part 1 (prologue? chapter 1? i dunno)

i may or may not be completely insane. >.< anyway. here we go.

Marya was ten when her parents got divorced. She was thirteen when she developed her first crush on a girl, and sixteen when she met her first girlfriend. She was fifteen when she talked her dad into letting her take drum lessons. She was nineteen when she joined her first band. She was twenty-three when her grandma went into assisted living and she moved into her grandma's house.

And she was twenty-six when her grandma - along with ninety percent of the world's population - vanished into thin air.

( It took Marya most of the day to realize something was wrong. )

words: 781

that was day 1, this is day 2

"Fucking hell," she said. "What's going on?"

She let Oscar in, more out of paranoia than because he'd done his business - although he had - made some coffee and watched TV for a while to figure out what was going on. Even the cable channels had interrupted their normal programming for news reports and scrolling feeds across the bottom of the screen. Marya sat on the couch and watched for an hour and at the end of it all she knew for sure was that half the world seemed to have vanished.

( Gone. Poof. Like the little old lady next door had said. )

words: 801
total words: 1582

still day 2

Half of your street suddenly going missing made for a very strangely quiet afternoon. It was so quiet that Marya was starting to think that maybe more than half the population was gone. Maybe it was more like three-quarters. Even Cujo and Cujo II were quiet, although it was more likely that they were inside with the little old lady than that they had disappeared too.

Just to be sure, Marya knocked on the little old lady's front door. She heard barking on the other side, which was a good sign, and then the door opened a crack, which was also a good sign.

"Hi," Marya said. "I just wanted to know you were still here."

"Oh, I'm still here," the little old lady said. She sounded almost angry. "They're not coming for me!"

"Who?" What happened to Gone, vanished, poof?

( It's a terrorist plot, they're saying. )

words: 1139
total words: 2719