Metafire

Police barricades had blocked entry back into the Boston area. Erisa could not help to find Pete or her other friends. Months passed before Erisa recognized with absolute certainty that Pete could not have made it out alive. She saw an air photo of the place where city hall had stood. The bomb leveled city hall.

Curiously, Erisa and Paulette were left largely alone during the time after the bombings. The world around them did not seem to move much. They kept the house perfectly. When Paulette would have company, Erisa would stay in her room. Only occasionally did a stranger come by the house. She would only occasionally encounter other people. The stores in town were open. Life seemed to move forward, day to day, without purpose except to keep the house with Paulette.

Erisa began thinking. She began dreaming. Something would come of this. The disaster that was so close to her, seemed so distant in her day to day experience. It was as if there was a simple erasure of her previous life. When she met Pete, she moved on from her family. With Pete gone, she did not want to move out into the future, into her new life. Her personal nunnery was wrought by the greatest disaster of all time. She now needed to feel alive and happy again, but she was expecting to die. Any time, any minute now.