Sunrise(Araya Villari) Sunrise

By: Araya Villari

I never thought that I would be writing this. In fact, I never really thought that I would be alive at all after these 6 dreadful years. My whole life changed one night when my dad woke me up at 1 am. I was half asleep when he dragged me out of the bed and tried to explain what was happening. In all my 14 years, I had never seen such a serious look in his eyes as he tried to explain something called a Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun. He knew about these things because of his radio hobby. Mom and I thought that he was crazy when he had bought an old tube radio some years before. He had said that it was the only type of radio that would work in the event of a large electrical pulse from a nuclear war. All modern day technology would be useless he had said, unless it was somehow shielded. There had not been a war, but none the less, earlier that day, everything had stopped working. Cars, radios, TVs, computers, anything that used any kind of electrical components was useless. Everyone was confused. Mom and I had spent several hours that evening outside talking with our neighbors. I finally got tired and bored. I decided to lie down and hope that things would be back to normal the next morning. Not dad. He stayed inside, removed the battery from his car and spent the evening trying to hear what was happening by listening to the old tube radio. Most of what he heard was cryptic military stuff. They were discussing things that regular citizens were not supposed to know about. He heard that in the areas of the world where the sun was still shining like Asia and Europe people were dying. Apparently 65 percent of the population of the world was already gone when he awoke me. Thank God we were lucky enough to get the news about this during night, so we'd have some time to get prepared. The whole world had no electricity, no communications, no way of knowing what was happening. A very few in the military knew. My dad knew. If we didn't find some way to shield ourselves from the deadly rays of the sun, we would die too. The world as I knew it was already gone!

This was all happening so fast and all of a sudden I felt a lump in my throat and began to cry. Dad tried to stay calm but told me that we had to move quickly. I needed to pack all the food that I could carry along with some clothes and put them in my backpack. He added one more thing. Ask God to help us on our journey! I remember mom was fussing but moving fast. When all three of us were ready we loaded up our bicycles and began. We had flashlights mounted on our bikes and some of our neighbors laughed and asked us where we are going in such a state. Dad said we were going to visit a friend and that we would be back as soon as we could.

Before we had ridden a half mile from our home my mom stopped. She could barely breathe. She was always a little overweight and had asthma. We all began to cry because we knew what this would mean. She said that she would rather just die safe in her bed. After all, she said, maybe dad was wrong about what he had heard. Maybe tomorrow will be like any other day. Everything would be fine and we would all have a big laugh about it. From the look in her eyes I could see that she didn't believe what she was saying. She knew that dad was right. She also knew that she would just slow us down and then all three of us would die. Dad and I were fighters. We all held each other and I cried more than I have ever cried in my life. We said our tearful goodbyes. My mom and dad held a long and deep kiss with tears flowing down their cheeks. Mom knew we had to keep going so she got back on her bike, gave me one more hug and kiss, waved and slowly began pedaling back the way we had come. I was too confused to begin to understand what was really happening that night. Maybe that was a good thing… because I never saw my mom again.

Dad and I rode quietly for about half an hour, tears flowed down our cheeks in the dark. The only sounds were the dull droning of our bikes against the pavement. I had never seen a night so dark. It must have been cloudy as I could see no stars. Without streetlights or other man made lighting, the world was only as large as my flashlight shined.

Occasionally, we’d see a candle light in a house or a fire in someone’s yard, but that was all. Eventually the silence was broken by my dad’s voice. I guess he felt that he had to talk and let me know what he was planning. He told me that our destination was ultimately to make it to downtown Cincinnati to find shelter from the sun.

I had so many questions. I began by asking, why was this happening? He answered that he didn't know. The sun probably did this every couple billion years, but he wasn't sure. I also wanted to know what we were going to do this first night. There was no way that we could pedal to downtown Cincinnati by sunrise. He reminded me that he had a friend named Jack who lived about 7 miles away. Jack was like my dad and had made even better preparations for an emergency. His house was built during the Cold War and had a deeply buried underground shelter that might shield us during the day. Dad mentioned that many years ago some people had prepared in case of a nuclear war. Dad had concluded that the sun must be putting out massive amounts of "Gamma rays" following the initial CME that knocked out all electronics the day before. The Gamma rays were radiation that would kill everything that was not protected. He hoped that Jack would allow us to spend the next day in his shelter. If we survived the day, then the next night we could make it to Cincinnati. From there, dad hoped to locate a building that had a very deep basement that would allow us to remain safe from the harmful radiation of the sun. The secret, he said, was to have lots of stuff above us so that the gamma rays cannot penetrate. That was our only hope. It was getting late, probably around four AM I guessed. I then realized how difficult life was going to be without any electronics. No watches, no internet, no cell phones, no I-Pods… nothing. All at once, I thought about my family, my friends, all the people I loved who I would never be able to say good bye to, or even see again. I prayed that dad was wrong about all of this, or that maybe I'd wake up to find it was all just a bad dream. But the pain in my legs from all of the pedaling reminded me that it was all too real. This just brought a new flood of tears to my eyes.

Finally dad said that we had less than a mile to get to his friend’s house but he was worried about time. We could see a slight glow beginning to build in the east and we knew that sunrise was coming soon. I pushed myself so much my legs felt like Jello. By the time we got there I could feel the heat already beginning to build in advance of the rising sun. It was then that I knew that dad’s horrific prediction was right. We both knocked frantically on Jack's door. At first there was no answer. Finally, there came a commotion and a very agitated Jack appeared at the door. Dad quickly shared the information that he had and Jack did not question him. We told him that he and his wife Barb needed to go out to the shelter now!
He hurriedly awoke her and we all stumbled our way out the through the back tunnel that led to the stairs into the shelter. Dad and Jack grabbed as much food and water as they could quickly find and followed behind us. For this first entire day we huddled in the shelter. It was strange seeing this type of building with thick walls and ceilings located in someone’s back yard. At first, it was dreary but fairly comfortable. Slowly as the day progressed the heat began to rise. After a few hours it became unbearable. We took turns drinking a little water, but I was sure that we were going to die simply from the heat. I could not imagine what it must have been like for the people outside on the surface. To pass the time we talked and made plans on what we were going to do at night fall. By mid day we were all soaked in sweat. There was no where to go. Had any of us gone up the steps to the outside we would have met instant death from the radiation, not to mention the heat. That was the longest day I had ever known. We realized that there was no way we could remain in this shelter for another day. We would die just from the heat alone. Dad and Jack insisted that we eat something to keep ourselves nourished. I tried to get some sleep but with everything that was running through my head there was no way I could sleep. On my mind most were thoughts about my mom. I hoped that somehow, some way she was okay. I thought about all the amazing and loving times we had together. She had made me the person I that I was. With that thought I scooted closer to my dad. As hot as it was, he must have known what I needed. He put his arms around me and held me tight. I knew that if there was anyone who could do it, he was the one that could protect me from all the bad in the world.

At some point, it began to cool off just a little. Jack had brought along an old wind up clock that indicated that the time was 8:30 PM. Sunset was at 8:15 so we hoped that it should be safe to go outside. Jack went up first, followed by my dad. They came down and indicated that is was safe. We packed up what we could, found our way to the garage and got all of our bikes together. The house was unbearably hot. When we finally opened the garage door I had hoped to feel some fresh air. I was amazed that it was still well over 100 degrees and this was at night. I couldn't even imagine the daytime.

We all collected food and other necessities and tried to make the final plans for our next journey. My dad warned us not to look too closely at anything that we might see along the way since it might be disturbing. We began our fairly short trip to Cincinnati. The first thing that I noticed was actually quite beautiful. The sky had cleared and along with the most amazing starry night that I had ever seen, there was a strange green glow extending from almost over head all the way to the northern horizon. Jack pointed out that this was the famous Northern Lights, only tonight they were farther south than they had ever been. The rest of the journey was horrific. As we approached populated areas we began to smell death. Here and there we spotted bodies on the road, in yards, on sidewalks, everywhere. It looked like most dropped right where they had stood. Many were in groups and I thought about how unusually hot it had been the night before. With no electricity, this cruel trick of nature would have lured most people outside in hopes of staying cooler. It was obvious that the sun’s deadly rays killed whomever it found in an instant. I doubt that any even knew what hit them. I lost count at 300 bodies, but there were many, many more. A few times I had to stop to vomit due to the stench that now seemed to grow worse with each pedal of my bicycle wheel.

About 2 hours after we had set out, we were crossing the bridge over the Ohio River. In the glow of the Northern Lights I tried to look below. I couldn't believe my eyes. There was not a drop of water where the river used to be. That was when it finally hit just how intense the heat must have been to dry out the entire river in one day. I wondered what must have been happening with the world’s oceans. When we got into downtown Cincinnati dad and Jack decided to let us take a break. Barb and I rested and drank some water while he and Jack took the flashlights and investigated. When they returned, both looked like they had seen the inside of hell. Dad said that they found no one alive, not even inside the buildings. Jack said that it looked like those inside may have lived a little longer, seconds maybe, but all were dead, just like the ones in the street. I felt sick again. Dad suggested that we try to break into one of the taller buildings in hopes that it would have enough structure above, and a deep enough basement below, to accomplish our goal of finding shelter from the sun.

Just about the time that I had given up all hope, we found our first person who was still alive. He called out when he saw our lights and we rode to him. He was middle aged with a dark beard and seemed as happy to see us as we were to see him. We all shook hands and he introduced himself as Robert. He said that he knew of a place that was safe and that we would all be welcome to stay. I looked at my dad and even in the dark; we both knew that Robert might be our savior! Robert guided us to a large building that was by no means a sky scraper. He explained that it was one of the Federal Government Buildings and that it had a very deep shelter many levels below ground. He was familiar with the building because he had performed maintenance work for the government. We all exchanged what little information that we knew about what was going on in the world. Robert was impressed that we had learned enough to survive but he had one piece of information that we hadn't even thought about. He knew that some in the government were still alive, but they had no intention of helping us survivors at all. Everyone was just going to have to fight for themselves. I remember being so angry! That there were people who knew about the sun and how it would kill and they didn't try to warn anyone. At first I was mad at the government, but then I thought about us. We knew and we didn't tell everyone either. How wrong was that! I told this to dad and he reasoned that we could not have saved very many and after all, how many would have believed us? But the government could have at least tried to warn people. Even if everyone was going to die, they could have said their goodbyes and made peace with God. I have thought about this a lot over the past 6 years and I can’t decide what would have been right. If people had been told, where would they have gone? How much crueler might that have turned out? There were many times that I had wished that I had not known. I could have died in my sleep with my mom that morning and my struggles to survive, and the horrors I endured every single day afterward could have been avoided.

The five of us now descended down 14 flights of stairs until we finally got to the shelter. We saw that there were 4 more survivors as well. One was an older, African American man who seemed pretty sick. His name was John. Next, I found a girl about my age named Kourtney. She was very nice to me and I was glad to find someone that I could relate to. Then there was a woman named Sharon who was in her 50s and seemed OK. Last there is a middle aged guy named Bob. He was a bit strange but I was happy to have mostly nice people with us. I knew that this would be my home for a while. None of us had families left in the outside world. I was grateful that we had found a safe place for us to stay. Once I settled in, I found my eyes getting heavy. Even though I still had racing thoughts, I realized that I hadn't slept in two days. I once again scooted closer to my dad. I ended up falling asleep in his arms with my stomach still growling for food.

I awoke screaming and crying. In my sleep I had shouted for my mom to run! In my dream I was in my old house and could feel the heat. My mom was sleeping in her bed as the sun was rising. I tried to wake her up, but she would not wake up and when the sun shone in, I watched her body just disintegrate. I woke up in tears. It was so awful. It was one of those frustration dreams where you can never change things and you knew what was going to happen. Dad tried to calm me down but I could not go back to sleep. I was afraid that I would have that nightmare again. Over the years, I have had that dream many times. It is always the same and I guess a part of me will never forgive dad or me for leaving mom to die.

The first day in our new shelter was much better than the day before. The heat didn't transfer down and the ground insulated us. We formed a plan that we carried out most every night afterwards. Each night we hunted for food. We broke into stores, apartments, homes, wherever we could find the things that we needed to survive. Several small stores had stashes of food that was not spoiled along with batteries for our flashlights. During the day all 9 of us would share the food that we had collected the night before. We tried to find items that didn’t need to be heated in order to eat them. For Kourtney and me, this became our nightly job. Each in our group had specific jobs to do. We always traveled in pairs so we had a back-up, just in case. Every night when we left the shelter, there was always the stench of death. It still gives me chills just thinking about it. Despite the smells and other horrible sites, my nights with Kourtney were my favorite times. We would find a place that looked promising and take turns kicking out the glass and collecting whatever we could find that was still usable. Eventually we found a little grocery cart which we even decorated. We rolled it around so we could bring back more stuff. Sometimes, we would cheat and have little picnics while we were out. We always laughed like we were really getting away with something. Each night we would return, share our items and then I’d spend hours talking with Kourtney. We would sit in the dark and share stories about our former lives. Sometimes we would both cry and hold each other. She told me how she had lost both her parents in an accident that first day. Robert was her neighbor and he had taken her in until they could find her relatives. Those relatives were all gone now as well. I realized that she had gone through much worse than me even though my heart still ached when I thought about my mom. I had one dad, one friend and six strangers in my life.

We all did just about the same thing day after day, week after week. Meanwhile, I could tell that John was getting weaker and weaker each day. Dad said that he must have gotten a lethal dose of radiation before he had found Robert's shelter .It saddened me to see him slowly go because he had treated me so good. Besides dad and Kourtney he was my favorite. Bob and Sharon were okay and I realized that they were strange but good people. Robert was great, but always was working on something that he was sure would make our lives better. We all had become something of a family because of our need for each other. One morning John simply didn’t wake up. The adults took care of the burial while Kourtney and I cried. We had seen way too much death for girls our age.

We took showers only on those rare occasions when it rained at night and mostly we all smelled of sweat and cheap deodorant. There was no tap water and we learned quickly to conserve our bottled water. Kourtney and I became more like sisters through the times we had together. Most nights we made our journeys to find food, eventually having to travel further and further from the shelter to find a store or home that we hadn't already robbed. I lost about 20 pounds in the first year. My baby fat was replaced by muscle. I didn't realize it, until one day when I looked in a mirror while in a home we had opened. When I shined the light into the mirror I didn't even recognize myself!

We all survived many terrible things. The worst for me were the insect swarms. About a month after the event, we all began hearing a strange buzzing sound coming from outside. That night as we approached ground level the buzzing became deafening. We were able to see outside the sealed entrance that there were millions and millions of insects everywhere. We could not leave; they would have eaten us alive! We lived on small amounts of food, eating just twice a day. We didn’t know what we were going to do when we ran out of food. But 13 days later the bugs were gone, just as suddenly as they had arrived. We didn't know where they went. Dad said that they had likely eaten themselves out of their food supply and moved on. The good thing was that all of the dead bodies were now gone, eaten by the swarms. Left behind were only bones and teeth. Slowly the smell of death faded as well. The first night after the swarms left us we all had a feast and made up a new holiday that we laughingly called “Bugless Day”.
Sometimes, the days were terribly lonely even with my new family. There was so much time on my hands and all I could do was think. It was almost enough to drive me crazy. We would all make weird games to pass the time trying to wait for the night. We knew that eventually we would have to be able to go out in the daytime. The fact that the bugs lived for several weeks meant that things must have improved. We had noticed that the nights were getting cooler. We just didn't know if the radiation was still occurring. One night, I found a live mouse on one of the steps of the shelter. I named him Snuggles and brought it home for a pet. Kourtney found a cage for it on one of our nightly excursions. Dad was the one who thought about using my Snuggles as an experiment. I cried, but I realized it was for all our good. We gave Snuggles plenty of food and water and left him outside in his cage. When we came out the next night he was still alive! That was good, but we knew that one of us would have to survive the daylight as well. Robert volunteered to be our first daytime human. It had been nearly two years that we had lived in the shelter. I worried about him all day. He was a good and kind man. Kourtney looked at him like a father and I could see it was killing her. That evening Robert came down the steps with a big grin on his face. He was fine! Our lives changed that day forever.

The next morning, we all remained upstairs for the sunrise. It was difficult to see since our eyes had adapted to the darkness but after about an hour it was as good as it ever was. We danced and hugged each other. We made more plans and started travelling each day. It was almost the opposite of our previous life. We would travel during the day, collect food and gear and then settle down for the night in a house or whatever place we found. Each of us went to our old homes first. My dad found my mom’s remains in the bedroom and buried her in the back yard. He was never the same.

He and I ended up travelling to Dayton, Ohio where we found some more survivors. Eventually we started linking up into larger groups with more brilliant people. There was one man who created cars that could run from spare parts he had collected. Each group eventually got one. We’d siphon gas from the thousands of stalled cars left on the roads. We traveled and tried to help anyone that we found. These weren't many, but when we found someone it was like a miracle each time!

One day I met a boy about my age. He was 17 and I was 16. His name was Michael and we hit it off on our first day. He had been through a lot of the same things that I had. Eventually, Michael asked me to marry him and I said yes. Dad was happy. He said that it was the beginning of the next generation. Now we have a child and I named him Little Robert after the man who saved us and risked his life for all of us. I still see Kourtney from time to time and we are still friends. She and I will always be close, but never as close as those early years in the shelter. I heard that Bob and Sharon passed away. I never heard how it happened. I have lost touch with Jack and Betsy, but I have heard that they are still roaming the Tri-State trying to find survivors. Robert lives close by, making stuff. We see him on holidays and we still celebrate "Bugless Day" together. As for my dad, he has tried to stay in our old home, but he agonizes about having left my mom behind. We visit him when we can. He is getting more and more confused each time that we see him. He sometimes talks about mom like she is still alive. It breaks my heart to see him so sad.

It is because of Little Robert that I decided to write this story. I wanted him and his generation to know where they came from. Michael is a wonderful man and a good father. Sometimes at night, he will hear me sobbing in my sleep. He always gently wakes me up and explains that it was just a bad dream. We hold each other through the night and I think about my mom, my dad and the world that is no more.

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