An Empty World

 Darkness. My room was filled with it as day had not begun yet. As I lay on my small bed, in my small room I breathed in the cold air and then released it from my mouth slowly. I rolled onto my side and pulled the blankets up to my face, trying to warm it from the harsh winter night  that surrounded me. Although the room was pitch black my eyes were wide open and I could not help but feel alert. It was one of those nights where sleeping wasn't an option. The only thing I could do was think about everything happening in my life and hope that eventually I would drift off. 

     Shutter. Shutter. Shutter. The ground rumbled a little for a few seconds. I could feel my bed shift back and forth. The duchess beside my bed slid sideways. A few of my item fell of it, making a clinking sound as they hit the floor. I sat up quickly trying to assess what was happening. Was it an earthquake?  I had never been through one of those before so the concept was an alien one to me.  The ground stopped shuddering almost as soon as it had started.

     How odd... Must have been just a small earthquake.  I thought to myself  and then quietly got out of bed.  I felt for the objects that had fallen over and re-placed them to where they had been sitting previously.  After a few minutes of standing there waiting for something to happen, I came to the conclusion that whatever it was, had come to an end. With that thought I jumped into bed closed my eyes and resumed attempting to sleep... This time with success. 

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        Rays of sunshine gleamed through the window. This made me wince and pull the blankets over my head, rebelling against the morning light.  With a loud moan and stretch I grumpily dragged myself out of the bed, trying not to trip on clothes and shoes that covered my floor. Ugh. My room was such a mess but I was way too lazy to clean it.

    Trying to ignore my morning reflection I walked past my mirror and opened the door. However, sadly like usual I could not help but notice  in my peripheral vision the state of my unruly clump of hair and felt compelled to fix it before entering the world around me. I turned quickly back and looked at my reflection and brushed my auburn red hair briefly then stopped and stared myself in the face. The thought of observing further quickly vanished and I shrugged when remembering exactly how hungry I was. 

    I ventured to the kitchen. It was silent. In my house there was never silence. I lived with my five sisters and my parents. I was also always the last one to get out of bed.  

    "Hello?"  I called out to my family members. "Where is everybody? Bridget, Marie, Frances, Julie, Kat?"  There was no reply.  I strode through the house feeling a surge of panic. No one answered and everything was quiet.  The rooms were empty. I searched them all and even checked inside the cupboards to see if this was some kind of joke. Then it occurred to me that maybe they had gone out to town? Nope. The car was still in the garage downstairs.  Our pets had also mysteriously disappeared. None of them were anywhere to be seen and I was all alone in this large empty house. Rushing upstairs again, I ran to the phone and called my sisters mobile phone. It didn't even ring. I tried calling every number of our family members I knew but still there was no connection. I then went to extremes and tried every number there was in our book and the attempt failed. What's happened?  I wondered.

Day 1 of the earth emptiness.

  So here I am. Sitting at the kitchen table eating a chocolate bar and trying to work out what the hell I'm supposed to do and what is going on.  It had been a whole day now and there had been nothing to indicate what had happened to everyone. Can't call anyone... no reception. Can't find anyone in the house. Neighbors aren't home (and I had to walk up a very large mountain to get to them as we live in an extremely secluded place). Car is downstairs though... Guess I'm going for a drive. Now, I wouldn't say that I'm an experienced driver so could possibly get in trouble if caught however, desperate times call for desperate measures. 

        Revving up the car I drove down our long, steep and bumpy driveway. I felt no enjoyment in driving but it was a necessary skill which I was glad to have learnt. 

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     An hour into town and there has been no sign of human life. Or any life at that. The sound of my old 4WD rattling is all I can hear. Pulling over to the side I got out of the car at the shops to check if they were open.  They weren't. There was a "Closed" sign hung on some doors and the automatic ones that usually open and close on their own wouldn't move. The shops were always open on Sunday morning. This made no sense.  Was I alone in this world now? As I thought this I felt myself shaking and fell to my knees, crying. What was I going to do? 

     "Hey! I found someone!" I heard the young voice of a girl call out in front of me and a sense of relief began to warm up inside me. Maybe I was wrong!