April 16th, The Day It Happened
“You should come pick me up.” I text my fiance, [redacted]. I wait a few minutes and watch the rain come down the window in waves. Honestly? I had never seen such a terrible storm. And it really came out of nowhere. Then I thought about our son, [redacted]. He was turning two soon. I wasn’t his favorite person but when we got along he was the light of my life.
[redacted]…admittedly, was a scary driver, much like her mother. When I didn’t hear anything back for a while I didn’t panic. She gets busy, especially with [redacted]. I could almost hear them speed eating goldfish before I got home and told them not to eat so many.
“Actually…Don’t do that. I’ll figure something out.”
I didn’t have anyone I could turn to, no family or friends in town. Maybe a nice classmates could let me crash on their couch until the rain let up?
The moment the sky shattered, for just a moment, I thought it was my anxiety. Hearing non-existent people talk in the next room over was typical, expected even. Seeing a shadow out of the corner of my eye was a typical Tuesday. This was new though. And given the reaction of my classmates it was very real. The glass behind us shattered, the world seemed to shake and scream. I threw myself under the table and held on for dear life. Some classmates yelled directions, others said it was just an earthquake and not to panic. Internally though I think we were all panicking.
I feel like I stayed under that desk for ages. Slowly as classmates filed out of the room, I went with them. I wondered where our professor, Sam, was. She said she had to get something from the COM building minutes before the disaster happened. Every piece of large debris brought fear and wonder if she or anyone else had been struck by them. A lot of students filed into the big open areas. I wonder if my friend Oblio was among them. I wonder if I know anyone else. As we cluster I feel small. What happened? Is my son okay? [redacted]? My mom? My dog and cats? I tried to call her. The phone doesn’t even connect. I text her and it won’t send. Even in this group of people, I feel so alone.
It doesn’t take us long to realize that there are hardly any faculty around. For one reason or another they’re not here. Older students, real adults that have actually lived their lives, some of them step forward and claim to be taking the road into Olympia to get help since phones aren’t working.
I notice how many students are shaken, or hurt. I don’t know how much I can help but I’m certified in first aid, and I would assume help would come. So for now, I stay, finding people giving medical help to others already.
“How can I help?” I ask them. They’re not sure. They tell me to just do what I can and direct me to the supplies we have available. One of the people I help is a lanky guy, maybe a little older than myself. He claims he got hit in the head with some of the debris and it’s clear as day, he had a nasty concussion. I ask for directions to a dark quiet place he can rest and with the help of other students more familiar with the campus, I get him there. He has a friend with him, she says her name is Lily, and the boy is Yamil. They’re psychology students. I instruct Lily to keep Yamil awake but calm. It’s the best we can do.
I try to help people but eventually it gets to a point where it feels like all we can do is sit and wait. I stare at my phone now slowly dying. I look at pictures of [redacted] and [redacted]. I check on Yamil and Lily periodically. Yamil is in rough shape and I wish I could ask my mom what to do. Around midnight, we start to wonder if help is really coming. Hushed conversations start to spread.
By two am the following day, just hours after the event groups of students come back and claim that something is wrong. They look pale, tired and confused. They claim that they kept getting turned around and there’s a thick fog preventing them from leaving. It sounds too much like Silent Hill to be true. My dad would have loved this, I find myself thinking. Some students get angry, surely just scared. There are some heated arguments, yelling, I find myself crying and I’m not the only one, I notice. People are starting to crack under the pressure.
I find myself back with Lily and Yamil, other people who need quiet calm space start to file in, some have injuries, two other come in with concussions. Some people like myself just want to sleep and wake up at home. Hardly anyone can get real sleep. My back hurts and I feel dumb for not slipping the giant bottle of ibuprofen into my bag like [redacted] keeps telling me to.
Yamil seems to have made it through the night, but I tell him and Lily to take it easy. I ask if they need anything and Lily says they’re okay, she’s just worried about her friend. I have no idea where my classmates are now and with all the commotion and people, I doubt I could point them out now.
April 17th-23
By day six, Yamil has been on his feet for some time now and finds himself recruiting people to go into the spooky mist fog forest to find a way into town. He thinks that this has been caused by some cosmic entity by the name “fate”. Lily thinks he’s lost a screw or two since the accident.
Yamil seems happy to do this though. Something about perseverance and proving our worth as people to “Fate”.
“You were able to help me get better, and you talk about your kid and fiance a lot. Obviously help isn’t coming from the outside.” Yamil started, the fifth night. “I think we should try! This school is so vast and skilled, we should be trying harder, not because we need to but because we can!” I’m afraid he’s going to find a table to stand on. When he asked me to join his group, I only agreed because I didn’t want to be alone. If he was forming a team, maybe…maybe we could at least be alone together.
In the end Yamil and Lily got six other students to join us, nine in total. All varying ages and trades. We try to gather a few supplies but honestly, supplies are getting thin. We know there are people out there, we just have to get to them.
By day seven were about to depart into the woods I guess I don’t know.
April 24th-May 4th
May 5th-May 15th
Light, a classmate of mine and a part of my group went missing with some other students. Yamil decided it would only make sense if we gathered food while exploring the forest and the fog, especially since the fog seems to be expanding into the woods a little.
I gathered some more familiar faces and we searched for Light since I found their glasses close to campus. I overheard rumors of Sam showing up on missing posters but no one knew who put them up. Light claimed to have seen Sam, but also appeared delirious from their time in the fog.
In the area were some papers, puzzles of some sort. People banded together and solved them, opening a half buried safe. The notes ….were from Sam. She was alive! Possibly lost like some of the students now. But there was hope.
With the recovery a successful endeavor, We made the decision to go back to campus.
Some students were now followed by strange looking bears. Bears that definitely weren’t there three days ago when we left. News spreads fast both by mouth and people who took up positions as town criers. Progress on the radio was picking up. There was at least…something out there.
I asked people making weapons to help fix up my bow and make more arrows, since it seemed like there was another group gearing up to leave in a day.
A day later my new group heads into the forest hoping to make progress. Mostly avoiding plants and only hunting as much as we need. Not that it was easy to over hunt at the moment. We tried to make a trail, glow in the dark rocks someone found in a classroom. Eventually we found them all gathered up in a small clearing forming circles on the ground. We ran into a myriad of other issues, bigger more aggressive deer, and random objects or small structures that induced confusion. Eventually when the fog decided to show us mercy and spit us back onto campus it was only two days later. We were relatively okay this time. To retire for the evening I finally get a meal that isn’t left leftovers or crumbs. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of eating a squirrel but I was craving meat. People say around together, preparing, conversing, singing even. Anything to stay sane during all of this. I helped people make rope with grass. After eating I asked medical if they needed help but it seemed like I was just getting in the way. I get it, it’s a stressful time. In the end I decided to just find somewhere warm to rest.
May 16th-June 1st
Rumours continue to spread across the student body. Olympia has been reached but the outlook is bleak. Things are….dire.
I’m desperate to find [redacted] and my son [redacted]. It’s been too long. Parenthood comes with self doubt but nothing has tested my resilience and desperation more than this. The student body agrees though, we need to decide how to help. Some students decide to scout out Olympia and see who in Olympia even needs help. It’s a large group composed of smaller groups, seemingly with different targets in Olympia. I’m in a group that plans on scouting residential areas, neighborhoods. I mostly want to see if anyone has seen Catherine. Did she keep working? Surely someone must have seen her if she was working. If not though….
The group travels fast. Sometimes my ankles and back hurts so bad I consider laying on the ground until it swallows me. But I need to see my son. I preserve despite my pains and aches. Olympia infact, looks terrible. But I happen to notice some neighborhood houses, even ones in HOAs look weirdly familiar. Black houses. Duane Moore-! Something familiar! He must be taking over these extra houses, hopefully abandoned ones. Or at least some of his tenants are taking over for him? Is he treating this like a personal jab at the city? Either way the houses have occupants that welcome us in. Their stories are familiar, fog, people looking into the sky, weird animals and even weirder plants. They offer us a safe place to rest while we scout out town. They ask if we have any substances on us. We don’t. We don’t have anything, let alone additional substances. Someone gets a little upset at the question but one look from the majority of the group and they calm down. It’s tense. I feel like a child again and not in a good way. Small, confused, scared. All I know is even in an unsafe place like this, evergreen students….we’re safe with each other…right? I can only hope so.
We come to find over the next few days that the neighborhoods are record of the families that have gone missing. Lone parents chat with us, children with no adults latch onto our group with ease, asking for help. We do what we can, at least taking them to adults who they would be safer with, not back to that black house. We agreed not to bring anyone back to campus and we as a small group unfortunately agreed that even meant children and family members. I still haven’t found [redacted] or [redacted].
Some families have formed small communities together, essentially reinventing villages and homesteads. Just like evergreen. Gardeners offer fruits, veggies, and breads. Homemade dips and sauces, happy to just help others, and hope to continue to do so. We thank them, and decide at the end of the week to go back to evergreen with the minimal news we have.
June 2nd-June 9th
Week, I don’t even know anymore chat
Upon arriving at Evergreen, things seem tense and maybe even concerning. Areas that people had deemed medical locations are full of people with “fog brain”. They’re stuck, looking at the sky. It’s impossible to tell if they are blind from the sun or not, they don’t react. We’ve resorted to feeding them blended foods and broths. With the recent discoveries made regarding the fog, there are rumour that there will be a possible cure for it soon. People aren’t sure how to navigate the new connection with Olympia. No one has seen [redacted]. I’m starting to think she’s in McCleary still.
I spend the next few days trying to rest, it’s been an exhausting month. In between resting I spend my time trying to find anyone who would be willing to travel to McCleary. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like anyone is heading that way. I don’t know what else to do. I follow the next group heading into town, they’re also just wandering, hoping to find people, supplies, communities. Is strange to see the stores ransacked. Pharmacies emptied. A group heads to Safeway, I search the pharmacy. Not for drugs. Not for supplies. For any hint of [redacted]. Any notes. Pictures. Anything. But I don’t find anything. I can’t find any sign of our friends, no [redacted list of names], no one. Everyone is gone. I feel myself losing hope. In the break room, I find [redacted]’s locker. Her keychain of silly little trinkets is in there. There are some cleaning supplies and the microwave in the room as well. He decide to take some of the older carts that don’t lock, some of the bins, and the microwave. The few things we can think of a purpose for. I at least had a picture of my son. A small keychain I got for her for mother’s Day after our son was born. Pictured is our son holding our fingers with his small hands. I attach it to my backpack, and when the group leaves to go back to evergreen, I go with.