Beyond The Horizon

Beyond The Horizon
By Shadowgate
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Melvin Dane and Patricia had just arrived home on a Sunday evening. They spent the past hour grocery shopping and they were looking forward to relaxing. They left their oldest child 15 year old Byron at home in charge of their youngest child seven year old Leslie Dane.
As soon as Melvin entered the door he yelled "Byron and Leslie come bring the groceries in."
The kids did what they were told. They had no problem bringing in the groceries, they actually liked it. They were just bummed out because it was their last week of summer. Leslie was not looking forward to tomorrow's back to school checkup.
Immediately after the family ate dinner Byron got on his cell phone with his best friend Martin Keen. Neither of them were looking forward to going back to school and they discussed that topic only for the night.
Leslie took advantage of the PlayStation while her brother was on the phone.
Patricia wanted nothing more than to lie down in the living room and fall asleep watching the nightly news.
Melvin went upstairs to bed at 9PM.
When Patricia woke up at 6AM she watched her 24 hours news network and saw the news castors vanish.
She wiped the sleep out of her eyes and looked again. She thought "what the hell" and continued looking at her TV screen.
"Honey" she called out.
Melvin came down the stairs and asked what the problem was. She told him "look at the screen all the news castors disappeared."
Melvin looked at the television and said "well that's strange I mean there were two reporters sitting in those seats. Maybe they're on standby."
Patricia stated "when they're on standby you see a blank screen. I saw two reporters vanish right before my eyes as I woke up."
Melvin said "maybe it's a joke they're playing. Remember 1987 when CNN was hacked into?"
Patricia responded "if this is a joke it sure is a good one."
Byron yelled from downstairs "hey you two keep it down. Parents are so loud these days kids can't get any sleep."
Melvin turned to his wife and said "no I think it's the other way around."
Patricia said "that's our smart ass teenager."
Melvin shut off the TV and got ready for the day alongside his wife. She woke up Leslie and told her to get ready for her doctor appointment.
For an eight year old child Leslie was very punctual.
At 7:30 both mother and daughter were in the car and ready to head out to the local pediatrician.
After driving on the road for 10 minutes Patricia noticed there were no other cars. She thought it was strange but then figured rush hour traffic didn't start until 7:30AM.
When she pulled into town she noticed a Burger King had no cars in the parking lot or drive thru. She found that very strange since Burger King opens at 6AM and then when she finally pulled up at the doctor's office she saw no cars in the parking lot.
Leslie asked "where is everyone?"
Patricia told Leslie she had no idea. She called Melvin on the phone and when he picked up she said "Melvin I just passed up Burger King and there were no cars in the parking lot or the drive thru. Right now I'm in the doctor's office parking lot and there's nobody."
Melvin responded "well the doctor's office should open soon and I'm sure the morning time employees at that Burger King are running late."
Patricia chimed "there were no other cars along side of me the entire trip from our house to the doctor's office."
Melvin became puzzled and said "what?"
Patricia repeated herself "there were no other cars on the road on the entire trip to the doctor's office."
Melvin said "I don't know what to tell you."
Patricia said "I'm going to look around and I'll call you back."
Patricia hangs up and she along with her daughter Leslie go exploring the town square.
Melvin decides to go next door to the Keen residence. He knocks and gets no response so he figured they went to work. He figured their three children including his son's best friend Martin were sleeping.
He decided to head off to work himself. He was surprised when he saw no cars on the road half way through his trip to work. That surprise did not give him a good feeling.
He pulled up to his office building and saw nobody was there.
He got out of his car and figured he'd call his wife.
A second after he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket it rang. It was his wife.
He answered and said "honey guess what I just arrived at work and there's nobody. I saw no cars on the road on the way to work and there's nobody but me in my office parking lot."
Patricia yelled "Oh my God."
A few hours later Byron was up and ready for the day. A day he thought would be like any other during his summer vacation. He wanted to make the most of it since it was the last week of his summer vacation but little did he know humanity had disappeared.
He heard his cell phone ring. He saw it was his dad. He picked up the phone. When his dad explained to him that there was nobody left on earth which took 20 minutes Byron still couldn't believe it.
Byron went outside and looked around the neighborhood. He saw nobody and heard nothing. He tried calling three of his friends including Martin Keen but he got no answer.
He decided to run a few blocks and he went over a big hill and jumped down. He saw an old farm house. He kicked the door in and saw a phony Halloween skeleton with a black wig on it.
Byron said out loud "I jumped over that hill and beyond the horizon of my community. Where is the rest of humanity?"
The End