let go

the beginning.

It was another boring regular morning where I had to wake up and go to school. "Hurry up and get your stuff ready Nadia we leave in ten". My mom yelled from the other room as she was making breakfast. It was just me my mom and my brother Noah, my dad passed exactly 3 years ago today during his sleep peacefully with absolutely no health issues and problems which was weird considering he was just 34, yet nobody questioned it. My dad was the one who worked and gave us food on our plates since he was the one who had an actual job. My mom has no papers so she has a small job, she still tries tho. I got ready and quickly put on a white top, some cuffed jeans, and a jacket since it was raining heavily outside. I left my room to see Noah had already eaten everything as usual, and it was already time to go. We had a gray 2010 Nissan Versa that was holding on for dear life, it was what dad left behind tho. The car rides were always silent considering the radio didn't work. I looked outside to see our usual gray town hawksville, there was nothing special in this town, no malls, no centers, just one bland park and our schools. People did the same thing every day it was uncanny to see. We finally arrived at my school "Have a good day I'll pick u both up later, also please behave, Noah, I can't be seen leaving work again". Noah just shoved it off. A thing about my brother he used to be the sweetest funniest person ever but he just lost his spark after Dad passed, and I don't blame him.
School was a nightmare for me I had no friends, and it was mostly because of my social anxiety, I know if I tried I could have had someone to survive high school with. It's a little too late tho considering I only have 2 years left of this shit place.
The first class was English class I sat next to this dork named Henry, he was a little weird but he never bothered me. My teacher was an ass she made this class more miserable than it should already be. "If you're late one more time you will have to sit outside and listen to class on the floor Luke". I never knew why our teacher was so harsh with him knowing his situation. Luke's parents were both alcoholics who ended up killing each other last year, he ended up walking into the situation. He was a nice guy my mom gave him a ride once after school since his foster care home is so far away and his foster parents don't even bother.
I raised my hand to signal I had to go use the restroom. As I walked in I realized there weren't the usual girls in the stalls vaping or talking about their boyfriends cheating and stuff like that. It was a bit odd to see but relieving. When I walked out I didn't hear or see anything. Not a single word or noise. Not the teachers yelling at us to move faster. Not the school bells. Nothing. I panicked and walked back to the English classroom. Nobody was there. I started to think this was a bad dream. A really bad vivid nightmare. When I had a nightmare I would just force myself to wake up, in this case, it didn't work. I took my bag and ran out of the school. The lady in the front office who always yells at me for running out wasn't there. The janitor who "secretly" did drugs in the corner of the school wasn't there. I was confused and scared but I didn't want to have a panic attack.
Nobody was in the streets not a single person in a car or walking down the streets. My home was pretty close so I went there and hoped my mom or brother would be there at least and everything would be okay.
I entered my home and nobody was there. The dishes were still unwashed meaning mom hasn't been here at all. I ran up to my room and started crying. What could have possibly gone wrong that made everybody but me disappear? I got under my bedsheets and sobbed even more. I decided to go to sleep and hopefully wake up to everything back to normal.
I awakened and ran downstairs to see no change. Dishes still unwashed mother and brother still missing. I grabbed my bag and decided to walk out. It was starting to get late, the sky was a dark blue. I walked to a store a few blocks from my house. It was so weird to hear absolute silence that felt so loud somehow, I mean my city was always silent but this was eery. I arrived at the corner store and to no surprise nobody was there. I wondered if I could have taken something for free, I mean nobody here right? I walked past the coffees and teas. I was never big on caffeine, so I grabbed a blue Powerade. It was my favorite flavor because it's what Six Flags gives drinks and it reminds me of when my dad would take me there. I turned around about to leave the store, until I heard a noise. Usually in a normal case scenario where people would still be here, I'd run because if there's one thing I've learned it's to mind my business. But that's not exactly the scenario here considering I'm the only damn person here. So I walk back and start walking by the aisles again and I see someone hiding behind a rack. I'm quite terrified but I still get closer to see what or who it is.
And there it is. My one and only classmate Luke. He looked petrified and was breathing very heavily. I recognized what was happening because it's something that happened to me too, he was having a panic attack. "Are you here?" Luke asked me looking very lost. "I thought I was the only one here, also are you okay" I asked back. "I mean no not everybody went and until now I thought it was just me," he said. "I thought the same, do you think maybe there are other people still here?". I asked. "I'm not exactly sure and I don't know if I want to walk around and find out" he replied.
Me and luke started walking back to my house, we figured we should get some rest since it was getting pretty late and his house was far away.
I've never had a boy over at my house let alone my room. Or anyone. Luke looked around all over my room and complimented my Foo Fighters poster on the wall. I started talking about how my dad passed it down to me and that the last concert he went to was them. I turned around and realized he got pretty comfortable on the floor about to fall asleep, and most likely didn't hear anything I just said. I went to grab a blanket from Noah's room and covered him with it. I tried to sleep but I just ended up staring at my roof for the house, I mean I don't know how Luke just slept so fast considering the situation. I ended up falling asleep eventually.
"Nadia wake up" Luke shook me out of my sleep. "What happened" I asked. He didn't reply all he did was stare around. When I finally opened my eyes completely I realized we weren't in my room where we fell asleep. The walls were gray and looked like they were made of metal there was greenery all over, and the bed I was on was metal. There was a giant window next to me, but it was covered and also metal. Luke jumped on the bed to open the window. What we saw was beautiful. Which is how we knew we weren't home. It was another world. "Where are we," Luke asked.