Alone (Aaron's Birthday Story)
Alone
By Ray Bush
Aaron woke up more groggy than usual and wondered why his alarm did not go off this morning. His phone was dead which was also strange, he plugged it in every night before he went to bed. His computer tower was also not glowing and that was very weird, he never shut his computer down. He rubbed his eyes and stretched his body as he stood up. He made a quick trip to the bathroom. The light wouldn’t turn on. He looked in Arayen’s room, his little brother was not in his bed or in his computer chair. None of the lights on Arayen’s electronics had any lights illuminating in his brother’s dark room. Arayen always slept until at least noon, and it was only…. What time was it?. Aaron realized that he had no clue.
“Mom,” he called down the short hall into his mom and dad’s room. When she didn’t answer he called out, “Dad?” Dad didn’t answer either.
Aaron walked to his parents bedroom, he was only a little confused why they weren’t there. His parents did like to go on rides through the Utah mountains and sometimes the deserts, but Arayen never went anywhere without Aaron knowing. He picked up his phone to call Aylah but got pissed all over again when he realized it was still dead. He walked to his computer and tried to turn it on. It stayed dark as well. Aaron was quickly past nervous to the stage of being mildly freaked out. Aaron tried to turn on his bedroom light. For the third or fourth or fifth time, Aaron was getting too anxious to remember for sure, nothing happened.
His worry continued to grow. Aaron quickly made a peanut butter sandwich and ate it just as quickly. He got dressed, walked to the door, and grabbed his dad’s SUV key before he shut the door behind him. Aaron immediately noticed how weird the light looked. The sky was orange-ish like the videos of dust storms he sometimes watched. He walked down the stairs then looked up to see what was making the color of the world so strange. It looked like the atmosphere changed making the sun orange and nearly invisible. Aaron was no scientist but he thought if that had happened then he wouldn’t be able to breathe. The wind blew softly in his ear like a seductive lover whispering lustful words.
Both parents' cars were in the driveway. Where the hell could they be? Where the hell was Arayen? Why did the world look post-apocalyptic? Aaron was terrified. He didn’t even know where he would begin to look. He closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. The only places to go would be Gma or Aunt Boo, the rest of his family lived too far away. Why would everyone leave him with no power and no idea what was going on?
He decided to head to Aunt Boo’s house first since she lived closer. He hit the electronic lock on his dad’s SUV. Of course nothing happened, Aaron was really getting sick of shit not working. He used the key to unlock the door but the car didn’t start, none of the dash lights turned on either. Aaron tried it again but the damn engine wouldn’t even turn over. So that meant Aaron would be walking. Aaron walked east past the neighbors house then turned south on the east side of their house. Their house seemed, not necessarily dead but not alive for sure. He walked a block south then turned east and walked a couple more blocks. Then he turned north and followed the road as it veered east until he stood next to highway 89.
He looked north, that way was empty. He looked south, nothing was that way either. Aaron appeared to be completely alone in the world, or at least North Salt Lake. South was Aunt Boo’s, north was Gma’s. Aaron followed his gut, he turned south towards his aunt’s house. His shoes slapped on the sidewalk. Aaron looked around. There were no dogs barking, no bugs buzzing through the air, and no birds in the sky. He didn’t even have the feeling of being watched. Aaron walked towards the streetlight but like everything else the lights were black. The lack of life was extremely unsettling. And so was the new color of the world.
Why was he so scared to be alone? He thought back, all he had right now was silence and time to think. It could have been the time his grandpa didn’t realize Aaron’s dad left for work and he was supposed to be watching the young boy. It was only for twenty minutes but it was a terrifying twenty minutes.
Aaron was downstairs in his room playing video games when he heard the front door close. Where was grandpa going without him? He paused his game, maybe he was just getting something from his truck. Aaron walked out of his room then looked up the stairs. He froze when he saw the black mist at the top of the stairs. It looked humanoid but with a bat face and leathery black wings. The right wing was through the door into the kitchen. The left was halfway visible because it was through the wall into the living room, like a ghost.
Aaron ran back to his room, baseball slid under his bed, then made a quick and flimsy wall out of a few toys. A loud footstep hit the top of the wooden stairs, then the second. The thing knew Aaron was alone and that it had him just where it wanted. It slowly descended the stairs. Then its hooved feet clomped on the hardwood floor in the hallway. It let out a growl low in its throat like a demonic dog. Aaron was crying silently while silently hoping the thing couldn’t hear him. He had seen the demon before of course, but only one or twice. This thing had been here long before Aaron and would be here long after. He only saw the thing in the house when he was alone, which almost never happened. After he saw this demon the first time Aaron made sure he was never in the house alone. The hoof falls came through his doorway, down the side of the bed to the foot.
It stopped at the footboard. Aaron’s heart was pounding and he continued crying silent tears. A smoke hand grabbed the blankets that were acting as blinds for Aaron. It pulled them up and Aaron could see the horns on top of his head. Just before it’s eyes fell on Aaron the front door slammed.
“AARON!” Grandpa yelled, “Aaron are you ok?” Even at his young age Aaron could hear the worry and guilt in his voice. The feet wisped away from the bed to who knows where. Aaron flew up the stairs and into his grandpa’s arms. “I’m sorry buddy. Are you ok?”
Aaron came out of the memory where the streetlight hung dead like a metal skeleton hanging in the sky. On the southwest corner was the lifeless post office, to the south east was a car lot full of dead cars. Across from him on the northeast corner was a small mechanic shop. Aaron had never experienced this level of silence. It was like everything on the planet died except for him. He crossed the street diagonally towards the car lot.
The slight upgrade east was about a half a mile then Aaron turned south, this road would lead straight to Aunt Boo’s. It was a short walk through the unalive neighborhood of suburban homes. Aaron was worried as soon as he saw her apartment. Her curtains were wide open, Aaron had never seen their curtains cracked open let alone wide open. The large living room window of the upstairs apartment was right next to Uncle Steve’s gamer station. Steve hated having those black curtains opened. He crossed the street, walked the short walk up the walkway to the apartment, then climbed the stairs.
He knocked on the door which opened with a stereotypical haunted house screech. Aaron wanted to call out for Aunt Boo or Uncle Steve but didn’t really want to draw unwanted attention, not that he saw anyone that would pay attention to him. Neither he or Boo was sitting in front of their dead computers, if they were home in their gamer chairs is where they could be found most times. What the fuck is going on? Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Aaron stepped through the threshold into the living room. Not one single thing was out of place. He walked past the back of the couch so he was able to see into the kitchen. There was nothing out of place in the kitchen either and the stove clock was dark here also. None of the family was in the kitchen, he walked down the hall. The first door on the left was a short hall that led to the bathroom. Aaron squinted to be able to see in the dark room, nobody was in there.
The next door on the left was Ryan’s room, his curtains were also wide open letting in the strange orange light. He was Boo and Steve’s eight year old son. There was not a toy on the floor, his bed was perfectly made. The knot in Aaron’s stomach tightened just a little. Aaron walked out of the room, all the eyes from the several family photos on the opposite wall seemed to be watching his every move. At the end of the hallway was a door on either side. Between the doors was a wooden case with glass doors shelving various trinkets and pictures. To the left was Ricky and Hazel’s bedroom, to the right was Aunt Boo and Uncle Steve’s bedroom. Their curtain was also wide opened and Hazel was missing from the bottom bunk and Ricky was not on the top bunk. The room, like the rest of the house, looked freshly cleaned. Including beds made as if made by a very well trained military man. They were around ten years Aaron’s junior but he was still disappointed, he hated being alone.
Aunt Boo’s room was mostly dark, empty, and every bit as organized as the rest of the house. It was like they were all abducted by aliens but made sure their house was cleaned. Just to make sure Aaron walked to the bed and rubbed his hand across the blanket. Just as he thought, they were not there. His heart sank just a little deeper. He looked in both terrariums, both the spider and snake were gone. Tears formed in his eyes but he fought them back before they could fall.
Aaron walked out back to the door, the next step would be walking to Gma’s house. If there was an apocalypse that would be the place to be. Gpa was plenty stocked with guns and ammo while Gma was known for stockpiling food, both canned and frozen. Even if they didn’t have the stockpile Gpa was also able to hunt and fish, If there were any animals left in the world. He would be a very handy guy to hang out with in this empty world. He walked back in the house and grabbed a bottle of water and a kid sized bag of cheese flavored crackers. That’s when he remembered their dog Wookie who was also missing.
Aaron shut the door behind him but didn’t lock it just in case he needed to come back for water or snacks. He walked back through the neighborhood to highway 89 wondering where the hell everyone had gone while dread grew inside his chest. Gma lived a few miles to the north, he hoped and prayed that his grandparents would be there.
As his nerves got more shaky Aaron began to hope he wouldn’t see anyone. People made him nervous on normal days, who knew how would act if the world really was ending. He guessed if this was the end of the world then all the good people would be in heaven. If this crisis was man or nature made Aaron guessed it wouldn’t take long for people to turn on each other, hell they already were before today. In Aaron’s experience humans seemed to be an extremely hateful species.
Aaron hoped the orange would go away eventually, he never realized how much your eyes craved the light they were used to. Aaron crossed the street so he walked on the west side of Highway 89. There were large trees between the road and the fence shielding the neighborhood from the highway. It would be much easier to hide on this side of the road. He thought again about not wanting to see anyone until he had a chance to talk to someone in his family. Aaron wanted everything explained to him before he ran into any randos in the world. A lump formed in his throat and he swallowed hard to get rid of it.
Aaron walked north in the almost silent world, his footfalls and the soft breeze were his only companions. The mountains to the east were, maybe a ten minute drive, but in the orange world they were hard to see. The world was what he thought it would be like on Mars, if Mars had suburbs. Aaron heard a loud thump, a second later there was another, then another, and another. He was scared, he looked for the source of the continuing thump. Nothing straight ahead, to the left, the right, or behind him. He almost laughed when he realized he was hearing his pulse thumping in his ear.
He passed building after lifeless building, mostly houses and mobile homes on his side of the road while the opposite side was mostly three level apartments. There were also a couple banks, one on his side and one on the other. There were a few car lots, two things Bountiful had plenty of were banks and car lots. Aaron had never experienced this level of solitude in his life, it was extremely unsettling. The oil change shop/carwash was as dead as the rest of the world. Aaron’s hands picked up a slight nervous shiver. It was like he slipped into the dimension next door to his reality.
Aaron prayed to God that Gma would be home, he wasn’t active in the church but he didn’t let that stop him believing. If she wasn’t Aaron didn’t know what he was going to do next. The rest of his family lived a good distance away and would most likely be where everyone else was at. He guessed that would be the next step but he was not holding his breath for good news. He also figured he would have to make the trek on foot, as far as he could tell none of the machinery worked. There was a chance he would find something later but he thought the chances were slim.
Aaron walked under the empty bridge that crossed over the main street. There was no sidewalk but with no cars on the road he wasn’t really worried. He was only about twenty minutes away from his grandparents house. His stomach re-tied itself in a knot. He didn’t know how to whistle so he decided to sing some of his favorite songs. They were eighties songs that were popular when his dad was a kid and yet dad made fun of Aaron for listening.
He walked by the suit store on his side, then the dollar store. On the other side was a bank, convenience store, and of course a car dealership. He crossed the street still heading north, stores continued passing by but he wasn’t really paying attention to them anymore. He was only minutes away from Gma’s. His heart was pounding now so he decided to jog. His shoes smacked loudly on the sidewalk but he didn’t care. There was nobody left in the world, probably not Gma or Gpa. Probably not mom, dad, Aylah, or Rayen. Aunt Boo’s family was obviously gone. Aaron was alone, most likely for the rest of his life.
Aaron started to panic so he decided to try to sprint the dread away. In two minutes he turned west, then a minute later he stood in front of his grandparents house. Again he prayed that they were in there. He was breathing heavily and on the verge of tears. He walked in the door, the door being unlocked was not a great sign but maybe they were expecting family in the crisis. The living room was empty, so was the kitchen, and the storage room. That was exactly what he was expecting but it was still disappointing.
They were also not in the laundry room, the office, or the bathroom. There were only two more options. Like Aunt Boo’s house, there was a door on the left and the right at the end of the hallway. The left was the guest bedroom, the right was Gma’s room. He didn’t want to look. Aaron already almost knew they weren’t here but really knowing would be heartbreaking. He slowly made his way to the end of the hall. Just like he expected, both rooms were empty. Aaron let his emotions break free, he fell to his knees and began to sob. He was alone in the world. How was he going to stay sane for the rest of his life with only his thoughts to keep him company. He would try to find the rest of his family but chances are they were where the hell ever the rest of the world was. Aaron knew he had to head out so he wiped his tears, got to his feet, and straightened his back. His dad would have been proud.
He found Gpa’s wheelbarrow on the side of the house. He loaded it up with food and water then wheeled it to the road. He walked back to the porch and sat down. For the second time today Aaron ate a peanut butter sandwich. After he drank his water Aaron walked back to the road. He took one last look at his Gma’s house, something moved in the window making Aaron jump. He squinted and saw her two french bulldogs looking at him with eyes that begged for help. Aaron had never been an animal person but at least the dogs would be some company. Aaron went back to the house to grab their leashes and dog food. The dogs jumped on his legs and wagged their butt’s gratefully.
Aaron opened the door, “Sammy, Piper lets go.” The three began their long journey together.
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