunt Sarah or Uncle Patrick since yesterday morning."
"What?" I asked, confused. "I thought they left their house to stay at Grandma's on Wednesday morning!"
"They did," Mom replied, looking exasperated. "And then yesterday morning, they went back to see if it had survived. They left Rachel and Natalie (those are their kids) back with Grandma when they went back. They weren't really supposed to, but they did, and they didn't come back. And they're not answering their cell phones. This is bad, really bad."
"You don't think..."
"I think it's a possibility," Mom said, knowing exactly what I was thinking. "The tides are crazy. They're crazy. I don't know what they were thinking, going back to their house ONE block away from the water. I think high tide must have came when they were in the area and they couldn't get away. I really do."
"But what about Rachel and Natalie? Who's going to take care of them?"
"Grandma, I guess," Mom replied. "I mean, maybe we're being a little bit too negative. I heard the tides pulled away from Miami some. Maybe they just couldn't get home because the roads were closed."
"We can hope," I said.
"We can hope," Mom repeated.
Elisa came downstairs soon after that. She said she didn't want breakfast and she just wanted to go home, so we went right away. We drove through town, which was pretty empty except for an occasional car, electric trucks, and an abnormally high amount of fire trucks and ambulances. In about ten minutes, we were in Elisa's neighborhood and we pulled up to her house. We knocked on the door again. Nobody answered.
"Really, Tom isn't home either," my mother said, to comfort Elisa. "Your parents are probably just stuck in the city, or something. Don't be worried. Is there anyway to get inside, to get clothes, or something?"
Turns out Elisa's parents keep a key to the side door under a mat to the basement door (clever, I guess.) So we went in, the door that led into the kitchen.
"I feel like we're breaking and entering," I said, snickering, but my mother nor Elisa seemed to find it funny.
Elisa's house was eerily perfect. It was just as it had been left on Wednesday afternoon when she'd come over. The power was off and since it was 77 degrees outside, it was 77 degrees in the house, too, which made it feel balmy and gross. Mom and I just stood there awkwardly, as Elisa packed a bag of things.
We went back into the kitchen, and Elisa stopped to look at a note that was hanging on the refrigerator. "My brother's coming home, I totally forgot!" she said, tearing the note off. "May 23rd. May 23rd. When is May 23rd?"
"Monday," I said.
"He's coming home on Monday!" She said, smiling. "Well, my parents will probably be home by then, but it's good to know I'm actually sure that he's going to come home Tuesday.
On the way home it began to rain. May showers bring June flowers, I guess. We turned on the radio and began listening. There was more updates on how things are in the rest of the country. Tsunamis, earthquakes. Schools in New York state are to reopen on Wednesday, May 25, if they can. Monday, May 23 will be a national day of mourning, and Tuesday, May 24, will be a state-wide clean up day.
When we got home, Peter started yelling at Mom for leaving him home alone when there's no power. And then Mom told him we wouldn't have to go to school until Wednesday, and he got over it. Typical.
The rain fell throughout the day, but nothing else exciting happened. There wasn't any thunder, and the temperature had dipped down to 66 by 4:00 and by night it was only in the low 50s. I was chilly, so I wore a blanket. But of course, I had to sacrifice a blanket for Elisa.
Saturday, May 21
Peter woke us up today.
"Mom went out to see if the supermarkets are still open," he said. "We're going to Grandma's for lunch. Everybody's really nervous. Aunt Sarah and Uncle Patrick still haven't come home. Do you think they're dead?"
"I don't know," I told him. "Nobody knows. All I know is that it takes like four days to travel forty miles."
"The ones with the kids?" Elisa asked. "They're dead? Oh my god!"
Elisa's been my best friend since kindergarten, so she's met pretty much all of my family. She knew when the babies were born and she's met them because Aunt Sarah and Uncle Patrick both work full-time, so Mom watches them on occasion, and Elisa's been over when she has.
"We don't know if they're dead," I said. "We hope they're not. I guess will find out later. Do you care if you come to Grandma's later? We can stop by your house to see if anyone's back yet."
Elisa said she didn't mind, and Mom came back soon after that. We left, driving down the pretty much empty roads. Elisa's house was empty (which wasn't surprising) so we got onto the highway. The lane going towards the city was jammed to the max, but the lane going out east (towards Grandma's house) was virtually deserted. Eventually, the highway was closed (the sign read "PAST EXIT 38 CLOSED FOR FLOODING) but Mom knew the back route and we were at Grandma's within ten minutes.
Grandma's house didn't have power, that was the first thing I noticed. The windows were open but it still felt muggy and humid and gross, especially since half my family was crowded into her house, which is relatively small.
We went into the living room, where all the cousins were (with the exception of the babies and the Smiths, for whatever reason they couldn't come). We usually hang out in there to watch TV, but because there's no electricity I guess we were just in there to dish out what we'd heard from our parents.
"I heard the whole south shore is completely gone," my cousin Brian said. "That's why Aunt Sarah and Uncle Peter didn't come back on Thursday."
"It can't be completely gone," Peter said. "I mean, can it?"
"I just want my mom to come home," my 10-year-old cousin James said.
"Wait, what? What happened to Aunt Hope?" I asked his older sister, who's 17 and is named Julia.
"She's fine, she's just stuck in the city," Julia told me. "She got stuck there Wednesday night and hasn't been able to come back. Your dad too, right?"
I nodded. "And Elisa. Neither of her parents are home yet."
The rest of the night was pretty depressing. We ordered from one of the extremely few restaurants that are open (they pretty much all closed on Thursday or Friday) but Mom wanted to get home before it got dark because there's no lights on the roads, so we left around 7.
Now we're home. We stopped by Elisa's house again to see if her parents were home, but they weren't. Dad wasn't home, either.
None of us want to say it, but we're all starting to think they're never going to come home.
