"Whatever. It's not like I've got anything better to do," I replied before climbing on top of him. He seemed to enjoy himself at least. I was still steeping in a brew of apathy and couldn't really care less what I was doing. Once he was done, I started to leave.
"Again! Again!" the man-child exclaimed.
"Sorry, I'm tired. I'm going to bed." I could hear the woman consoling her friend as I walked to the bathroom, which oddly enough had a clear door. I took a quick shower only to discover the woman glaring at me though the glass when I got out.
"How dare you say no to him!"
"Look, I'm not making it up. I'm tired. I've had a long day, and I had to do all the work back there. I'm not interested in doing any more."
"You'll march back down there and make him feel better, or I'll make sure you regret it."
"Uh, no."
With that she stormed off. As I tried to find my way to the guest room in the labyrinth of a mansion, a maid appeared in my path.
"You're going to regret it," she stated flatly.
"Wha-" I was cut off by someone grabbing me from behind. The maid and her accomplice half carried, half dragged me to a cavern beneath the mansion illuminated only by candelabras. The flickering light revealed well set tables, rolls of caution tape, and a stake in the center of the room. The roof of the cave extended into darkness. More servants filed in from half-hidden passages and helped to bind me to the stake using the caution tape, as well as some bubble wrap.
"Okay, I'm tied up. Now what?"
"Now, you inconsiderate slut," announced the millionaire's friend as she made her entrance, "we are going to send you to the Grand Sub Station."
"What, the one that got destroyed in the flood a few years back?"
"Precisely, we'll send you there and then."
"How?"
With a smirk, she strutted out of the cavern, followed by the servants. After some struggling, I freed myself from my plastic bindings and tiptoed back up the passage I had come by. I could hear people murmuring to one another up ahead. A few seconds later, I found myself standing in a station that rivaled Grand Central Terminal in size and elegance.
"You've got to be kid-"
"Hey, get your head down!" someone shouted to me. Only then did I notice that all the people filling the station were on the ground covering their heads. The man who had called out led me by the elbow to an open spot by a bench and had me crouch down beside it. "You've got be prepared for any more quakes."
The details of the incident started to click back into place. The flood had been preceded by an earthquake. Everyone had fled into the fortified station for shelter, and somehow the message didn't get through that a Tsunami was coming. However, before I could say anything, the sound of rushing water filled the hall. Seconds later, the steps to the outside vanished beneath churning waves. Liquid thunder hammered down on the crowd. I could see whole benches whisked into the ever fiercer mix. I braced myself. My world shrank to the growling in my ears. Impact and all went silent. but not still. I was smashed into people and furniture at the waves' will until I ached and had lost all sense of orientation. Just before my lungs gave up, the vortex calmed and I broke the surface.
To my surprise, I found myself surrounded by natural stone walls rather than the polished marble of Grand Sub Station. Twenty or so others from the station had found their way to the surface as well, along with several once well set tables and various other items. The floating tables were already being converted into rafts and islands. I went to work hauling food, water bottles, utensils, and anything else I found onto a ledge in the stone wall beside me. Minutes turned to hours, and our collection of survivors started to form a floating community.
"Does anyone need a knife?" I cried when a plastic handled kitchen knife floated by me. Several people raised their hands. I made the rounds to them, helping cut people free from refuse they had been tangled in, trimming clothes into ropes. One man even needed to perform a minor medical procedure. I didn't feel like staying to help with that one, so I paddled back to my ledge of salvage.
While I sorted through it, a man appeared in a crack in the wall I had hitherto not seen. He had a bedraggled grey beard, and his legs looked crooked and underdeveloped. One eye was black, the other a dazzling blue.
"I'm really sorry," he apologized, "I found out what my friend did back then. I opened the door again. I wanted to help"
"You did. Thanks," I managed after taking a moment to recover from the shock. He nodded contently to himself and hobbled back into the crevice. After a little over a day, the water level fell to where we could escape the cavern via the tunnels safely. The world had advanced fifty years since yesterday. However, I welcomed the culture shock. The prospect of a new world had rid me of my apathy.
