Is It the End?

On Friday morning, I woke up, but no one else did. I just have done a million double checks, my sister, my parents, my neighbors, my crush that lives across the street—but no such luck.

After searching for someone, anyone else that could possible be awake, I collapsed on my couch. Exhausted by the thought of being alive when no one else seemed to be. I felt a grappling tightness in my chest. Was this it? Was I doomed to be alone?

I spied my laptop on the kitchen counter. Only one thing could possibly lift my mood: memes. As my fingers hovered over my keyboard, I hesitated to type in ‘Instagram’ for fear I would only see the accounts of everyone I had lost. Instead I typed out ‘Is anyone still awake?’ and pressed enter.

One. There was one result. A website titled ‘Is Anyone Else Awake?’. Just created hours ago. There were three subscribers.

My heart skipped a beat. Maybe two. There were others. I practically cried tears of happiness and instantly clicked on the link.

The website was fairly basic with only a chat. Two of the three mysterious survivors were already typing.

“Charles, I think we found another one.” Jenny24 commented.

“Oh, shit. You right. Yo, stranger, what’s your name?” The CharlesMachine replied.

“Angelica Northe.”

“Angie!!!” Jenny24 typed. “It’s me! Jenny Fotrow! We go to the same high school! Saint Claire's Prep! The CharlesMachine is Charles Finney, by the way.”

“Sup.” He verified.

“This is pretty crazy, right?” Jenny24 wrote. “Marcel’s the third subscriber, but he’s offline right now since he’s driving to my house. We’re trying to get everyone together to figure this out.”

“Yeah, the nerd doesn’t have a phone to stay online while he drives over.”

“Yes, he does!” Jenny24 countered. “He’s just not texting while driving.”

“Pfft. What a coward.” The CharlesMachine typed.

“Why would you say that—ARE YOU TEXTING WHILE DRIVING RIGHT NOW?”

“Yeah, because I’m not a coward.”

“CHARLES, THAT ISN’T SAFE.”

“Who am I gonna hit? Even the animals are asleep. Face it, babe, we’re all alone out here, which means it a free for all. I picked up a new TV on the way over. Shit’s lit.”

“How are you even gonna set up the TV? There’s no cable guys left!”

I wanted to laugh at Charles, but I couldn’t. Jenny had a point. There was no one left to run our society. Things like the internet and tap water were going to stop and I would lose life necessities as well as my only connection to the other survivors.

“Jenny,” I typed. “What’s your address. I’m coming over.”

“Sweet! It’s 87 Blanc Avenue. But, didn’t you fail your drivers test?”

I eyed my mom’s pink mini van keys in the kitchen. “It’s like Charles said: there’s no one out there so why does it matter?”

“Making my way downtown~!” I sang without the radio. No awake broadcasters equal no music.

I must have gotten just a little too carried away with it because I lost focus on the road. Suddenly, I snapped back from the music just in time to swerve and avoid crashing into… “Mr. Drasure?” I exclaimed.

What are the odds my freaking driver instructor would just walk into the street while I was driving?

Wait a minute, he was in the street. Walking. “Angelica, what are you doing driving! You have to pass your retake of the test first!” He demanded.

“What are you doing awake?” I asked in return.

A melancholy expression fell across his face. “We’re the last ones, aren’t we?”

I shook my head. “There are others. Three of them. Jenny, Marcel, and Charles are still awake. I’m going to meet them all now.” I paused for a second,he looked kinda depressed just standing in the street like that. Like he wanted to get hit. So, I offered a “Do you wanna come, too?”

Dr. Drasure’s head immediately perked up like a little puppy. “Really?”

“Yeah, hop in.”

He gleefully took the passenger seat next to me before frowning as he stared at my hands on the wheel. “You’re hands aren’t at ten and two.”

“Do you wanna come or not?”

“I would just feel better if I was the one driving.”

“Do you wanna come or not?” I repeated with slightly more attitude as I was sick of people telling me I can’t drive because I was a ‘hazard to the entire community’. God Susie, get a life and butt out of my mine.

“Yes—“ Dr. Drasure answered, and that was all I needed to know before I floored it.

I didn’t so much as ‘arrive’ at Jenny’s house as I crashed into her garage and obliterated her dad’s snow globe collection. All well, potato tomato.

“We’re here!” I announced proudly.

Mr. Drasure was tightly grasping the dashboard of the van. His nails left deep indents in the plastic. “But are we alive?”

“Mostly!” Jenny answered from the doorway. “It’s about time you got here. Marcel and Charles are already inside.”

“Cool.” I hopped out. “Oh, and I found Mr. Drasure on my way here and brought him along. Hope that’s okay.”

Jenny shrugged. “Yeah, we got plenty of mozzarella sticks.”

As I was about to step through the door, I noticed Mr. Drasure was still in the minivan. “Mr. D, are you coming?”

“Yeah.” He replied with a quivering voice. “Just give me a minute.”

I shrugged and went inside with Jenny.

Inside, Marcel and Charles were sitting at the kitchen table, an empty plate of mozzarella sticks with spilled sauce next to them. “Well, there were plenty of mozzarella sticks.” She remarked. “At least when I left to get the door there were.”

“You were gone for a while.” Charles defended. “What if you were dead? What were we supposed to do? Let those mozzarella sticks got to waste?”

“Yes. The only acceptable way to honor my death is to let mozzarella sticks go stale for me. It’s the greatest honor.”

I snorted at her reply. Behind us, Mr. Drasure finally staggered through the door. “I’m here.” He squeaked.

“Oh, and Mr. D’s here too.” Jenny announced. She clapped her hands together. “So let’s get down to business.”

Everyone took a seat at the table. Everyone plus Charles’s new TV that is.

“Charles, does your TV really need to be at the table with us?” I asked.

Charles gasped. “How dare you! Linda is family!”

“You named your TV?” Marcel questioned.

“And bonded with it?” Jenny added.

“Yeah.” Charles started stroking it. “Because she's special to me.”

Linda suddenly turned on. A fuzzy static covered her screen. “Wow, I know you didn’t know how to set it up.” I inquired.

“I don’t. And I didn’t.” Charles stared at the TV in awe.

“Oh, the TV’s just probably haunted.” I suggested. “No big deal. Except for that fact that were the last conscious people on earth with a freaking cursed TV named Linda like some sort of, I don’t know, sidekick?”

“I guess.”

Linda’s screen began to flicker from the static to what appeared to a news report. “What is that?” I questioned. “How is the news playing if there’s no one left?”

The newscaster’s voice crackled with every word, but it was somehow still understandable. “In the afternoon of Friday the 22nd…”

“That’s today.” I muttered.

“Four teens and one adult were killed in a car crash…”

The station switched from the reporter to a crummy video taken by a passerby of the accident. It showed the total destruction of a black Jeep… and a pink mini van.”

“Apparently, one teen was in the midst of taking their second driving test when they crashed into a texting driver in a black Jeep along Lincoln Road…”

My hands trembled at my sides.

“Paramedics declared that they all died instantly in the crash…

I held my breath.

“The victims included Jennifer Fotrow, Marcel Rodreiguiz, Charles Finney, Angelica Northe, and Jack Drasure…”

In a sudden outburst, Marcel threw the TV across the room and watched it smash into a million pieces. Charles didn’t express any sympathy for his beloved ‘Linda’. In the pit of everyone’s stomachs we felt the same dread. In the depths of everyone’s minds we shared the same thought.

“Everyone else is awake.” I whispered. “We’re dead.”