It had been a beautiful morning so far in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The sun shines brightly, finally thawing the city after such a harsh winter. The dramatic change in temperature had everyone in high spirits. And the nearly eighty degree weather pastes a smile on her face.
Lumina Starr, visiting her hometown on a business trip was spending her last day humming along the streets before returning to Scottsdale. She had stopped by the farmers' market on her way to work at her mother's office. She had come to discuss the future plans of the Arizona headquarters, before building was finished.
"I'll take a pound of strawberries and three star fruits." She says to the elderly woman at the cash register. The woman smiles, a scar lining her neck. Lumina knows what a struggle it can be to revive one's life, and adds. "And a loaf of this bread, please. What kind is it?"
"Cucumber herb." She says adding the loaf to the bag. "Ten dollars and twenty cents please."
Lumi hands her fifteen dollars and tells her to keep the change. She steps back to turn away and knocks into someone.
"Oh!" She turns around to apologize. "I'm so… sorry…" She recognizes her old friend's face immediately.
"It's been a long time." Felix says quietly in his deep english accent.
"It's been…"
"Three years?" He ends my sentence for me and takes my bag from me to carry. "Where are you going?"
"I was actually on my way to my mom's office. Care to accompany me?" I ask although I believe he had already made that decision.
"I don't see why not." He smiles warmly.
The two walk down the street making small talk occasionally. They walked slowly as neither had any particular time they had to be anywhere. Both minds were too focused on the question that was bothering them both.
"Felix…" Lumina says quietly.
"What's up?" He asks paying more attention to the beautiful day.
"What happened after I left the hospital?" She inquires.
Felix sighs heavily and stretches before he proceeds with an explanation. "It was… boring, to say the least." He watches the ground as he walks. "It was so quiet sometimes that it was maddening. And as soon as everyone came back… It was time for me to leave."
"The last time I saw them was the funeral. I feel like, well, it's just been too long." Lumina say as the office doors become visible.
"Then do something about it. Where have you been? We've waited for you to find us again."
"I'm sorry… what have you been doing all this time?" She asks in attempts to change the subject.
"I've been taking classes at the U of M here. I've been studying neurology this past year."
"Are you planning to go into the science field of ZCCM?" Lumina questions.
"ZCCM?" Felix asks with confusion.
"Zombie Care, Conflicts, and Medicine." She explains.
"Oh, yeah. I've been thinking about it for awhile, actually. I'm going to work at STARR research labs." He nods.
"So in other words you're going to work with me."
"Precisely. And what have you, Lumina, been up to all these years?" He asks.
"I moved to Arizona, skipped college and landed a job at STARR. I've been designing the Phoenix headquarters ever since." She smiles as we reach the doors of the research labs.
"When is your lunch break?" He asks before I can say anything else.
"I have meetings until twelve." She mentions.
"I'll be here." He winks in a cheesy fashion and she rolls her eyes. That boy is something else.
Eight months later
"That's it. Everything is ready." I smile at all the work I had accomplished. The house was all decorated and ready for everyone to come over. I didn't expect many people, just a small crowd. I couldn't see myself without them any longer, this life is too quiet.
Felix is sitting on the couch fiddling with some sort of object that resembles space junk. I figure it's best not to ask what it is or even how he found it. If it proves to be important, he'll explain later.
"You know, I think relationships are lame." He says without looking away from the cube like object.
"Says the fiancé."
"No, no, hear me out. I like you. Grown quite used to you actually. The word love comes to mind. But I'm saying other people. Why do some people pointlessly flaunt themselves towards others that they hardly even know."
"I'm not seeing how this is relevant." I say confused but not very.
"It's not." He says simply. "But I could never imagine marrying someone I had only known for a few months."
"Yeah, remember how much we hated each other when we first met? I must have been such a pain back then."
"What do you mean back then?" He asks chuckling but smiling to let me know he's joking. "You've always been a sore pain in the arse, that's for sure."
I punch his good arm lightly. The doorbell finally rings and in comes the first guest.
"Lumina!" A cheerful voices sings. It's Phooka, no doubt. She hugs me tightly and then rushes to Felix.
"Where's Phooko?" I ask.
"Huh?" She turns to me confused. "How the heck should I know?" As my brain tries to process the fact that the twins are not only separated but not sure of the other's whereabout.
And then she drops another heavy load on me.
"Josh will be coming in a little bit." Wait so she knows where Josh is but not Phooko.
"We drove separate," They usually drive together?
"He just was waiting for his sister to arrive to watch the kids."
"K-kids...?"
"Well yeah, of course. Jeremie and Savannah." She says like I'm supposed to know these kind of things. "Don't you remember all the christmas cards we've sent?" I think back to the pile of mail that my personal assistant had yet to sort through. I make a mental note to scold him once I get back to work.
"Oh, yes of course!" Felix buds in. "I think Lumina and I were just so excited to see the kids, we were surprised you hadn't brought them."
The doorbell rings again, I'll have to thank Felix later for covering me. I go to open it as a flood of old friends enter. Nearly four years later and it seems as though hardly anyone has changed.
Phooka and Josh were married two years after returning home. They had two children, Savannah and Jeremie. They live in Eastern Texas with two dogs, Amy and Clifford. Phooka had decided to become a psychiatrist and counselor. Her cheery attitude made it easy for her to communicate with patients, and they trusted her advice. Josh became a veterinarian. This way he could work with animals almost as great as his dear Amy. The two still have a long future ahead of them, seeing as neither are that old. It makes for an adventurous lifestyle in the end.
Mason moved back home to Wisconsin. He lives in a large cabin on Lake Winnebago. He has one dog named Parker. He lives alone. But he is often visited by Lina, who's sometimes annoying presence manages to keep him company. With the lack of excitement in the world as of late, Mason likes to keep his adrenaline up by riding his dirt bike through the less inhabited parts of Neenah Wisconsin.
Lina on the other hand has been keeping up a very interesting life full of experiences. Her somewhat intimidating appearance and height has put her in the career of modeling. Although she spends most of her time away from the studio she doesn't necessarily hate her job. She owns two houses, one in New York City and the other in Menasha, Wisconsin. She adopted a four year old girl from Japan named Naomi. When she found out that Mason had moved to nearby Neenah, she couldn't help but take Naomi to meet him. Since then Lina has visited him regularly whenever she's in town.
Eve, after settling things with her family back home, and finding her biological father, Nel, moved to Italy. She lives in the city of Venice, with the convenience of the city at her doorstep. She decided to become a writer, to tell the world of her unique experiences during the apocalypse. She has one cat named Kiki, a tabby cat with a very lazy personality, much like Eve herself. To avoid becoming a cat lady, Eve tries to spend most of her time outside of her home, and rents it out to her room mate.
Logan, Eve's room mate, had decided to set out on a long journey to find his family. After many months of searching, he was able to find his two younger sisters. Neither parents were able to live through the apocalypse. After returning home to Italy, the quiet and inverted Logan found himself finally talking about his past, as it seemed it was the only way to escape it. Now he works as the owner of a weapons company that is popular all throughout Europe, and trying to work with STARR to open up a new branch in the US.
Phooko and Phooka had finally separated for the first in their lives after returning home. He was only able to escape Kelly for so long before he found himself actually missing her. And now he's stuck with her. But he's happy this way. He's been able to start his own engineering and technology business, which is working hard to make the future as bright as possible.
Kelly resides with Phooko in Tennessee and their three children. Who happen to be triplets. What once was double trouble is now triple trouble. Levi, Lacey, and Lucy, two girls and a boy, are know for the polar opposites. Kelly works at home as Phooko's assistant, and a part time comedian.
Rose and Bennett live in Las Vegas, as promised, Rose was able to reconnect with some of her Mafia friends. The mobster's daughter was able to build an entire empire. Rose may be the badass of the century but she still has a heart of gold. Her and her husband, Bennett had a large wedding that was as traditional as it gets. They now have one son named David. There's never a dull moment in their home as David had adopted his father's humor and his mother's courage. It makes for an interesting family to say the least.
Tom lives in England as a professional soccer player. Sports weren't the main priority during the revolution after the apocalypse, but Tom and a few colleagues managed to get it back in business. It was a way for everyone to feel at ease, as if things were back on the right track, and for now they are. But people make mistakes, and Tom was prepared for another disaster at any moment.
Grace is a doctor in Brazil. Her real home is in Hong Kong. She travels between the two places quite a bit, so she decided it would be best to get a pilot license and buy her own jet. She's married to a Swedish man named Otto. They've adopted two kids from Brazil, and live happily in their multicultural home.
Drew lives as a born again car mechanic in Little Rock, Arkansas. He prefers the quiet life along the river where he can fish with his friends and… who am I kidding? He freaking died and came back to life and you think he's just living quietly as some boring mechanic? No! He lives in Las Vegas and works alongside Rose and Bennett. Drew is one classy mother fucker, the type of guy who spends his casual wednesday night in a tuxedo gambling at the nicest cassino. He lives in a large mansion just outside of town. Single and with no children, Drew definitely is not living any sort of "quiet" life, he's living it to the fullest.
And as for Felix and I. We live in our small mansion in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was once owned by my great grandmother, or at least that's what my mom says. Felix and I plan on getting married next month, although the thought sickens and revolts us both. Labels are not what either of us want, but it was taken upon my mother to have the ceremony anyways. Oh well, at least it will be an experience.
Even with all these things going on around us, it is still difficult to forget the past, maybe even impossible. People cope in their own ways, for some, it is only to forget and act like nothing ever happened at all, for others, memories are what keep those alive that failed to live. So much happened in such little time. The events changing our lives forever. We can only hope it never happens again.