[SHORT STORY] The Rationing: Part V of VI
by Frances Rey
I tear off a piece of my clothing and cover as much of my nose and mouth as I can. I feel my way along the Parish walls and soon find a large, sturdy hook attached to the second floor’s pillar. I use one of the wooden pews and the hook to boost me up the pillar, and Bracing the sides of the wood with my legs and arms, I inch my way up to the frieze of saints. Maybe if I go up on higher ground, I’ll find Mama.
I hoist myself upon the stone frieze and cling to the statue of Saint Peter, pausing only to look for Mama among the stampeding masses. The Peace Officers had closed us in by parking their armored trucks against every possible way out. “Mama!” I call out, choking tearfully on the gas. “Mama!”
But Mama was deaf. She can’t hear me, no matter how loudly I scream. She’s gone. Bitter tears reach my eyes at long last. I choke back the sob forming in the back of my throat and turn to the saints. “I’m sorry for climbing onto your platform, saints,” I whisper. I can’t hear myself over the agonized chokes and screams. “Please have mercy on my mother.” I use the stone statues to climb up to the ventilation shaft. The screws securing the metal grating over the shaft have rusted so terribly that it broke when I pulled on it.
“I love you, Mama.”
I brace myself and enter the dark shaft, with nothing but my hands and hearing to guide me through its maze. The gas hadn’t reached me yet when I found daylight. I squeeze out of the ventilation shaft, stumbling onto the roof of one of the ramshackle houses. The screaming is muffled by the thick walls of the Parish. when I hear them. Then I see them, the Peace Officers, standing in the streets of Project 7. Waiting for the screams to stop.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am Frances Pia Alexy C. Rey. I think of myself as an optimistic and passionate writer who likes to challenge and further develop my writing prowess.
I won the 2018 Essay Writing Contest of APEC Grace Park West, composed the graduation song of APEC Grace Park West for the batch of S.Y. 2018–2019, and have written fictional short stories and poems that focus on the human nature and condition.
I also enjoy watching and evaluating movies; listening and singing along to music; and experimenting with poems and narratives.
