unchanging

Jess barely had time to grab the picnic basket before she was standing in Julian's bedroom.

Just the way she'd seen it last. Even sick and her husband too weak to stand on his own, Julian's mom had still refused to leave her house until all the beds were made and the laundry put away.

She let the basket drop as she tried to move towards Julian's bookcase.

Kellum refused to let her hand go.

"We're safe here, Kell."

"You cannot know that. Things are different now."

"More for you, than for me. This is my world. Let go of my hand, Kellum."

Reluctantly, he did.

She knew on the back of his closet door was Julian's old backpack. He was so going to be pissed when he found out she'd done this without bringing him.

Luckily, she knew him well enough to know what he would grab if he had a chance. His hi tops, his lucky socks. Just for laughs she threw a few of his porn magazines in there. A letter that was laying on his desk just because it was there. Seeing his old jersey, she grabbed that then headed for the door.

When Kellum would have stopped her, she dragged him with her.

Julian's room had enough light because he never kept his curtains closed but the hallway was dark and so was the room across the hall.

She didn't need light to guide her way through the room and grabbed the picture off the bedside table. His parents wedding picture seemed like something important to grab.

That did remind her of something though. Don't ask her why. She went back into Julian's room and got on her knees, she reached under his bed and pulled out a shoe box.

Mrs. Cross was a lot like Kellum's people when it came to eating, so her and Julian always kept a stash close by. Judging by the weight of it he had replenished it before all the shit hit the fan.

Downstairs she grabbed the picture of his grandparents. Before they died a few years ago, Julian had always spent a few weeks of the summer with them.

When she was smaller, she hated them for taking him away from her. Then she got old enough to follow after him.

The only other thing she could think to grab was the book his father had been reading when he got sick. She couldn't tell you how many times she'd come over to find him sitting in the chair by the window reading. As stern and as unapproachable as he'd been, he'd had a fondness for romance novels. Go figure.

"You wouldn't believe how much time I spent here. Especially, when we were younger. This place had the best hiding places."

When Kell saw her intent was to head for the front door, he stopped her, and no amount of pulling was getting him moving.

"Dezrick, do a scan of the immediate area."

"That will take some time. Their satellites are prehistoric. The advisors_____."

"You will not deliver any messages from the advisors or anyone else for that matter. Except for Jessalynn's family. You will do only what you are asked to do, and you will speak only when spoken to."

"Yes, future king."

"They cannot override my orders without a meeting, and I am unavailable for one at the present."

"Yes, future king."

Jess was impressed but also starting to feel a little guilty. "Just how much trouble are you going to be in for this?"

"Do not worry of it. There is much they are unhappy about these days."

"We can go. My house isn't that far from here. I've walked it a zillion times."

"We are not leaving this house until Dezrick gives us a report."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't see what the problem is. If trouble does show up all you have to do is zap us out of here."

He had no reply, but his eyes did narrow on her.

With another roll of her eyes, she stuck her tongue out at him.

"There is no one in your immediate area. Two were located less than five miles away and three more twenty-seven point two miles to the south east of here."

"I told you, we're safe. Those two are probably Mr. Denten and his son. I told Julian that man would outlive us all."

"That information is unavailable. The area should be safe, but I would remind you that both of you are immune. I do not see that as a risk. Would you like a report on the high risks you should worry about?"

"How about no?" Jess's suggestion was ignored.

"Yes."

"I would advise against drinking the water. Not too far from here there were reports of a failed filtering system. The two humans should not be discounted because of the distance."

"If they come any closer, I want to know immediately."

"I would also worry about west Nile disease. Alligators and snakes."

"Oh, dear lord, Dez. Get a life. How do you think I survive before you showed up?"

"Dezrick, explain."

"Forget that shit. Kell, you need to trust me. I don't want anything to happen to you either."

He let her move towards the door but that didn't stop Dez from droning on and on in the background.

"No matter what, you are not allowed to let go of my hand."

Everything looked the same as it had the day they left. Well, almost the same. Grass was overgrown. Everywhere. But everything else was the same.

Emptier than it should be. A sad reminder of what use to be.

Feeling her unease, Kell stop surveying around them and looked at her.

Instead of trying to explain why she wanted to be here and why she didn't, she pointed at a cross. "Why are there no crosses in St Louis?"

"The larger cities band it when the bodies started piling up and the ones, we did find, we took care of. It was felt that it would be better without the reminder around."

"What does that mean? What did you do to them?"

"They were disposed of."

Seeing that his attention was focused back on the area around them, she asked Dezrick for more information.

"Research was collected, and the remains evaporated. It was fairly easy. We are having a harder time of it with your roads and buildings. We estimate it could take up to two years before we have your planet cleaned up. Of course, that duty will not be seen to until all the needed outposts have been built so that a full shield can be established. Our engineers are working on it around the clock and it is estimated to be finished in under eighteen months. Our top priority has been retrieving survivors. By next week, we hope to be able to expand our search to other continents. We know the outcome will not be as we hope but we feel we must try. Before we chose to set up our base, we checked many satellite feeds and chose the most populated area. We are sure a great number have been lost because of this but we just did not have the manpower to save everyone. Since our last reports there is nothing to indicate that there are any survivors in Asia, Antarctica, and Europe. Finding other immunes is very important. Borax, one of our top researchers has been most curious as to why colder climates did not fare as well as warmer climates, yet more survivors came from your state of Alaska than any other state. In Mexico, we found an entire family of seven who are immune. Would you like me to tell you how_________?"

"Guess I should have been more specific. I need to know all this but one thing at a time. Go back to that first part."

"The graves, the bodies, no longer exist. We have technology called va'riz that are able to evaporate solid materials."

"You can't just destroy things. You have no right to decide things like that. You have no right to touch things that don't belong to you."

His eyes came back to her.

"A reminder? Do you think we could forget? Do you think we'd want to?"

"We were________."

"What if you've done that to my mom? What if she... " Seeing the house, she'd always lived in, her feet came to a stop.

"You can't just take her away from me. You can't take all of this away. I need to know it's here. At least for now." She pointed to the tree near the garage. "The first time I tried to sneak out of my room I was eight. Fell and broke my arm. The next night I fell again. My mom told my dad he didn't have to cut the tree down. She told him that after falling twice there was no way I hadn't learn my lesson. She was right. I never fell again. Snuck out every day that week. That was back when Julian's parents thought they could ground him from me. Getting up to his bedroom had been a bitch. See that tree in the back yard? Every animal we've ever had is buried beneath it. And believe me Mel has had a lot of them. She couldn't find a critter without bringing it home. Mom was always afraid to go into Mel's room because she never knew what was in there waiting to greet her."

Suddenly, she couldn't wait any longer. She dropped everything and ran up the sidewalk like she's done her whole life. "I'm home, mom." She whispered as she opened the door.

It smelled like stale air. A little dusty and dark. Empty. Everything that had made this a home wasn't here anymore.

Strong arms wrapped around her from behind and the panic that had been closing in on her eased away.

They were not here but he was.

"I knew it would be hard but not this hard."

"You are my home, Jessalynn." He pressed a kissed to her temple.

His warmth and love swept through her and she knew she could do this. She wouldn't think of how empty it was, she would remember how much love had once lived here.

"I want to show you everything. I was standing right here when my mom brought Mel home and gave her to me. Just handed me the brand-new baby. I remember how proud I felt in that moment. I was only four when Danny was brought home. All that kid did was cry. I would have given that one back. Mel was such a happy baby."

She took him to the table in front of the window. "Guess which one is me?"

Jess didn't really expect him to be able to pick her out, but he did it without hesitation. "Show off. That's me. Mom said I cried as much as Danny." Her brother was wearing a blue cap, his pudgy face screeched up in unhappiness. Mel looked like an angel with rosy cheeks. Her own baby picture was something only a mother could love. Face puffed up like a balloon. Cheeks so fat she could barely open her squinty baby eyes. She should be kind of insulted that he'd been able to tell it was her.

"I told mom she had to have a picture of Julian too since he might as well have been her kid too. His mom said a better baby had never been born. Started sleeping through the night at three months. Walked at seven months. Mom always made fun of him for being so perfect. She told him that she loved her below average babies more. Mel might have looked perfect and had a sweet disposition, but she didn't start walking till she was two. Wasn't potty train till three."

She grabbed all four pictures. Part of her wanted to leave them here where they belonged but the other part of her knew that if she did that, she might never see them again. From the second layer of the table, she grabbed Michael and Rue's baby pictures. Then she grabbed the flower statue Julian had been tossing all those nights ago, when her mom had been joking with them. With a chuckle, she grabbed the deer ashtray too and placed them all on the hall table so she wouldn't forget them.

"My first kiss happened right here. Doug Middleton. He came to see Julian but before I could go fetch him, Doug kissed me. It was kind of nice, so I didn't punch him, but Julian sure did. Told him he was never allowed to kiss me again unless he asked first. Which he did. My second kiss. It took him a whole year to get up the nerve to do it again."

"I do not think I would have liked him."

She smiled. "You would have. He was sweet and harmless. Nothing like my type once I got older."

Jess paused at the foot of the stairs, her happy memories slipping away. "I was sitting here when I watched my dad walk away. He was crying like he thought his heart would break and I kept thinking, he won't do it. He couldn't leave us. Didn't he need us as much as we needed him? I sat there for hours waiting for him to come back. It never occurred to me that he wouldn't."

She walked away this time before he could offer her comfort.

There were so many memories in every corner of this house.

Stepping out the back door, she went straight to where her brother laid to rest and started picking up the limbs and leaves that laid everywhere. "Danny took it the hardest. He idolized that man and after dad left Danny spent too much time thinking he had to take care of us. Danny was so much better than that man."

Once the yard was picked up, she went to Mel's tree swing and sat. "When this was mine, I had a tire swing, but it fell during a storm and mom put this one back up. I think it was so that she could swing too. She sat out here all the time. She always tried to grow flowers, but it never worked out. Everything always died."

"My mother was just the opposite. She did not get much free time but when she did, she love to go to the green houses. I believe it was the only thing that brought her comfort."

"And what were you like as a child, Kellum. Made straight A's? Never got in trouble and was good at everything you did?"

"I suppose. I remember being very lonely. There was not much else to do but my studies. My training."

Jess waited until the swing had reached the highest point then she jumped.

She never landed. He plucked her right out of thin air. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "You can't say the same anymore. Thanks to me you hardly ever get around to your studies. You're even getting into trouble from time to time."

"I could never go back to the way it was before you."

"Are you positive? I'm sure your life was much more peaceful before me."

"I did not know a moment of true peace until I had you in my arms."

Jess sighed. "Did they teach you all this smooth talking in a class? Charmed the girl 101." Instead of an answer she received a kiss.

With another sigh, she moved away just enough so she could look up at him. "There is still a lot to do. We better get to work."

Upstairs in her mom's closet she found a large suitcase which she stuffed with as many pictures as she could. In Mel's Disney suitcase, she piled as many stuff animals and Mel's clothes as she could. She never stopped explaining everything. The pictures on the walls, Danny's trophies, and her mom's collection of movies.

Finally, she opened the door to her room. It wasn't much different than her new room, just more stuff accumulated.

The most important things she'd find here was the blanket Julian's grandmother made her. Her blue Converse, and a jewelry box Danny had made her out of noodles. He had given it to her when he was six.

After packing up her bag, she opened one of her windows and climbed out knowing Kell would meet her at the top.

It was already mid-day so like most days in southern Louisiana that meant hot and humid, but she knew she couldn't say goodbye to this place without visiting her roof top.

Within a few moments, it was very easy to admit the weather in St Louis was much more pleasant. Of course, she didn't know if that was actually the city itself or Kellum's climate control.

"I'm ready, Kellum. I can leave now. Can you see us and all my bags back to Julian's yard?"

Julian's car keys were already in her pocket.