Finding Normalcy After Apocalypse

The morning sun was hidden behind thick clouds that hung over the city like a dark reminder of what could have been. Ruben had spent the last few nights with his back turned to the window, staring at the wall and listening to the windowpanes rattling from the wind. He did not want to see the smoke rising from the ruins of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, where it all began. It would remind him too much of that night when he realized that life as he knew it was over.

It had started with a funny taste in his mouth. The next day he noticed that his tongue felt heavy, but he thought nothing of it. When he woke up on Sunday morning, the taste in his mouth was still there, and so had the heaviness in his tongue. It felt like he had slept for hours with a blanket covering his face. He tried to move, but his whole body ached so badly that he could barely lift his arms. He couldn't remember ever feeling this bad after a night's sleep. And then there was the silence. He lay motionless for a while, listening to himself breathing through his nose and trying to figure out why everything sounded so far away.

He remembered opening his eyes and seeing something moving across the room. At first he thought it was an insect or some other small creature - it looked like a tiny black cloud floating above the floorboards - but then it suddenly took shape and became a tall man dressed in black, shuffling towards him down the hallway between his bed and the dresser by the door. He wanted to scream but nothing came out of his mouth except a muffled gasp as if someone had taken a pillow and pressed it against him until he ran out of air. The man stopped just outside his field of vision, staring at him with empty eyes that glowed bright blue with each breath he took through clenched teeth, filling the room with heavy wheezing sounds as if he were slowly suffocating before dying in front of Ruben's eyes without making any sound at all.

He stared into those glowing blue eyes for what seemed like forever before he managed to prop himself up against his pillows and look around for anything that might help him defend himself against this horrifying apparition. His feet hit something soft on the floor by his bed and he reached out for it; when he finally grabbed hold of it and pulled it closer, all strength left him again and he fell back onto his mattress with only one thought on his mind: I need to get out! If I don't find my way outside I will suffocate here in my own house! My lungs are already burning!

The thing underneath him turned out to be an inhaler with which Ruben tried desperately to force air into his lungs while lying flat on his back without lifting up any further than necessary because every movement brought unbearable pain spreading through his body like poison through an animal's veins. Then suddenly there was light again as someone opened the curtains, letting sunlight flood into the room and chasing away all shadows making them melt into air like ghosts in daylight always do; then there was a voice asking if everything was alright, but Ruben's ears were ringing too loud for him to even register its meaning; then there were two hands holding up his head from behind while someone rubbed something cold over his lips, forcing open both sides of his mouth at once while yelling: "Breathe!"; then there were two arms pulling him out of bed while another pair of hands unbuckled Ruben's belt around his waist and pulled down both pants and underpants together with them; finally there was cold air hitting right between Ruben's legs making him yelp as if someone had just plunged an ice pick deep into this place where nobody ever touched him except when changing diapers when he was little...

"Are you okay?" asked one of the nurses who had been attending Ruben since Sunday afternoon when they finally found their way back home from hospital after doctors figured out what was wrong with him: Erythrocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (ECMV). Luckily no one else had caught this strange flu strain spreading through Paris last week except for poor Ruben who brought this deadly virus back from Israel where he worked for almost six years before receiving word that Frdric's wife had passed away unexpectedly during her vacation in southern France leaving her son Pascal alone in Paris until relatives from Germany could arrive - including Frdric whom Ruben hadn't seen since their college days many years ago when they dreamed about travelling around Europe together one day looking for adventure...

Ruben rubbed sleep out of his eyes and turned around on the couch where he had left himself sleeping long after sunrise thinking about how lucky they had been not having any children yet when they would have been one of many families whose lives were put on hold until further notice - not knowing whether they would have to stay here forever or return to their homes abroad once they could confirm that no longer anyone around them was infected...