Chapter 1
I walk down the streets that used to be crowded. Chicago is a silent place now. When I see what is left of the buildings, I want to scream, cry. But my tears have finally dried out. I look behind me. Ace has stopped walking and is now looking up at the sky. It's early morning and the sun has just set on the horizon. This morning, Ace and I decided to sneak out of the asylum to look for our home. It has been months since we've been there. Just after the purity war, the survivors were locked away in isolation cells. That was because the toxic gases could still infect our genes, as if that's worse than dying. Last week we finally moved tot the asylum, were we can actually go outside. I walk towards Ace. "Come, we should move on." He nods and lets me drag him with me. Tears do eventually come when we walk into our street. It seems such a long time ago, going to school and playing with friends. It has been five years before the beginning of the war. Three years before they last went to school. If everything would have stayed normal, she would've been a freshman in high school now. Ace has walked on to the first house in our street, Mrs. Peggy's house. We used to fear her when young. But when we got older, Ace started to visit her. I never really understood their connection, but she was always nice, in a weird way. He walks into the garden where they always worked. I walk towards him. He looks at me, tears in his eyes. "It's gone, it's all gone. Everything is gone." I take his hands and rub them with my finger. "Hey. Hey, look at me. I'm still here. It's going to be okay as long as we stick together." I say it more to myself then to him. He jerks his hands away. "But it's not okay. Look at this, Rain. Everyone's gone." I ignore his fierce reaction and wrap my arms around him. "I know. But there is always hope, always."
We stand in front of our house in silence. We've stood here for at least five minutes now, like we're expecting the house to change back to its normal shape. Except it doesn't. The walls of the kitchen and the hall are still partly there. Even some pieces of glass are still in the place they're supposed to be. I try to move forward, it's hard. I walk toward the place where used to be the door. Inside, or what used to be inside, is a mess. I kneel and let my hands search through the pieces of brick and wood. I try to find anything that could let me remember my parents. There's not much, except old furniture and useless things, which I don't take. I walk on to the back of the house. Finally I see something in the middle of the big mess. A book. I wipe the dust of the cover and blow through the pages. A title becomes visible. And suddenly I recognize it. 'The perks of becoming an astronaut, by Grace Andrew.' My moms favorite. She always encourages us to read it, but I never did. I take the book in my arms and press it against my chest. Then I turn around and walk back to Ace.