What, I'm not alone?

He wandered down the hall, marveling at the sensation of being the only one still alive. It was an occurrence he had heard about possibly happening in the future but he’d never thought it would happen in his lifetime.

           The Absence had taken out a lot of people, all of them in fact. That’s what the occurrence had been referred to when people had talked about it in the past. The only reason he was still here was that he had hidden in the basement of the institute in which he and many others resided while they worked. The smoke had overwhelmed everyone who hadn’t huddled under the tarps and even those who had were compromised in other ways so they didn’t make it. Somehow he was healthy enough to escape the effects of the chemicals that had seeped into the supposed shelter.

           The chemicals in the smoke were meant to take out those who were unhealthy, or weakened in some way. Only the strong were supposed to survive. It had done too good of a job though because it had taken out everyone.

           He lived in a place called The Institute, had for two years, going off the grounds only for necessities or if someone invited him somewhere. The institute was huge, and had a ton of activities, even outside of the work he and the others did. It sounded kind of like a cult, but it wasn’t; they could come and go as they pleased and they didn’t pay anyone for anything. It was like a giant apartment complex or hotel; except that the residents didn’t just live there, they could work on the grounds as well.

           The Institute was the largest dwelling place around, although there were others in existence. He didn’t know how the smoke had gotten everyone at the same time since when he wandered into the cities around there was no one. He figured there’d be some people still. It was such a sudden loss.

           He still wandered around outside, but it seemed pointless since there was no one to talk to and nothing to do. He didn’t like the feeling of being alone.

           He walked down the halls several times a week. Even knowing he was alone, it gave him comfort, made him feel less lonely somehow, remembering some of the people since they were friends or he worked with them.

           One day as he was walking, he heard sound. He couldn’t identify it at first, but after a few seconds he realized it was singing. It was a single voice, not accompanied by music or anything else. He was startled; it was the only sign of life he’d had since the Absence, which had occurred months ago.

           He had thought about traveling since working wasn’t necessary. Then he remembered that unless he drove and used gas along the way, he couldn’t go anywhere because he didn’t know how to fly a plane. Any other form of transportation also required someone to drive/pilot so unless he learned how to drive a train or bus or fly a plane, he wasn’t going anywhere.

           As he’d been pondering these random thoughts, he realized the singing had stopped. He listened for a moment more, then shrugged and headed back to his room. Maybe if he heard it again he would try to find the source.

           Allison loved to sing; had enjoyed it ever since she was little. She had enjoyed being in the choir here at the institute and her job teaching music to the kids who lived here with their families. She was feeling the loss of people more strongly than she thought others might since she had such a large amount of them whom she cared about and interacted with on an almost daily basis.

           She still chose to sing, even though she knew no one could hear her. She didn’t want to lose the gift, even if it was for an audience of one.

           She usually sang every day still, sometimes in her room, sometimes she would walk around or go to different areas around the institute. She had wandered a lot in the beginning, when she was trying to understand the significance of what had happened, and because she had tried to find at least one person still alive. She hadn’t been successful, which made her sad. She had gone around the cities as well and that didn’t make her any happier.

           It really bothered her that everyone was gone, both because it caused her to be lonely, and because it was an enormous loss of life. She had been in a closed in gazebo when it happened, smoke just seeping in and slowly overtaking the few people inside. She had tried to help by opening a window, but somehow that hadn’t worked and she had seen the life leave more than one person, which was horrible. She didn’t know how she had made it, but she was thankful she had. Although sometimes she wasn’t sure why since there didn’t seem to be much point in being alive if there was no one to enjoy it with.

           Being alone gave her lots of time to ponder, too much time really. She didn’t know what to do with herself most of the time. She noticed that she was becoming introspective about things and she didn’t like that either because it made her think about the negative situation she was in.

           Which was one of the reasons she sang so much; besides enjoying it and getting pleasure from it, it also helped her forget about the current state she was living in.

           He heard the singing a couple of days later and decided to follow the sound. He snaked down a couple hallways, surprised by how far away it was coming from. It was so clear and loud that he had expected the source to be closer. Of course, without people around and machines running, there was a lot less background noise.

           He kept walking, the singing becoming louder and louder. He realized his heart was pounding as he was about to discover the source of the sound.

           Allison was walking the hall, just singing away. She turned the corner and gasped.

           A man was in the distance. Not that far away, maybe 50 feet. He was coming toward her, looking pretty surprised himself.

           He was shocked to see another person. He’d known it was possible since hearing the singing, but to actually see someone after not seeing anyone for months was like seeing someone for the first time ever. He also didn’t know how they’d gone so long without seeing each other since they were on the same grounds, but the grounds were huge, so it wasn’t that impossible.

           “Hi,” Allison said when they were close enough.

           “Hi,” he said back.