They've All Gone, Now
an excerpt

She opened her eyes slowly to her bright bedroom. The full midday sun shone hotly upon her yellow comforter. It took her a moment to realize what was wrong. She had slept in! Every morning she awoke at 5:30 a.m. to go to work at the hospital, but it was at least noon. How had she slept in for so long? Getting out of bed quickly, she crossed the room to inspect her clock-radio. The alarm had gone off, but fuzzy static took the place of the bubbly morning chat she usually woke up to. Thinking that the radio was just poorly tuned, she turned the knob slowly to adjust it. Static. More static. All of the radio stations were static, when they should have been pop, r&b, and sports channels. That damn radio. When you buy a cheap radio on sale at a pawnshop, that’s what you get, she scolded herself.

Making her way out to the living room, she searched for the TV remote. She was impossibly late for work anyways. There was no point heading in for the last hour of her shift, so she thought she might as well make a day of it. She could always just lie. Say she’d had severe and unexpected food poisoning, and that she would have called, had she been able to stop puking for long enough to use the phone politely. Flipping on the TV, she was greeted with more static. Dammit, that’s what I get when I buy on sale, she thought. Mother always told me not to buy on sale, because its all cheap crap that you’ll have to replace anyways, for more than it would have costed to buy something quality in the first place. Each channel was static. Throwing the remote angrily at the set, she stomped angrily to the front door. If she couldn’t watch tv on her unexpected day off, she would read the paper. A horrible way to spend the day, only marginally better than sitting and twiddling her thumbs.

Damn paperboy forgot the paper again. He’s probably off playing his video games, and neglecting his duties. People like me need to read the paper, need to know what’s going on in the world, she thought.

All the neighbours cars still in the driveways. Had no one gone to work today? Maybe everyone’s alarm was broken. They were all still sleeping. About to wake up, and have to craft a believable story of why they had missed work. My alarm didn’t go off, that’s only an excuse in the 3rd grade.

No planes in the sky. Usually there were rows of flight paths crossing above her house. White lines in the sky. Was something wrong? she worried.

Crossing the street, she went to the Jameson’s. They always knew everything. Mr Jameson worked for the government. High up in tne government. He was always the one to know things. Knocked on the door, no answer. Gently tried the doorknob. It swings open. She stepped inside.
Hello? she called. No answer. Hello? she repeated louder.
She walked through the halls of their house. There was no one. They had all gone. But their car was still in the driveway. They’re dead. They’ve been killed and carried off in the night. She knew that didn’t happen. There was no blood.
The lonely rockinghorse sat unridden. The toy firetruck, driving the halls alone. Yesterday’s dishes neatly in the dishwasher. Photos still on the mantle. Photos of people who existed yesterday. Did they still exist today?