MAIN "I'm fine. See you soon!"

Day 27

Julie's first reaction was relief and joy. "MOM! It's from Crissy. She is fine, she is coming home."

"Let me see" her mom said as she all but grabbed the phone from Julie's hands. "Thank God she is ok." She tilted her head as she reread the message for the third or fourth time. "See you soon, exclamation point? Does your sister always text like this?" she asked.

Julie pondered for a moment, "That was strange, but nothing has been normal for like a month now so...."

"I'm just glad that she is all right. All that matters is that my baby girl is safe and alive. Ask her when she will get here, I can't wait to see her after that scare." said Julie's mom.

Julie texted the question and they both finished up with making diner, one ear on the TV the other listening for the phone to buzz. It wasn't til after they had finished eating that they realized that Crissy never answered back.

Day 29

It had been a tense 36 hours in the small town Julie and Crissy had grown up in. Although there was no radiation there was fall out. Many people had friends and loved ones that had been in the city at the time of the attack. None had returned as of yet because the military had surrounded the city in a matter of hours. Rumors were circulating that they had already been in place as a part of the terrorist hunt, but that seemed crazy. As a result Julie and her mom were a bit worried when they were awoken by noises downstairs. Julie was still half asleep when her mom nudged her that last bit awake.

"Do you hear that? I think someone is downstairs." she said.

Julie's brain had been slowly waking her up because of those strange sounds, but she had always been a heavy sleeper. So even though alarms bells of INTRUDER ALERT were going off in her head it took her mothers touch and voice to finally snap her to full consciousness.

"Maybe it's Crissy?" Julie said as she slid out from under her covers. They cautiously ventured down the stairs and found Crissy in the kitchen making a sandwich in the dark. She was just enjoying the first bite when they both realized that it was her and sprang forth with joy.

"It's you! My baby!!" said Julie and her mom at the same time.

Crissy looked up and just said "hey" as they both hugged her like they hadn't seen her in years. Over the next hour they all sat in the living room talking about the bomb and all the wild rumors that had been flying. They talked about her (former) college and the weirdness that had gone on for the last month and how she got out of the city and got home. Julie looked at the clock and saw that she was running late for school. She ran upstairs and got ready in a rush. She gave her sister one last hug as she ran outside where her best friend Ashley was not so patiently waiting in her car.

"Jeez Julie, hurry up we are going to be late" Ashley sighed as she saw her friend.

"Crissy is home!" Julie said as she opened the passenger side door and hopped in.

"How did she get past the military? I heard that they weren't letting anyone through." Ashley lazily said as she started the car down the street towards their school.

Julie sat there and thought through the last two hours. In the excitement and relief of seeing Crissy alive and well she hadn't let her critical mind dwell on the odd details of her sisters return. Why was she wearing a tank top and a mini skirt? Crissy hated showing skin. And although they had asked about how she got out of the city and how she avoided being in the city when it was attacked her answers were vague, contradictory even. And while Julie and her mom were overjoyed to see her, Crissy seemed very calm and detached. Almost like she was impatiently waiting for something and was really just talking to pass the time while she waited. Also as Julie pondered she had a very strange thought, "Crissy was wearing a mini skirt that was so short I could have seen her panties while we were sitting, was she not wearing panties???"