The Nightmare Came True..!

The Deserted Town

I went towards the owner of the voice, thinking about what their words meant: "You're not alone."

He stood there and I cursed myself for not recognizing him before. He was dressed unusually today; his T-shirts that he wears everyday weren't there, but instead, a black, leather jacket. He was looking rather good, but of course I would never tell him that thought. I would die before I did that.

"Hey," I started. "Did you notice something's different today? Like nobody's in school and I found nobody at home. The streets were--"

Kevin cut me off as usual. "Yeah, I didn't find anybody either. It's like the town has been deserted. What to do now?" he asked casually.

Wow, he wasn't arguing with me for a change; maybe because there's just one person in this town right now and if I go, he'd be all alone. Now that's wishful thinking.

"I have an idea! Let's knock door to door to see if anybody else is here or not. All this seems to make no sense to me, but that's all we can do," I said.

He nodded.

We walked out of the school on our little journey around town. But whenever we knocked, nobody answered. Kevin was checking he houses on the left side of the road and I was on the right. After two hours, we finally arrived to the conclusion that something happened yesterday after the lightning.

We went back to the school and decided to go to the cafeteria since our quest had made us quite hungry by noon. No one was here, so I went behind the counter and made us some sandwiches with everything I found there.

We were sitting opposite each other on one of the tables and after a while, I asked, "May I ask why you are all dressed up today?"

"It's my birthday," he said gloomily.

"Oh" was all I could say. I was so stupid; I didn't even wish him a happy birthday. Instead, I said "oh," a monosyllable word. I thought of ways to say it to him while I munched on my sandwich for the next five minutes.

It's been so long since I've been fighting with him that talking nicely to him made me feel nervous. It's not like I was proposing to him, though. It shouldn't be that hard. 

I finally willed myself to say it. "Uh, happy birthday." I tried to smile, but my attempt turned out to be just plain awkward.

"Um, thanks," he said.

"Hey, we've got to discuss this," I said, trying to change the subject. "What are we supposed to do in a possibly deserted town and how is this all possible? Are we in a dream?" I kept on blabbering, squeaking an "ouch!" when he pinched me. I frowned. "What?"

"It's all real. Believe it now or I'll pinch you again," he said in a flat tone.

"You're a jerk."

"Thanks, but no thanks," he said sarcastically.

I bit off the last part of my sandwich and stood up from my seat, looking around. 

"What?" he asked, confused.

"I was wondering what should be done now. We've searched everywhere for a sign of any soul except for each other, but no success. Apparently, nobody's in this town and I have many questions. And I'm confused, and . . ." I kept on talking about how it couldn't get any worse, but he shut me up pretty quickly.

"Will you shut up already? Your talking isn't gonna bring anybody. So let's sit and think, rather than speaking out the while situation," he said seriously.

I sat still for the next five minutes, having no clue what to do.

"I have an idea," Kevin said.

I rolled my eyes. "What are you waiting for, Einstein?"

His face brightened up as he told me his brilliant idea. I was surprised because this idea just might work.

"If the situation remains the same tomorrow, meaning there's no people except us, then I have a friend who's a radio jockey in the neighboring town. I've visited him before and he even let me be there with him on his show. I'll go to that building and ask him to give a message and it will reach almost everywhere in the country. This way, I'll tell other people about our town and give our phone numbers. They'll help us out. We might even get to know why our town is deserted and on my way back, I can also contact the cops. It'll work," he finished.

"Um . . . good," I muttered. Nobody really praises the people they despise, so I didn't exactly say it that loud.

"We'll do all that tomorrow," he said.

I agreed without giving any thought to it. "Okay."

It was awkward that we were walking home together. We could never stand each other and here we are, walking home. We didn't talk, though. He lived just two houses away from my home in the same lane.

As I was making my way inside my home, I heard, "Hey, Kaitlin."

I turned around to face him with a questioning look on my face.

"It's weird, but since you're the only one right now in this town besides me, shouldn't we exchange phone numbers? Just in case."

I looked at him with a blank expression as I realized we've known each other for a long time, but don't have the others' number. Oh, right, because we hate each other. "Alright," I reluctantly agreed, taking a piece of paper from my bag and jotting down my number. I gave it to him and went inside.

I changed into my pajamas, but I couldn't sleep. I don't suffer from insomnia, but all that had happened in the last 24 hours was too much to be real. My phone vibrated and I looked at be caller ID, reading the name "Kevin" on the screen. Is he going to pinch me through the phone? Thinking that, I picked it up anyway.