Alone

Alone

         Chris stretched and yawned. He felt his bones creak as he stretched, a small reminder that he wasn’t a young man anymore. At 42 he wasn’t old, but he sure didn’t feel young at times. It was a sunny day out, a perfect day for a man who lived alone to catch a few fish.

         He was a bit of a hermit, living alone in his cabin about 20 miles from the nearest town. He enjoyed it, loved the solitude and the chance to commune with nature each day. As he lay there, he realized that something was different today. Despite living away from civilization (so-to-speak), he could still hear cars driving on the distant highway. He had not heard anything in the 30 minutes he had been lying there. This was a little strange because he typically heard about 5-6 each hour. But not today.

         He finally roused himself out of bed and prepared a pot of coffee. The rest of the day was about as normal as it could get for him. When he finally relaxed on his front porch, he realized he had not heard a car pass by all day long. ‘That’s very strange,’ he thought. ‘I think I’ll head into Cabayough to see what’s going on.’

         He was shocked at what he found in town. The streets were deserted with no one in sight. Everything was as it would have been for a typical day. The town was a throwback to the 60’s with small shops dotting the streets, houses lining the side streets. Everything looked normal, but nothing looked right. Everywhere he looked he saw nothing out of the ordinary, except he never saw a single person. Stores appeared to be open, but when he checked inside, there was no one in them. No customers, no employees. There were no vehicles in sight, and when he thought about it, Chris couldn’t recall seeing any planes overhead either. Everything was quiet, too quiet. The only sounds he could recall hearing all day was the chirping of birds and the occasional barking of dogs. Despite it being a sunny day, Chris felt a chill creep down his spine.

         Chris was startled out of his reverie by a sudden shout. “Hey! Hey you! Thank God you’re here, I’ve been going crazy all day! What’s happened? What’s going on? Where is everyone?” The questions came fast and furious from a young woman running towards him. She looked to be in her early 20’s, curly blonde hair tied back from her face, wearing jeans and a striped top.

         At first Chris was relieved to see her, at least now he would have someone to talk to. This relief quickly turned to annoyance as the woman kept the questions coming.

         “Why is no one else around?”

         “Are we alone?”

         “Do you think everyone was evacuated for some reason, but we were missed somehow?”

         “Do you live nearby?”

         “Why is this happening?”

         At this point Chris finally found a moment to speak and said, “Listen, I know you need information, but give me a break! I know nothing, no more than you. I have no answers.” Having said that, Chris threw his hands in the air in exasperation which caused the woman to start crying.

         ‘Great.’ Chris thought. ‘We could be the last two people on the planet, and I’m stuck here with someone like her?’

         Seeing her sobbing caused Chris to relent a bit in his judgement of her. Before he realized what was going on, he found his arm was around her shoulder. He let her cry until she finally stopped, her shoulders shaking like a little child who couldn’t control their tears.

         “Hey, let’s start over, shall we? I’m Chris, and I don’t know what’s going on, I’m as lost as you with this situation. But how about we go to my place, I’ll make us some dinner. Then we’ll have the chance to review everything and decide what we need to do.”

         “Your place? You have a house near here? You expect me to go home with you, a complete stranger? Forget it mister, you could be a pervert for all I know!”

         Having said that the woman stomped away, huffing and puffing like his grandmother used to when she was angry. Chris found himself smiling despite everything. He climbed into his jeep, put in gear and turned around to head out of town. He hadn’t completed the turn when he heard her voice once again, “Wait! Wait! Please don’t leave me! I can’t stay here alone!”

         Looking in his mirror Chris watched as she fell to her knees, her hands beating softly against the pavement. Despite her actions and attitude, his heart went out to her. He knew there was no way he could leave her like this. He turned off the Jeep and once again approached her. He planned on being strong while speaking to her, planned on being a bit gruff in everything he did. He was surprised to hear his voice as he spoke. It was gentle as he spoke softly. As if he had known her all his life, not just the few minutes they had been together.

         “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get to my place. It will be dark soon, we don’t want to be out here alone when night falls Ms, uhhh,, Ms…”

         “Marjorie.” Was her whispered reply. “My name is Marjorie.”

         “Well Marjorie, I’m Chris. Shall we get going? We have a lot to do.”

Jim Dorrell
5/9//23