Deserted

I opened my eyes. The sun shone brightly into my room, warming it up nicely. Somewhere on the floor, one of my sun catchers sent rainbows dancing on my walls. The ceiling fan hummed quietly, and I felt the nice breeze gently caressing my cheeks.

Not wanting to move, I stalled time by glancing around my room, checking out how it looked.

The window was on the left wall, with some wooden boards across it. Beams of sun came through the cracks, slicing the dim darkness of my room. On my grey-carpeted floor, several various shirts and pants were scattered about. Some pieces of paper were floating aimlessly around the room.

My walls were not pretty. There were some cracks in the foundation, and some of the red velvet painting was chipping off to reveal something grey.

My closet was in the right wall, tightly closed. Next to me, the bed stand had some various items like coins and keys. They were a part of my past, things I had found that had nothing but memories to their value.

The past... which one? I wondered.

I moved around, squirming underneath my blanket. It was so warm and comfortable, I just didn't want to get up, but I knew I should. I yawned, stretched my arms out of the blanket, and sat up. I could tell by the way the breeze from the fan hit me that my hair was a mess. I leaned over and put on my glasses.

I was hit with sudden nostalgia. It was from the ceiling fan and the sunlight, and the warmness of the room. It reminded me of the beach. You see, when I was around seven, my family and I went up to Lake Erie in Ohio, to spend some time together, and with my Dad's sister. We had rented some small shack-like cabins that were literally right next to the beach. All we had to do is go down the wooden stairs outside, and it would lead right into the sand.

On the first morning, I distinctly remember waking up to this exact feeling, with the humming of the fan, and the sunlight lazily peeking through the blinds, and the warmness and quiet of the cabin. I remember getting up and looking out onto the beach.

Now, every time the conditions are just right, I had the memories and feelings return.
My eyes watered... never again would I experience vacations with my family again. I blinked my tears away. I should have gotten used to this. It's been four years. I know my family is never coming back.

I sighed and looked to my left. Tyler was peacefully sleeping, his head facing the other way. I watched his chest slowly rise, and fall again. He was so peaceful in his sleep. I smiled, feeling my love for him.

Not wanting to disturb him, I gave him a quick kiss on his head and got up. Before opening my door, I examined in the mirror. Yup. I defiantly had bed head.

I opened the door, making sure it didn't creak, and closed it silently behind me. I walked down the hallway, and made my way to the stairs. Creeping on my tip-toes, I went down step by step. Cccreeeaaaakkkkk.

Damnit. I forgot about that step! I shrugged, and kept going down the stairs, not caring anymore. That step woke up Tyler no matter what. It was designed like that... In case there were any intruders. Or something. You never know these days.

"Tyler! It's just me!" I yelled up the stairs in case he got worried.

I went into the kitchen, which was conveniently on the left, and opened the fridge. Nothing really good today. I grabbed the jug of milk and took a swig. Using cups was a waste these days. It just wasted our water.

I walked past the stairs, towards the basement door, because I had to do some inspections and plus I wanted to take a shower. Yeah, the shower was downstairs.

The door was padlocked for safety, and I looked around for the crucifix. You know, the Cross with Jesus Christ on it. It was hanging up on the left side of the door. I removed it from the wall and turned it around. On the back, the key was taped on. Yeah, I know it is an abuse to the crucifix, but when safety is concerned, I don't think Jesus minds.

I hanged the crucifix back up and unlocked the padlock. I opened the door and flipped on the light switch. These stairs were wooden, unlike the carpeted ones upstairs. I descended quickly, because the basement is spine-chilling. Cobwebs hanged from the ceilings, and the basement wasn’t decorated at all.

It was a place that I always feared as a child. My mom would always ask me to get something from downstairs and I would give her a scared look. I always thought some bad guy would be downstairs, or a monster, or whatever I could imagine up as scary. The clothes dryer would always make a loud buzzing noise whenever it finished, and I would never know where it came from. Even today, I run up the stairs on my way back.

I snapped out of memory lane, and turned right at the bottom of the stairs. A big, humming generator was in the middle of the basement. It was the source of our electricity. I went over to this massive piece of equipment and looked at the gauge. I sighed. Great. It’s low on gas.

I went around the generator and walked over to the shower room. The door was one of those hazy glass doors. Inside, it really wasn’t much, just a hand pump shower. I did several pumps and the water started to flow out. I shed out of my clothes and stepped underneath. I felt the icy cold water hit me and I shivered. I missed hot water, that’s for sure. I quickly soaped myself up and shampooed my hair and rinsed off. Despite the fact that the pump got water directly from an underground river, I didn’t want to waste any.

I hopped out of the shower and dried myself off with a towel from the pile next to the door. As I always did, I ran up the stairs on all fours. Tyler was awake, eating some toast in the kitchen.

“Good morning, Sunshine!” I said cheerfully.

Tyler looked up and grinned. “Good morning, Beautiful! How’s the generator?”

I frowned. “It’s nearly empty. We gotta get more gas.”

“Seriously? Didn’t we just get it, like, five days ago?” Tyler asked.

“I know. But with the way life is, time doesn’t seem to exist, or be relevant. I guess it’s been a whole week so far.” I shrugged.

“I guess we are going to get gas today.” Tyler smirked.

“Yeah.” I said, a bit distracted. I hate getting gas. It was so risky and dangerous. Places with gas are hotspots for... them.

Tyler eyed me. “Do you need some fresh air?” He asked.

“Yeah, I guess. I just don’t like getting gas.” I said, looking up at Tyler.

Tyler walked me to the front door. He removed the wooden boards and unlocked the locks. We took lots of precaution to this sort of stuff.

We walked outside and it was a beautiful day. It was sunny and a few clouds drifted by. The scenery acted like nothing bad had happened. I glanced around. It was completely quiet in the neighborhood. There was no noise. Just the wind blowing through the trees.

I glanced at all the houses. They were all horribly ugly. Plants had grown through and out of the houses, and trees have pretty much taken over everyone’s lawns. The houses were broken and falling apart. I felt like I was in a ruin. Technically, I was. But, I felt like this was Ancient Rome, and I was glancing at something that was foreign to me. Something that made you wonder, “What did they do here? What was it like?” It has been that long.

No one was in the neighborhood; they had all died out. It was just Tyler and I in this city.

I wish life was like it was before.