It Just Ends

Orville woke well rested and refreshed. He swung his legs out of bed and jumped up, stretching until his bones creaked. Slippers on and into the bathroom to wash his hands and face. A quick brush at his sleep hair then, laughing he bounced down the stairs to the kitchen and began preparing himself a hearty breakfast.

Cereal, crispy bacon and a steaming cup of coffee sat on the tray ready for transport out to his balcony. He went to the door to the hall and was immediately disappointed to find he had no newspaper.

"Well, hell. That's a drag." Back to the kitchen and he grabbed an old magazine, dropped it on the tray and went to the living room. he put the tray down and opened the drapes. The sky was an odd pale gray and he stopped, a frown creasing his face. Where was the city? Was that fog he was looking at?

"I've never seen fog that dense," he muttered aloud.

He stepped out onto the balcony and looked over the rail. What the hell... where's the street? Nervous now, he looked in all directions, straining to pick out some recognizable detail. Nothing.

He hurried back inside and ran to the TV, breakfast forgotten. Snow, nothing but snow on every channel. He turned on the radio. Static only. Frantic now, he grabbed his laptop and turned it on. The desk top appeared as normal and he clicked on his browser. Again, nothing. Just a, server not found, notice. The lights on the modem were out. The land line phone was dead, no signal on his cell either, yet all the clocks were working and hell, he had cooked breakfast, he thought, so the power and water were both still on.

The feeling of grave discomfort filled his mind and he trotted back out to the building hallway and next door to his neighbour. Knocking, then pounding got him nowhere. He ran to the next unit but it was the same. It was the same on the entire floor. Nobody. Nothing. Orville went back to his until and locked the door. His head hurt and he was scared... scared green. The lights didn't work now and there was no water. He went out on the balcony again and listened. No traffic noise, no construction sounds, no nothing. He yelled into the grey wall and heard not a sound, not even an echo. He slumped down into a lounge chair and stared vacantly at his feet.

******

Out in the building hallway, neighbours were running frantically up and down pounding on doors and yelling... seeing and hearing no one.

Slowly they made their way back to their units and locked their doors.