All alone

It was supposed to be great, one of the best times of his life.

But it wasn't.

After all, skating through the mall, breaking windows, and just causing general chaos was good for an adrenaline rush normally.

Jake had laced up his roller-blades this morning and set out for some fun. He intended to get the police called on him this time, maybe even go to juvee. After all, what else was there to do since he dropped out of school. Sit around and play video games?

No way! He was living high and throwing it all down.

The parking lot was a bit emptier than usual this morning. Bummer. Less audience. Of course, it was only 10 am on a Friday and the suckers were all still in school or at work. But less people also meant more room!

Pushing through the main door, he glided through the main lobby, laughing as he pushed over two gray-haired old women and flipped off the old man that screamed at him. Sliding down the stair railing and nearly knocking a couple off, he landed in front of the mall's main jewelry shop.

And stopped.

Seven or eight guys had beat him to it. He had intended on smashing the windows of the store and beating a quick retreat through the rest of the mall. But now the men were in there, ruining his glory! He was mad!

But then he noticed they were also taking the jewels too. What the..?

Looking around, he noticed a lot of other stores had smashed windows too and had been looted. What was going on?

"Hey, buddy!" Jake called to a passing man. "What's going on?"

The man stopped long enough to hitch up his stolen sports gear then moved on, tossing over his shoulder, "Millions of people gone, man! Free stuff for us!" And he ran up the stairs.

Gone?

"It was the Rapture, son." A middle aged woman called to him. He turned to her and her small son standing next to her.

"What do you mean?"

"All the people that were Christians disappeared." She said, crying a bit. "My parents, my daughter, they're all gone. I was never a Christian but they were. Now I'm left here all alone..."

All alone? He'd never been anything but all alone. So what difference did it make? "Tough luck for you, then. I'm out." And he pushed off and started toward the stairs to get out.

His heart suddenly leapt into his throat as gunshots rang out and people started screaming. Panic set in and everyone starting shoving each other to get to the exit up stairs.

Half way up, Jake turned around and looked back. There was the middle aged woman and her son, lying on the ground in pools of blood, a man standing over them, searching their pockets.

Grabbing the money he found in the woman's purse, the man with the gun turned toward the crowd trying to get up the stairs and started shooting again.

Jake tried to push up the stairs but it was hard with blades on. He quickly tripped and banged his head hard on the railing, dizziness setting in.

He knew he had to get up and tried hard to push his legs up and his arms down. His stomach sank and terror shot through him like the proverbial bullet, making his breath ragged and shallow.

The last few sounds in his hearing were gun shots and screaming before the world went black. He was hoping he had just passed out...

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. It was supposed to be one of the best days of his life...