The Genesis Game

Chapter 1: The Last Day of the Rest of Your Life

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The rain was heavy outside as the wind shook the two-story house that Michael lived in with his mother and much younger sister. With the windows rattling loudly, Michael lay awake in his bed, staring up at the dark ceiling as he tried to force himself to fall back asleep with all the noise, but the more he struggled, the less likely sleep was to reach him until finally, fed up, he kicked the blankets off and flicked the lamplight on his nightstand on.

Feeling chilly, Michael grabbed his shirt off the ground and put it on before walking over to the window to look out into the night. Though he couldn't see anything through the torrent. "Some storm," he whispered to himself as he backed away from the window as gooseflesh spread on his arms with unease.

Looks like I won't be getting any sleep tonight," Michael thought as he rubbed his face with a hand and walked across the carpet to grab his backpack from where he'd left it next to the door and dropped it on his bed. After sitting down Michael pulled out his favorite notepad and a textbook, figuring he might as well work on an essay due at the end of the week for Philosophy 3324. It wasn't his favorite class, but the work was enough to finish once he set aside time to get it done.

Staring at the prompt, "In 1500 words or more, explain what it means to be alive." Michael struggled to find an answer that he thought fit. I mean I can just spitball something, but the professor will know I didn't put any effort into it. Michael started to rifle through the pages of his notepad, looking at the random drawings and sketches he had done and the out of context notes he had taken that didn't make any sense to him after the fact.

In the end, Michael made it all of 10 minutes into the assignment before calling it quits. Not because he suddenly felt drowsy and could nod off, but because his mind was racing and couldn't focus, the sound of the storm raging outside kept his own sense of tension elevated.

Putting his school stuff away, Michael reached into the night stand and pulled out a special deck of cards, referred to as a Workout Deck and got on his hands and knees as he pulled the 1st card and began doing exercises.

An hour later sweat ran down Michael's back as he knocked out the last few sets of reps. He had drawn an Ace from the deck early and was already sore from doing a max set rep. Even though it was cold, he'd still had to turn on the fan overhead to keep him cool, a fan that creaked and g.r.o.a.n.e.d from age. Eventually Michael worked through the rest of the cards until finally collapsing in exhaustion once his final set was finished as his muscles twisted and burned from the exertion.

The lamp began to flicker as the storm outside got worse and the walls started to shake. For a moment Michael was sure the window was going to shatter and quickly wiped his face off with his shirt and opened the door to check on his sister since his mom was probably pulling a double. The sound of glass breaking in his sister's room sent him into reaction mode as he ran down the hallway only to find the door to her room was locked.

His sisters frantic sobbing and screams from the other side of the door made up his made as he tried to break the doorknob off with a kick but instead managed to break the door by leaving a small hole that he was able to force his way through.

"I'm here, it's ok, I've got you," Michael yelled as he ran over to his sister and hugged her tiny body to him and started to carry her out of the room as she clung to him. His feet slapping on the wet carpet from water that was pouring into the room from where a tree branch had fallen and broken the window.

The chill of the grave hit him like a sixth sense of doom as the storm intensified again. A terrible ripping sound followed as the walls started to buckle under the weight of a falling tree. With no time to spare, Michael tore his screaming sister off of him as she frantically tried to grab back ahold of him and pushed her through the hole in the door as the tree and part of the roof collapsed on him, crushing him, but not killing him instantly. His last thoughts as the light in his eyes dimmed, look away Abby, you don't need to see this. Be safe.