Simon's Wonder Chapter 2

I know my mind is changing, but I'm already to far gone to know what to do. I just want people to know that if I do things... if I do things that hurt anyone, please, please, forgive me! Just watch over me until I can find this labryinth in my brain and regain my sanity! And then, maybe Betty my princess, maybe you will love me again. Please love me again, Bet-

My thoughts are inturrupted by a rattling noise, followed by an enormous explosion.

Then a small line of really brown water comes rolling toward me. That's weird. But I reckon it must be some strange full-moon high tide. I go upstairs so I don't get wet.

There is a quiet rumble to it, like those white-noise generators. The water is getting higher and higher, and then it destroys my friend's cement bungalow. Next, my front door caves in, and then water is coming up the stairs.

This was the last point my brain worked for a long time.

I try and throw a mattress out the window to float on, but the water is rising too fast. Out the window I climb. It's all going so fast: It's faster than conscious thought, and by the time I am on our second-story roof, the water is coming out the window. i jump.

Did I jump too early? I scream Betty's name, but the crashing, roiling water mutes me.

I can't hear anything. I scream and scream until I get hit by something and pulled under. I pull myself through trash and wood to the surface and off I go.

Ahead are trees wrapped in flotsam, and as I look, a man is struggling to get free of it. As I pass by at thirty miles per hour, I realize he is impaled on a piece of wood and can't even scream.

Something triggers and I swim. I swim to avoid the trees that will trap me. It seems that I am atop the crest of the tsunami, which is less like a wave than a flood.

From on high, I can see the water hit buildings, then rise, then watch the buildings collapse into piles of concrete. I swim to avoid these. I can hear lots of bombs dropping in the distance.

Left and right I paddle, looking ahead the whole time, trying to figure the hazards.

I was busy seeing the weird things, like massive diesel trucks being rolled end over end. Or the car launched through the second-story wall of a former luggage shop. Or the person high up in a standing tree in a lurid orange thong. Or the older foreigner who got stuck in the wood and steel wrapped around a tree, and then his body torn off while his head remained.

I shut my eyes to block the images out, but squinted them open to try and swim to land, or any standing building. The closest was an partment building. I swam to it and climbed onto the roof, drawing a map in my mind.

The military must be dropping those nuclear bombs. Those must be the weapons they were talking about. Perhaps the countries we're fighting got a hold of the formula and they started dropping bombs on America! That must be it!

That's when the visions came again. Blurry and confusing though, and I could hear several whispers that were too hard to make out. Visions of lonliness, sorrow,and a large hollow feeling. I could distantly hear Betty calling my name, but it was the crown. I ran towards her, but she dissapeard into snowflakes, carried away by the wind.

"B-Betty? No! Come back Betty!" I cried.

When the visions stopped, I woke up in a city's ruins. There were still burning buildings and broken things were everywhere. I stood up, dusting myself off. My clothes were dry, everything physically intact, though I did have numerous fleshwounds.

I walked on forward, looking for anything. Nothing seemed to be left. This town must have been hit by a bomb. I paused, listening for someone, anyone anything. . What was that noise? A survivor? Someone in distress?

I walked, but quickly gained speed as I saw them. By now I was running through the wreckage of the town,.

She was a little girl, about four or five, wearing a red dress under tattered overalls. "Shhh, don't cry," I tried to reassure her, but she continued. I couldn't blame her, she had probably just faced a trauma.

Looking for something to comfort her, I turned to face an old toyshop in ruins. I stepped over the wreckage, picking out a toy that seemed the least destroyed. I was a pink bear with button eyes and long limbs. I gave it to her, and she looked at me with grattitude, taking the bear and hugging it.

"Now, why don't you tell me your name?" I asked.

"Marceline." she replied.