[ WP ] A man lives alone in a fallout shelter after a nuclear attack ... ..

`` Its just a typical day in Washington, the sun is shining now, rain is expected later in the day.'' I woke up, rubbed my eyes, turned off the radio, and yawned. I got up and moved to the shelf of canned foods, looking for something to eat. Breakfast was usually rice and powdered milk, but I had started everyday with rice and powdered milk since I ran out of corn flakes two years 4 months 5 days ago and I was bored with it. Maybe I should open a can of beans. That could be exciting. 
 
 I decided on the milk and rice. Better to go with what you know in a post-apocalyptic world. In this type of environment, any change could have disastrous results. That lesson was learned five years 1 months 17 days ago after I got sick after eating salmon instead of tuna. Best not to shake things up. 
 
 I recorded every dream, every meal, everything I did on every day in my journals, with each entry dated. The first entry is dated 01/01/01; Sunday, January first, year one, but it would have been 12/04/15; Sunday, April 12, 2015 by the old calendar. Of course, it does n't matter what the date is according old calendar. This is a new life and so a new calendar. I always record my breakfast meal and dream after I finish breakfast. It is a good way to remember the date, and remembering the date is important, otherwise you might mix up the days and eat the wrong meals. You might eat salmon on a Tuesday instead of a Sunday and get sick. That happened to me five years 1 months 17 days ago. That was the worst Tuesday of my new life. 
 
 I took out journal five. In journal five was every entry from year five; journal four had every entry from year four, and so on. It was a logical system. My old life did n't have a lot of logical systems. My new life makes much more sense. I flipped to the first blank page and dated it. 
 *20/02/05* 
 *Today, I had the same dream again. It retold the events of 23/02/03. Lily was there as usual. She died as usual. * 
 I sighed. It was such a shame Lily died. i was quite fond of her. I turned and looked at the decaying corpse that was once Lily. It just was n't the same talking to her. Of course I had to keep talking to her after she died, for three hours each day we must talk, but since then they have been more exasperating than anything, what with her giving me the cold shoulder. It was especially hard the few days after, explaining to her why she had to die. She wanted to leave, she refused to follow the schedule. Some people just are n't cut out for the new life. But, I still talk to her. It is important to socialize, humans are social creatures after all. 
 
 I continued with the entry. 
 *After her death I woke up, turned the radio off, and went to make breakfa-* 
 I stopped. Something different had happened in my dream. There was a voice, talking about something, about rain. Wait was that the dream? No, it could n't have been. I have the same dream every night. It was the same dream it could n't have been different. But I'm sure I heard a voice. 
 
 I glanced at the radio. It is the only logical explanation for the voice. I did not imagine it. I do not imagine voices; I am not crazy. It could n't have been Lily, she has n't spoken to me since 23/02/03. I dream the same dream, without the voice. I got up and slowly walked towards the radio. My heart was pounding. This was bad, it was n't in the schedule. I did n't want to turn it on. I do n't know why, but I was terrified. I looked over at Lily. `` What do I do?'' She said nothing. Her silence was actually comforting in this case. At least she did n't change. I slowly turned on the radio. `` If your joining us now, the time is twelve fift-'' I flicked it off. I looked at Lily again. `` Well, I guess you were right.'' I put journal 5 back on the shelf and took journal 6 down. 
 *01/01/01* 
 *Today I decided to go outside. *
