April 16th, The Day It Happened
4/16/25
Dear friend,
Sorry I haven’t written in a while. I can’t sleep, I’m scared. Today started out really great, I got a bunch of cool stuff at the trade blanket, but then I went to class and the storm rolled in. The sky turned red, like when there’s a lot of wildfires, but there aren’t any. Then there was this terrible thunder, like the whole world was angry. I’ve never been awake during an earthquake here, but I guess I have now. Elle, Faye, Colin and I all hid under the table like you’re supposed to in an earthquake. I got a little scraped up on some broken glass but [redacted] patched me up with the first aid kit at home. I went with my tablemates to go get the Gobbies’ cat Tarot and headed to the HCC, which was really crowded. I found my roommates and we went to sit outside and stare at the sky, like when we watched the northern lights together. When we saw the northern lights I remember saying that I understood why ancient humans invented religion, and I felt that again but deeper, in a much more dreadful part of my soul. I held [redacted]’s hand. It’s almost 4 a.m right now, we all dragged our mattresses out to the living room to sleep, and we finished off the bagged wine in the fridge. I already took two melatonin gummies, but it’s just one of those nights where I can’t sleep. I’m too scared to go on a walk by myself, and I don’t want to wake anyone, so I guess I’ll just keep trying.
Yours,
Jordan
April 17th-23
Dear friend,
It’s been really hectic since last I wrote. To be honest, I haven’t left the apartment much. It’s been all misty, which I normally like, but now it’s just unsettling. I go to the Greenery for food with my people, I don’t go anywhere alone anymore, but I don’t have much of an appetite anymore. If all else fails, we have all of [redacted]’s canned goods and the goose and turkey jerky. We all put our mattresses back in our rooms, but we fall asleep in the living room a lot more. At least we’re finally playing some of the board games I brought with me, and I finished reading The Hobbit. People have been trying (and failing) to get through the mist. I have not been among them. People have also been radioing Olympia(?), but everything is all garbley and impossible to understand. I don’t have much else to update you on, I guess. We were talking about having a party in the woods, but there’s been a few injuries and scary stories about beasts there, which I previously would have brushed off, but now feel inclined to believe.
Yours,
Jordan
May 16th-June 1st
05/16/25 (??)
Dear friend,
Sorry it’s been a while, I feel like I always say that, but things just keep happening and it’s overwhelming and I’ve been finding it hard to find time to write. I also have brain scramblies from going into the fog- don’t think I’ll be going back anytime soon. Especially with the deer getting bigger and scarier, I’ve seen some gnarly stuff. Freaky plants have been popping up around campus, which [redacted] is really excited about, and I guess I am too because a lot of them are edible and I was getting so sick of squirrel meat. We had a workshop making weapons, which was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and I feel a lot safer armed with my new sickle, which I made partially because that’s what my DnD character has. We’ve been playing DnD more often, all of us have a lot more free time on our hands without class, and we could all use escapism a lot more right now. A little part of me is very happy about that even though the apocalypse had to happen to get it. Part of me just wants to go back to normal, but I don’t think we’ll ever truly go back, and part of me just wants things to wind up okay and for me and my friends to be safe. I think everything’s going to be okay. Maybe in a few years when you’re cleaning your room you’ll find this and remember the time almost fondly, I hope so. Maybe I don’t have to worry about getting a job anymore, who knows.
Yours,
Jordan
June 2nd-June 9th
Dear friend,
Things continue to be weird, before I wouldn’t have thought I could live in a situation like this but I guess you don’t always know what you’re capable of before you have to do it. I still haven’t ventured back into the fog, and the people coming back are getting weirder and weirder. We’ve been trying to figure out how to help them, but not much luck yet. I’m optimistic though, I have to be otherwise I’d probably go insane and rip all my hair out. In other unrelated but awesome news, a lot of the animals in the woods other than the deer are much friendlier, they come right up to you, let you pet them. Once again the apocalypse sucks, but it is pretty cool. Silver lining, I guess. I made friends with a murder of crows, they follow me around sometimes, sit outside my window and wake me up in the morning, they even bring me little trinkets. Yesterday one of them brought me a little necklace. I wonder who it belonged to before he gave it to me.
Yours,
Jordan
P.S I’ve been thinking about making my crows little bracelets so I can tell them apart and actually name all of them.