Not so alone

The world is empty. There are no people around, no moving cars, buildings are empty, and I am alone. I’m not sure how the world ended up like this, I just woke up one morning and everyone was gone. I packed up my belongings and started walking in hopes to find another person and so far, no such luck. I have been seeking shelter when the sun starts to set in abandoned houses. I don’t want to find out if anything lurks in the darkness.

It has been a few months since everyone disappeared and I have to say, it is quite lonely regardless of the peace and quiet I finally get. Everything still looks the same, yards are green, buildings are pristine, and cars are dusty. I didn’t imagine the world to look like this when it came to its end. I imagined zombies, meteors, and aliens would be one of the causes, but I have no clue what happened or why I was left behind. I can’t be the only one, there must be someone else out there. I miss talking to someone, laughing, complaining, thinking about how alone I am, makes a tear fall down my cheek. It is starting to get dark, so I’ll find a nearby house to eat, take a shower, and curl up in a bed.

I walk to a brick house with an odd green roof. The neighborhood is unfamiliar to me, but I guess that is the bright side to being alone. I can explore other places without worrying that something is going to happen. I knock on the door out of respect for whoever might have lived here before I walk in. As soon as I enter, I shut the door and lock it just in case there is something dangerous.

I inspect the kitchen for any signs of life. I make something small before I head upstairs to find the bathroom. Once I head upstairs and find the bathroom, I take a hot shower in hopes to relieve the sadness that I am feeling right now. My shower is done, and it doesn’t make me feel better. I find the nearest bedroom and crawl in the bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I fall into a deep sleep.

I wake up to the feeling of something staring at me. I look at my phone to see what time it is, 2 a.m. I ignore this feeling and try to fall back asleep, but something is telling me to stay awake. I slowly turn over and see a man sitting at the edge of the bed writing in a book. He looks at me with a smile.

“Oh, good you’re not dead!” the stranger exclaims.

“I must be dreaming; I have been the only one around for months.” I say to myself. The stranger looks at me as if I’m crazy. He reaches his hand out as if to show me that he is real. I sit up in the bed and hesitate before I touch his hand. “You’re real. You are a real person and I’m not dreaming, but how can this be?” I say confused.

“I thought I was the only one too. I mostly stayed around here though hoping that someone would wander their way inside, and here you are” he smiles.

I am still in shock at this point and I guess he notices because he has a look of worry.

“Are you alright? I hope I didn’t frighten you with me sitting here while you were sleeping, but my name is Eugene. I’m sorry for not introducing myself at the beginning, I was trying to let you process everything.”

“I’m Becky, and no you didn’t frighten me, it’s just hard to believe that there is another human still around. Do you know what happened?” I ask as I tap the bed to let him sit down.

“Unfortunately, I don’t. I was partying with some friends until I passed out from too much drinking. When I woke up, everyone was gone, and everything was left the same. It’s like they all vanished.” he explains.

So, his situation is the same as mine…well not the same considering that I don’t party, but he woke up to everyone gone. This is getting weird and I want to know what happened. We talked through the night just to get to know each other because if we are the last ones left, we can’t be strangers forever. As the sun started to rise, we started to busy ourselves and at least clean the house we stayed in.

“Do you know who’s house we’re in Eugene?” I ask as I clean the dishes.

“This used to be my best friend Riley’s house. We would come hang out and play video games or hang out in the tree house.”

I could tell in his voice that he was reminiscing about how things used to be. I couldn’t help but stop and watch him as he talked about his best friend, as I smiled, I noticed that I never had a best friend to look back on. All I had was my mom, she was my best friend that I could talk to about anything. She couldn’t do the things that I wanted to do, but just talking to her was enough. I was never good with others my age because when everyone turns twenty-one, they all want to party and gossip, and I was not wanting any part of that scene.

I didn’t realize that Eugene was closer to me until he wiped a tear with his finger. Heck, I didn’t realize I was crying until he did that.

“Hey, you okay?” he asks with worry.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I didn’t even realize I was crying until you touched my cheek.” I say as I wipe the extra tears away.

“What were you thinking about?” he asked as he got closer.

“While you were talking about Riley, I was thinking about my mom. I didn’t have friends my age, my mom was my only friend that I could talk to about anything. I didn’t realize how much I miss her until now.” I say.

As I was trying to keep a brave face, he reached out and held me. I tried to fight it for a moment, only to surrender and let the tears fall. I cried on his shoulder until it was dark again, and he let me without making one complaint. I finally let all my pain out and was able to stop the tears once and for all.

He pulls me back and asks, “Are you okay?”

I smiled and did a little giggle before saying “I think I will be just fine now.”

“Good. I didn’t want you to make yourself sick. Then I would have to take care of you.” he says with a wink.

“Thanks for letting me have a shoulder to cry on. It has just been lonely these past few months and to finally come across another person is refreshing.”

After we let go, I run upstairs to take a shower while Eugene cooks dinner. He’s a tall glass of handsome. Dark brown hair, muscles, green eyes, and an energy where I could let out all my problems and he wouldn’t complain. Before I daydream too long, there is a knock on the bathroom door.

“Yeah?” I yell over the water.

“I just wanted to let you know dinner is finished.” Eugene yells through the door.

“Okay. I’ll be out in a minute.” I say after I turn off the water.

As soon as I hear his footsteps retreat downstairs, I reach for the towel…the invisible towel that I didn’t grab. Because I am weird, I wasn’t going to yell for Eugene to fetch me a towel, so I slowly open the door to quickly retrieve a towel in the linen closet across the hall. I put the towel around me and run back into the bathroom to get dressed.

“What took you so long?” he says as he shovels food in his mouth.

“Do you know how long it takes for a woman to dry off, especially with this long hair?” I point to my hair.

“My bad. Come sit down and eat and then I was thinking we could watch a movie.” he says as he points to the TV.

I sit down and put the napkin in my lap. “Sure. What kind of movie?”

Eugene looks up and has a mischievous grin. “I could only find horror movies, so I hope that’s okay.”

I stop eating and gulp. During our talk last night, I mentioned to him that I can’t do horror movies very well. Is he doing this on purpose?

“Challenge accepted.” I say with a poker face.

As soon as dinner is done, Eugene let’s me pick out the movie. After I narrow it down to three, I pick one with my eyes closed and have Eugene put it in before I open my eyes.

“Are you sure your ready for this? I know you can’t do scary, so I will protect you from all the characters that jump scare you.” he laughs.

“Just play the movie and come sit down.” I say impatiently.

And just like that, we watch the movie while I am cuddled up to him. It feels like the world outside isn’t so bad when I have someone else to be around. I wouldn’t mind if we didn’t go anywhere else.