I plodded past the crop rows, watering them generously but tenderly. Cindy, that reminded me of an old aunt. Yes, what a caring woman she had been, always so nice to me. This Cindy I’d met on the phone, she would be just like her, I decided.

I wonder if she might let me in for a cup of tea now, bring me out some biscuits and offer a conversation. Ask about school, about what I do for money now. I imagine she’d be too polite to let me leave, she would just let me stay as long and as long as I wanted. And all her biscuits and tea would taste so delicious, just like my aunty used to make them.

This field was all done now, and I had already finished in the greenhouse. I’d cleaned the windows and the solar panels, washed all the clothes and dishes. I had planted that new tree, and I had checked up on my ants back in the garden. Another colony was moving in, and I had to stop them killing each other. Hmph, nothing to do. I had yet to go on another walk around the fence, to check all the bird feed was still stocked up, I’d go do that now.

Now what was the name of the other one I called. Yes, Bob. He spoke like an old school friend of mine, before he would start to drink. I imagine Bob had a fiancé but wasn’t quite ready for kids yet. He was still working too many hours, and he needed to get to a position at his firm where he could fit his work around his home life. But once that happened, which he was working towards, he would plan the most beautiful wedding with his fiancé, and they would have such wonderful children. They would run around the green just by the old council houses and chase each other through the trees. And Bob would join in, even though it did in his ankle. They would win, and he would chuckle, ‘Well you ought to try running with old Arthur Itis on you!’ And then he would concede that they were much faster than him.

All the containers were full, none of the birds had come out since early morning. With nothing to do, I didn’t quite feel like reading or having a try with the TV again. So back to the phone, to see if anyone else was out there, and if not to make another story out of their lives.

Click. Click. Click. Bzzzt… I clicked in another number from the phone book. This time I tried the phone book from that modern house horribly out of place in the village by the prairie. … Ring! Ring! Bzzzt ‘Hello, you’ve reached Hope and Jake North,’
Wait, what? Hope and Jake North? That couldn’t be. What were the chances? Oh god I could t do this again, I’d already forgiven myself for them, and given them the burial they deserved. Maybe I should go and visit their graves, leave them some flowers or something.

I hadn’t been paying attention, but just now I realised. The message hadn’t ended, but it was silent. My call was still outgoing, but I hadn’t gotten the beep yet. Someone was there, on the other end.

I picked up the phone. ‘Hello! Oh my God hello!’ I could hear their breathing. After they had my voice though, they gasped. ‘John?’

I was ecstatic, there was someone else! Someone had survived, and they knew who I was, this was so-

They knew who I was. They were answering for Hope and Jake. They knew who I was! And suddenly I knew who he was too. It was poor little Adam. And he was not happy to hear me, as was I him.

‘Adam… I- I’m so sorry. How are you alive? Where are you?’

‘No. You son of a bitch. Don’t think I’ll just forgive you. I’ve never forgotten what you did, I’ll kill you for it you bastard. I can’t believe you’re still alive, for god’s sake. Of all the people who died, you’re the one who deserved to die the most. Why the hell are you still alive? Why the hell did you do all this?’

I sighed. He’d been too young, of course, to understand what I did. Apparently he still was. ‘I had to do it. I am really sorry, I tell you. I never meant for all of this to happen. But what does it matter now, now that everyone else is dead? There’s no one to remember any of it. I’ve moved on, you have to too.’

‘No. Never. I won’t move on until I know you’re long dead. Believe me, I will find you. I will kill you. There’s nothing you can do to save yourself, you sick monster.’

‘Fine. Dwell on it. But you won’t find me. No one can find me here.’

He started to laugh hatefully. ‘You’re still afraid to die. So old and with nothing, truly nothing left to live for, but you’re still every part as terrified to die as you were when you murdered my parents and the rest of them. Well, you’re close now. You’ll die soon enough.’

Oh Adam. ‘I’ll never die.’ I hung up.