#the sun exploded

(I was thinking (as you do) about my characters. Surprise, seen as I haven’t had the time to write with school and a new kitten and such, but I do still think about them and get ideas, so I thought “hey, my miniscule following might want to take a look at my ideas, just write them and post them!” If not to post, then for idea generating right? Yeah.)

IDEA: (So, Oakly and Carmen, my babies. What if they lived in 2022 as roommates? Lets find out~)

ALSO!! FEEL FREE TO REQUEST THINGS LIKE THIS WITH OAKLY AND CARMEN!

~Oakly Lake’s POV~

I rolled over in bed and glared at the alarm clock. 1:52 am. I had a class that day at 9 and I knew that I was gonna hate myself for not being asleep by now. Daisy grumbled at me from her place by my feet as I sat up and stared into the darkness, blinking away tiny colorful stars in my vision at the quick movement.

I slipped out of the warmth of the covers and grumbled like Daisy had when my bare feet met the hardwood of the bedroom. I stumbled in the dark to shove on yesterday’s sweats and tiptoed out into the main room to wander into the kitchen and flick on the cat shaped lamp Rachel had gotten me as a joke present last year. Jokes on her, I actually loved it.

Squinting when my eyes watered at the light, I maneuvered to the electric kettle and winced at the sound of the water streaming out of the sink. I click it on and lean on the counter to close my eyes and listen to it boil.

I jump when something brushes up against legs and look down to see Salem headbutting my calf. I lift her to my shoulders and let her settle in my hood like the werido she is before turning to grab down a ceramic bowl from the sparse collection of dishes we have. 

I shuffled over to the cabinet to grab one of the many top-ramen packets I hoarded (Carmen doesn’t like them and says that when I get put in the hospital for a blood clot later in life he’ll laugh in my face) and ripped it open to dump it into the bowl. Picking out the flavoring packet and sprinkling it on top of the dehydrated noodles, I listen as the electric kettle shuts off and wander over to get it.

Just as I’m pouring the boiling water over the noodles another light flicks on and I splash boiling water over my hand. I let out an abrupt yelp and dash for the sink. Thankfully the burn wasn’t really a burn to be worried about since the water already cooled off some, but I still glared at my half-asleep roommate.

He blinks at me sleepily, then at Salem peeking out of my hood, then at my half filled ramen bowl, then at me again. “What are you doing?” He croaks.

I refuse to believe I find his sleepy voice attractive. “Making ramen.”  I whisper back.

Carmen blinks at me again. Then glances at the clock, “At 2 am?” His voice is incredulous. I nod. We stare at each other for a long moment then he looks up at Salem again, “with my cat?”

I shrug, “She came to find me.”

He looks down at my bowl, “that’s not food.”

I shrug again, “I know.”

“It’s going to give you cancer.”

“Uh huh.”

“...I’m going back to bed.”

“Good idea.”

The masterlist for an original story; The Sun Exploded!

Summery:

Follow Oakly, New Yorker and newly graduated with a degree in biology, gets stuck in the Canadian wilds in a snow-pocalypse with only his cat and basic TV survival skills. What could possibly go wrong?

----------Chapters----------

-June 17th 2036

-June 20th 2036

-June 22nd 2036

-June 23rd 2036

-June 24th 2036

----------Drabbles----------

-Not Food

June 20th 2036

Current mood: Frustrated

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m absolute balls at hunting. I figured that out after the second time I went out. I sunk nearly 2 feet deep into the snow after pounding a hole out through the roof (it's covered with a tarp now) and to no one's surprise, after snowing for 4 days in blizzard fashion, everything was covered. 

My cabin is the only one around for a few miles, and it was surrounded by forest and open barren wasteland. I figured a lot of prey animals must be buried in the snow, 14 feet deep as it was, so I stood around in the light snow for a while and kind of just stared. 

Then I sat in the snow and I thought about what I was going to do. Honestly, I’m surprised I‘m holding myself together so well looking back at my track record. I’m lonely enough to get a cat (no offense to Daisy), and I was in counseling for 5 years during college which I only just finished off. I took a trip out to Canada as a celebration in finishing my schooling and brought Daisy along for company. 

I vowed there, in 14 feet of snow, that I would make more friends if I found any out here. I realize after warming up and with Daisy on my lap that it's probably not much of a chance, especially with my luck, but what else am I going to do here? Sit with my thumbs up my ass and whistle a pleasant tune like everything is fine? Like hell. I did not graduate college as a prodigy early to die, snowed in on some remote mountain top in Canada. 

For now, at least the generator I found works.

June 24th 2036

Current mood: Grumpy and wet

Current temperature: 10° Fahrenheit -12° Celsius

Carmen is nice. And he manages to be funny through writing and the little doodles he has in the margins of the pages, it's honestly one of the cutest things I’ve seen. And that's saying something  I have Daisy right here.

I just opened the note he left this morning. I couldn’t stay at the tree since it started storming in the middle of the night, but I refused to leave the note hanging in that wind with the possibility of it ripping and flying away. I think I’m getting desperate with the idea of having someone to talk to. 

Daisy is glaring at me, and I think it's because I haven’t given her the treats he left for her again. She’s tired of lunch meat. I’m tired of barely unexpired foods. We all have our problems Daisy. I’m telling Carmen about the lunch meat this time, maybe he’ll feed Daisy through notes.

On the way back to the cottage I slipped on some ice under the snow because I’d forgotten the snowshoes (yes I’m an idiot) and was promptly buried in the building powder. I spent 20 minutes struggling onto the top of the snow and by the time that happened I had a cold sweat and was panting like I’d run a mile. So, despite how much I’d love to have a shower, the frozen pipes have condemned me to boiling some snow in the pot on the fireplace and scrubbing myself with a washcloth.

Carmen tells me in his note that he still has running water, but the heater doesn’t work so I don’t envy him entirely. I’ll write in my new note about me slipping, because it's the only funny thing that has happened to me in a while and I think he’ll find it funny too. 

My hair is still dripping and I don’t want to smudge my writing.

June 23rd 2036

Current mood: Despondent

Current temperature: 12° Fahrenheit -11° Celsius 

I drank the last of the orange juice today. It makes me feel depressed since I'd brought two gallons of it to the cabin when I first got here. I’ve been stuck here for… a week now. I just hope that there won’t be a point in the future where I tell you I've been here for a year.

Enough with the depressing shit that leads me to sobbing into Daisy though. Turns out the other person within 10 miles of barren, snow wasteland is named Carmen. Apparently, he's lived around here for a few years, but he wasn't expecting a freak snow-in during the middle of June, Canada or not.

He told me so in the note I picked up on the tree this morning, along with a plastic bag of cat treats. He also said that if I turned left from staring straight at the tree then I could probably find where he lived if I wanted to walk the 10 miles. I didn't, not without Daisy anyway. You also might find that walking in a straight line when everything looks the same is hard. Who knew.

Here's what I wrote in response (I've decided to recount for whoever finds this):

Stranger,

Carmen is a nice name. It's nice to have human contact after a week of solitude, not that Daisy isn't amazing company.

She appreciates the treats wholeheartedly, I'm assuming you have a cat as well because of them.

It's good to know that other people in the area were more prepared than I was for something like this to happen, and it's good to know you're doing well and that your generator still works. 

Did you manage to catch anything in your other traps? Are you in contact with any other people in the area? What do you think the chances are of us being airlifted out of here?

Clearly, I’m losing my mind out here because I rambled on for the rest of the page about my daily life, Daisy, and other mundane things. I suppose human contact is what makes me so eager to share my life story with a stranger.

(Oakly and Carmen are back again! This time with a sick cat)

Salem was sick. Or at least- she was acting sick. Maybe she was acting out for attention, like Daisy did sometimes when Oakly was sucked into school projects and other such nonsense- according to her cat brain.

But, chances where that she was actually sick considering that she’d thrown up on the dorm room floor that afternoon right after Oakly came home from his classes. He remembered himself pausing in the doorway and freezing- because something smelt wrong. 

Not like when Carmen tried to bake lasagne after some… dubious lessons from Rachel, but something rank. Then he spotted the cat vomit. And Daisy sniffing at it. Rushing in with a loud “no!” Oakly scooped up his trouble-making tabby and frowned down at her large, innocent green eyes. “Did you eat a hair tie again?” Because that had happened once.

Daisy blinked, but said nothing- because she was a cat. Sighing to himself, Oakly hefted his chunky cat into one arm and skirted around the mess into the main room. Salem, Carmen’s cat made a weird sound that seemed like a cough, but in cat form as he turned the corner into the living room. There was another pile of vomit. And Salem licked her lips as she blinked up at him.

“You realize what this looks like.” He told the cat. Daisy had started purring in his hold, happy her human was home. Oakly thought this was a lot like what would happen if someone had a couple of toddlers. 

Fumbling with his other hand, Oakly dug into his pocket to fish out his phone- scooting over to Salem to gently push her away with one of his feet as he squinted at his phone contacts. Finally finding his roommates number, he dialed and shoved the mobile between his ear and his shoulder. Using his now free hand, he scruffed Salem - much to her annoyance - and dragged her into the bathroom.

The phone clicked on right as he was swearing at her. 

“Oakly?”

He paused, “uh,” He and Salem stared at each other. “Hi.”

Carmen snorted on the line, “you called me.”

“Right, yes.” Oakly used his heel to close the bathroom door and sighed as he let down Daisy to grasp his phone again. “Salem threw up.”

There was another pause on the line, “...okay?”

Oakly blinked. Salem blinked back. “I think she’s sick. You have the vets number. I don’t.” He needed a nap.

“Oh.” There was some shuffling; “do you think she’s sick? The vets expensive.” Carmen’s tone was slightly worried now, about his cat- or about the vet bill- Oakly didn’t know.

He squinted at the lithe black cat as she started grooming herself. He froze when she gagged. “Yes.” His voice had cracked on the word, “I’m going to be scarred for life.” He whispered as Salem heaved. 

June 22nd 2036

Current mood: Optimistic

Reader.

Clearly there is something wrong with me if I’m contemplating leaving my only real safety and warmth for a ‘maybe’.

If only I’d studied psychology instead of biology for my Masters, that would have gotten me nowhere out here. I’m thankful for what I studied now. Especially the bits I dabbled in medicine. Turns out the cabin has a well stocked first aid kit, including a hypothermia blanket. Tucked in the towel closet are 3 packets of those shake-it hand warmer things. There are like 20 in each packet and I haven’t used any yet.

I think the water pipes froze. I don’t have running water anymore, but I found the shed in the back and dug out a hatchet and some snow shoes. I chopped the tops off some of the trees that poke out of the snow. I’m careful not to get too close because I know things like that can be a death trap but the firewood was needed. 

I ran out of cat food for Daisy. I’m feeding her lunch meat. At least with all this cold none of the perishables have gone yet. 

Anyway, I was out tromping around in the snowshoes, decked out in all my winter gear with an empty backpack when I saw a string trap. Like, one of those tripwire traps that hunters use to catch rabbits and smaller mammals. I couldn’t see any footprints, but that doesn’t mean anything to someone who lives in a constant blizzard. 

I wrote a note and tacked it to the tree that the trap was tied to, asking who set it and if they lived around here and if they had supplies. I’m not sure if this person would even be willing to contact me seeing as a lot of people in movies like these fend for themselves. I remember standing there, bent over my thigh with my pen and then scribbling a shoddy drawing of Daisy and myself in the corner in order to seem more friendly. 

Today was decent.

O.Lake

June 17th 2036

Current mood: So goddamn cold

Reader,

Whoever you are, and however you found this. My first and only question is; how are you alive? I think that if you have somehow found your way into getting my diary, you are an alien. In which case, I’m unsure if you can read English and am writing my poor sorry life down for no reason other than to stave off the endless boredom of snow. And snow. And more snow.

In the beginning, I thought the sun had exploded. Which of course, is wrong. Seeing as I am alive to tell the tale, I didn’t know that 2 days ago when the world went dark and the heavens opened up a torrential blizzard. It's a monstrosity I tell you. 

The power in my tiny cottage went out a few hours ago, so I collected Daisy from her cat bed and tucked her in with me and all the blankets in the house on my twin mattress. I don’t think opening the front door, or the back door for that matter is a good idea now. The snow is too high. 

God do I wish I’d been a paranoid bastard now. Would have had so much stock and prep for this type of situation. I think there's a generator in the back, a tiny shed in the backyard which houses some of the garden tools. It's a good thing I was prepared for Canadian winters though, I’ll be properly decked out when I do go out.