Where Is Evryone?

4.

Ashley settled in the car that still had the keys in, the black car that she found abandoned on the road, along with many others the previous day by whoever the owner was. She didn't mean to steal it, but ended up doing so.

"Well, it's not stealing until someone sees it, right?" she tried to justify to herself.

In the car, Ashley pondered her next move, currently she had planned on going to "Roover's".

Desperate to reach her loved ones,she called her mom first, then her sister, then her friend Maya, followed by her father, and her friend Billie, who had moved to  Malaysia with her husband.
To her dismay, none of them picked up. It didn't matter if they were in her hometown or halfway across the world; the calls went unanswered.

The eerie silence and lack of any response left Ashley feeling even more unsettled. She was haunted by questions. Where was everyone? Where was she? Could she be hallucinating? But then, how could all the calls go unanswered if she were merely hallucinating?

"Oh my God!" Ashley exclaimed in frustration, clutching the steering wheel tightly as she tried to comprehend the situation. Her mind was racing, trying to find a logical explanation for what was happening, but nothing seemed to make sense.

This is how it usually is, a problem comes up and she just can't stop thinking. But, this situation was not  what any other usual problem she had faced.

Ashley started driving. She was so busy thinking about everything that she didn't even turn on the radio, which is what usually helps her calm down. The situation was overwhelming for her, it was too hard to understand what was going on, specially when she had no one to discuss it with.

Many thoughts clouded her mind as she kept driving.

Until.

She reached the spot where she took this car from, the same spot she left her own car at.

The scene was absolutely terrifying, to say the least.

she saw the accident site frozen in time, just as it was the day before. Everything was exactly where it was the previous day, she saw all the cars, just the way they were the day before. Ashley froze on her spot,with her hands tightly clutching  the steering wheel. She couldn't move, she felt as if the slightest movement in her body could destroy her world. Taking in a slow and steady breath. She felt like the protagonist in those movies where an apocalypse happens and the protagonist comes across the deserted city. Feeling like the protagonist of a zombie apocalypse movie, she felt utterly alone in this vast, deserted city.

After a few moments of keeping her eyes shut tightly, Ashley finally calms down and gives in to the situation. She in no way is gonna walk on the path she did the previous night.

Rotating the steering wheel and moving the gear to reverse, she decided to drive back to her home. Ashley made a mental note to never come back to this spot again, if she wanna go to Roover's ever, she'll take the long way instead, That road was too traumatizing, from the way it looked and the emotions connected to it.Since that was the road where she lost almost everything, she still had the materials,her home and Roover's. She even lost her car that she cherished so much, the car she had to leave in that traffic jam because she just couldn't get it out of there. She saved money to buy that car, it wasn't her dream car, but her dream to buy a car was fulfilled. She took care of that car so dearly, kept it in the Garage, cleaned it herself almost every weekend and took it to the car wash at least once every two months.

Those are the materials, materials that she may get over someday. The most precious thing she lost was her loved ones,
The person who birthed her,her mother.
The person who always gave her anything she demanded for, her father.
The person who she's lived with most of her life, her sister.
The people who she had so many memories with, her friends.
And all the people she communicated with on a daily basis, basically she lost it all, just in a few seconds.

Unable to deal with the overwhelming situation,a single tear slipped out of her left eye and her breath became uneven. As she tried not to break down, looking upwards she hoped the tears would not slip out, something she always does to prevent herself from crying, but it didn't work. Her view starts to blur as more and more tears formed in her eyes, Ashley decided to stop driving and parked her car by the sidewalk, and finally let out a sob, and another one
And another one
And another one.

And suddenly she took a deep breath and tears stopped falling. In this situation, this session of crying made her let everything out. Feeling peaceful now. Ashley started the car again and drove towards her house.

Upon reaching there, she parked the car in the driveway.

She stepped out,looking down at the floor too afraid to look up and see the empty and abandoned place again. She stepped  inside the house, and after locking the door, Ashley walked towards the window in the living room and drew the curtains shut. She does the same with all the windows in her house, as she switches on all the lights. She did not want to see the outside at all, at least for a while now.

Her home somehow did not feel different, maybe because she'd always stayed in this one alone. So, she was comfortable with being alone most of the time.  She stood up off the gray couch she was sitting on and walked towards the cabinet placed under the mounted TV and picked out  a small diary and a pen from the drawer.

A small to-do list diary of hers. She flipped open to an empty page writting down the date.

She stepped back and sat on the couch again, thinking about what she should add next.

Conflicted
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