Dad,
If you see this, just know that I held down the fort for as long as I could.
I scrunched up the letter in my hand, letting it squeeze through the gaps between my fingers. He’d been gone so long I wasn’t sure he was coming back, and my hope was draining. I decided to look after the shop while he went out for more supplies, although I doubted there was much left outside for us.
The shop, once bustling and filled with guests every fifth of November, was now empty, with only me and a few mice that scuttled from corner to corner for any sign of food. Its rich history cemented those bricks together, lived in the floors and lived in me.
Scraps of my letters surrounded me and I shoved them all to one side to get some sleep. I was on my own now, and it was time to face up to it. I grabbed dad’s prized possession in my jacket pocket for comfort, feeling the cold, dense metal lay a shield over my whole body, remembering the feel of it in each of my fingers.
A deep, weighty sound fed from the front door to the floors underneath me. It shook me as I realised it was one of the infected who ruled the streets since the outbreak. I didn’t know whether to go out and look, fight for our shop, or keep as quiet as possible, then all at once more sounds began to follow and group at our front door. The mice had probably blown my cover.
You said you’d be back soon, but I’m not sure how much longer I can wait.
I got up and walked into the shop floor, where those monsters started banging, scraping and scratching at the windows and doors to feast on my flesh. Each step dragged me closer to their aching screams and eager eyes. The click of the lock echoed in my ears for longer than usual, and I ran to the stockroom, the sound of their scraping steps following me.
The metal of dad’s lighter seemed to freeze over my fingers in my pocket, acknowledging a new ownership. I ignited it and the flames spread, climbing up the fuses of the fireworks and firecrackers as I ran for the back door. The infected were daunted by the sudden burst of light and were hit from every angle, fireworks shooting off the walls of the packed room. Their faces contorted and displayed a pain I was not used to them showing, which is when I witnessed the uncanny expression of my dad as he fought between the shoulders of the others. He was now one of them, and I couldn’t let myself open the door. I just had to watch.
I want to wish you a happy fireworks night. Even though we can’t set any fireworks off like you said, we can think of all the great times we had before this.
