CSE: Chapter 1: June - 1.1

IT WAS A FRIDAY WHEN THE WORLD ENDED. I woke up one morning to an empty house. This was no strange thing in itself, my parents traveled a lot, and they were apt to leave with no warning, just a note to my sister and myself to tell us when they left and when they expected to be back. Debbie was 16 and thought this was a piece of teenage heaven, since it meant she could stay out until she felt like coming back, usually not until the folks came back. I learned young how to take care of myself.

I didn’t know what woke me up that first morning, maybe the air smelled strange, maybe just a sudden chill of fear. When I walked out to the street, there were no kids playing, no cars, no mowers going, not even the birds were making any noise. I stood, staring down the street in bewilderment. There was an unnatural silence everywhere.

I tried the phone first, but no one answered, not anywhere. I went from door to door; no one was home. It was a long time before I gave up and went home. There was no note, no sign that three other people lived there, any more than there was a sign of anyone else in town. There were still all the houses, all the material objects, there were even a couple cars in the middle of the road, but no people and no bodies. I sat on the couch as the sun set and stared mindlessly into the distance. The thought that I should leave swirled around in my head, I had to find someone to tell me that I wasn't crazy, that there really were people who used to be there. I decided I would go, and then did nothing. I stared at the floor, all by myself, and wondered. I curled in a ball on the floor and cried til I had no tears.