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smackenzie"This is weird," she said out loud to Oscar. Her neighborhood suddenly seemed a little creepier.
In the event of am emergency, Oscar would be useless as defense but at least she had the flashlight, which was hefty enough to use as a weapon in case something jumped out at her. Not that she had any idea what that something might be.... She figured the chances of running into another human being were slim to none, unless Annette and Phil were also out for a walk, and she really didn't want to think about what other random creatures might be wandering around her neighborhood. The strange cat that wasn't really a cat, from yesterday, was creepy enough, and it was just about cat-sized. Marya wasn't interested in the possibility of finding something larger.
She walked down to Annette and Phil's house and was relieved to see what was probably candlelight inside. That meant they were still around. She seriously considered knocking on their door to say hi, just to make herself feel better about not being the only person left in the neighborhood, but she remembered that Annette had said that Phil was allergic to dogs, and while Marya was pretty sure that was just an excuse, she didn't really want to test it. And besides, if that was her inside the house, would she really want someone she'd just met to knock on the door? She'd probably scare the poor people half to death. Annette had seemed kind of neurotic.
So, no, maybe she wouldn't stop and say hi. It was actually enough just to know someone was still home in their house.
Marya walked Oscar around the block and then around the next block, scanning not just the street but also the sidewalks and the front yards with her flashlight. It was eerily quiet with all the lights off and no one around. She hadn't expected normal populated neighborhood noise - cars, dogs in back yards, TV noise, maybe doors opening and closing - but there were no birds, no insects, no nothing. It was never this quiet at night. It wasn't supposed to be this quiet at night. She wondered if most of the human population disappearing also meant that most of the animal kingdom was gone too. Somehow that was a freakier idea.
"You gotta pee and poo," she told Oscar, "and then we are going home and staying there. This isn't right."
But Oscar didn't seem particularly interested in going very far from Marya's side. Usually he was off sniffing tires and grass and random crap on the street or the sidewalks, and he'd lift his leg against pretty much anything. She used to feel like she was always dragging him away from car tires to keep him from marking them as his. She'd never had a problem taking him for a walk and getting him to pee. But now he didn't want to go far enough away from her to do his business. Apparently he'd twigged to the fact that something was very wrong in their corner of the world, and suddenly he had the sense to be afraid.
Marya tried to solve this by walking up to a tree in someone's front yard and standing next to it. She waved the flashlight at a handy spot on the ground as encouragement. Oscar looked at the grass, looked at her, looked at the tree, looked at her, looked at the grass, and finally lifted his leg to water the tree. Marya huffed out a breath, relieved. Now she just had to get him to poop, although she could probably take him home and have him do that in the back yard. Maybe he'd feel safer there and less... constipated.
They headed home, Marya still swinging the flashlight around to try and light up everything in their path and on either side of it. Oscar trotted along next to her. She started to sing - the Violent Femmes' "Add It Up" - but the sound carried so strangely in the empty streets that she stopped. God damn, this was creepy.
When they got back to the dark house Marya swept the flashlight across all the front windows, even though she couldn't see anything except the light reflected back at her. She wasn't sure what she was afraid of - she'd locked the door and there was no one around to break in even if she hadn't. It wasn't as if some strange guy had snuck into the house while she was walking Oscar and was now hiding in the guest room or somewhere, waiting for her to come home so he could ravage her. That was something her grandma would have been afraid of. Marya was pretty sure she didn't have to worry about it, and wouldn't have had to worry about it even if nothing crazy had happened in the past four days, and the neighborhood was as full as it had always been.
The first thing she did when she got inside, though, even before she unhooked Oscar's leash, was to check every room in the house and then light the three-branched candelabra that sat in the middle of the dining room table. She had never been sure why her grandma had thought it was important that she have a candelabra, but now she could see a use for it.
There were matches in the junk drawer - those always came in handy - and after Marya got the candles lit she unhooked Oscar's leash, took it and the candelabra into the kitchen, and tried the phone. No signal, naturally. She tried her cell phone but couldn't get any reception on that either. She booted up her laptop, which was thankfully all charged because she always left it plugged in anyway, just to make sure her internet was still down, and it was. She felt very cut off.
She took the candelabra, the matches, and the flashlight into her room, where she put the candelabra and the matches on the dresser so she could see enough to get changed for bed. When she was done, she turned on the flashlight and blew out the candles. She didn't even bother to brush her teeth. She'd put her toothbrush and toothpaste in a box in the kitchen, anyway. Oscar had followed her into her room, of course, and when she got in bed she waved the flashlight at him and then at the end of the bed, so he'd know she wanted him to sleep on the mattress with her.
She'd been rereading Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club before bed - possibly weird bedtime reading, but it didn't give her nightmares or even especially strange dreams - so it was sitting on her bedside table already. She read for a while, thinking about the book and the movie until she decided she was probably tired enough to go to sleep. In the morning she'd have some breakfast, let Oscar out again, pack the van, and head out to California. That thought was just about the most comforting thought she'd had all day, and she held on to the idea that it was a smart thing to do until she fell asleep.
words: 1188
total words: 28,006
In the event of am emergency, Oscar would be useless as defense but at least she had the flashlight, which was hefty enough to use as a weapon in case something jumped out at her. Not that she had any idea what that something might be.... She figured the chances of running into another human being were slim to none, unless Annette and Phil were also out for a walk, and she really didn't want to think about what other random creatures might be wandering around her neighborhood. The strange cat that wasn't really a cat, from yesterday, was creepy enough, and it was just about cat-sized. Marya wasn't interested in the possibility of finding something larger.
She walked down to Annette and Phil's house and was relieved to see what was probably candlelight inside. That meant they were still around. She seriously considered knocking on their door to say hi, just to make herself feel better about not being the only person left in the neighborhood, but she remembered that Annette had said that Phil was allergic to dogs, and while Marya was pretty sure that was just an excuse, she didn't really want to test it. And besides, if that was her inside the house, would she really want someone she'd just met to knock on the door? She'd probably scare the poor people half to death. Annette had seemed kind of neurotic.
So, no, maybe she wouldn't stop and say hi. It was actually enough just to know someone was still home in their house.
Marya walked Oscar around the block and then around the next block, scanning not just the street but also the sidewalks and the front yards with her flashlight. It was eerily quiet with all the lights off and no one around. She hadn't expected normal populated neighborhood noise - cars, dogs in back yards, TV noise, maybe doors opening and closing - but there were no birds, no insects, no nothing. It was never this quiet at night. It wasn't supposed to be this quiet at night. She wondered if most of the human population disappearing also meant that most of the animal kingdom was gone too. Somehow that was a freakier idea.
"You gotta pee and poo," she told Oscar, "and then we are going home and staying there. This isn't right."
But Oscar didn't seem particularly interested in going very far from Marya's side. Usually he was off sniffing tires and grass and random crap on the street or the sidewalks, and he'd lift his leg against pretty much anything. She used to feel like she was always dragging him away from car tires to keep him from marking them as his. She'd never had a problem taking him for a walk and getting him to pee. But now he didn't want to go far enough away from her to do his business. Apparently he'd twigged to the fact that something was very wrong in their corner of the world, and suddenly he had the sense to be afraid.
Marya tried to solve this by walking up to a tree in someone's front yard and standing next to it. She waved the flashlight at a handy spot on the ground as encouragement. Oscar looked at the grass, looked at her, looked at the tree, looked at her, looked at the grass, and finally lifted his leg to water the tree. Marya huffed out a breath, relieved. Now she just had to get him to poop, although she could probably take him home and have him do that in the back yard. Maybe he'd feel safer there and less... constipated.
They headed home, Marya still swinging the flashlight around to try and light up everything in their path and on either side of it. Oscar trotted along next to her. She started to sing - the Violent Femmes' "Add It Up" - but the sound carried so strangely in the empty streets that she stopped. God damn, this was creepy.
When they got back to the dark house Marya swept the flashlight across all the front windows, even though she couldn't see anything except the light reflected back at her. She wasn't sure what she was afraid of - she'd locked the door and there was no one around to break in even if she hadn't. It wasn't as if some strange guy had snuck into the house while she was walking Oscar and was now hiding in the guest room or somewhere, waiting for her to come home so he could ravage her. That was something her grandma would have been afraid of. Marya was pretty sure she didn't have to worry about it, and wouldn't have had to worry about it even if nothing crazy had happened in the past four days, and the neighborhood was as full as it had always been.
The first thing she did when she got inside, though, even before she unhooked Oscar's leash, was to check every room in the house and then light the three-branched candelabra that sat in the middle of the dining room table. She had never been sure why her grandma had thought it was important that she have a candelabra, but now she could see a use for it.
There were matches in the junk drawer - those always came in handy - and after Marya got the candles lit she unhooked Oscar's leash, took it and the candelabra into the kitchen, and tried the phone. No signal, naturally. She tried her cell phone but couldn't get any reception on that either. She booted up her laptop, which was thankfully all charged because she always left it plugged in anyway, just to make sure her internet was still down, and it was. She felt very cut off.
She took the candelabra, the matches, and the flashlight into her room, where she put the candelabra and the matches on the dresser so she could see enough to get changed for bed. When she was done, she turned on the flashlight and blew out the candles. She didn't even bother to brush her teeth. She'd put her toothbrush and toothpaste in a box in the kitchen, anyway. Oscar had followed her into her room, of course, and when she got in bed she waved the flashlight at him and then at the end of the bed, so he'd know she wanted him to sleep on the mattress with her.
She'd been rereading Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club before bed - possibly weird bedtime reading, but it didn't give her nightmares or even especially strange dreams - so it was sitting on her bedside table already. She read for a while, thinking about the book and the movie until she decided she was probably tired enough to go to sleep. In the morning she'd have some breakfast, let Oscar out again, pack the van, and head out to California. That thought was just about the most comforting thought she'd had all day, and she held on to the idea that it was a smart thing to do until she fell asleep.
words: 1188
total words: 28,006
