Yesterday's Gone: Season One

see anything?”
    Paola just stared at her mother. “I’d know daddy anywhere.”  
    Her face cracked and she started to cry again as the power went off again.

    **

    It seemed to take longer than normal for Mary to calm Paola’s whimpers down to heavy breathing. Right when inhales and exhales were starting to meet, Paola broke the rhythm.  
    “Why is it so quiet?”
    Mary had almost forgotten. “I’m not sure, honey. The power’s out and everything feels...”
    “Wrong,” Paola finished.
    “Yeah, wrong .” Mary stood and held out her hand for Paola. She was almost as tall as her mom, and would likely tower over her in another year or two. Paola followed her mom downstairs and into the kitchen. The coffee machine had died before it could produce enough for a cup. Frustrated, Mary went to the fridge and grabbed a Diet Coke for herself and poured some OJ for her daughter.
    When they finished, Mary looked out the front window.
    “Let’s go look outside.”  
    They walked the neighborhood that had gone from posh to ghost town overnight.  
    They peered through windows and into cars, and crossed well-manicured yards, starting at Mrs. Parker’s house on the corner, because she was the first to move into the sub-division and had made it family business to know everything about everyone every day since. She wasn’t home.  
    After two empty streets, they rounded the hill and hit the hiking trail, thinking there might be a neighborhood gathering they didn’t know about. The trails were empty , too. Odd for the weekend, when the housewives and retirees were usually out en masse.
    They followed the trail, then rounded the avenue back to their street. They were surprised, and thrilled, to see someone standing in front of their house. It was their neighbor, Jimmy Martin – Jim, as he’d been introducing himself since 8th grade, even though no one would listen. He was a head too tall for his age. That, along with his long dark hair that he let hang in his eyes, made him look a bit older than his 16 years. Any advantage he had in looking older was usurped by his immaturity. While he was generally a good kid, as far as Mary knew, he got into frequent trouble for skateboarding in the shopping center, trespassing at the pool after hours, skipping school, and the stuff that unfocussed kids generally did to pass away the time.
    “What’d you find out Mrs. Olson?”
    “Nothing,” Mary shook her head. “Do you know what’s going on?”
    “Other than the entire world going POOF! ?” Jimmy made jazz hands, “I’ve no idea. I woke up, my mom and dad were AWOL. So were both my brothers. I figured they were fu ... messing with me, but I can’t figure out the angle, plus there’d be no way they’d get the whole neighborhood to play the reindeer games.”
    Jimmy seemed oddly unfazed by events.  
    Mary was about to ask him if the electricity was working in his house when her neighbor from the other side John, appeared in the distance. He was walking fast, directly toward them. Mary closed her mouth mid-sentence, Jimmy and Paola turned to see why.  
    “Thank God!” John was running toward them.  
    “What’s going on?” All three asked, hard to tell who was first.
    “No idea. Jenny’s gone. No note. Nothing. She doesn’t even go downstairs without kissing me goodbye.”
    It was true. With any other couple it would’ve been disgusting. But John and Jenny were probably the two nicest people alive. And so adorable and doting, it was almost creepy.
    No one had a chance to console John, or consider Jenny, before a smoke - colored Audi appeared on the drive coming toward them. It was Desmond Armstrong, the neighbor from across the street. The Audi’s engine died but Desmond stayed inside. They could see him through the tinted windows, sitting and staring into space. It was an endless minute with no one knowing what to do. Finally, the door opened and Desmond put his boot on the grass.
    “There’s no other way to say it,” Desmond shook his head. “The world is dead.”  

    **
     

CHARLIE WILKENS

    Saturday
    October 15, 2011
    morning
    Jacksonville, Florida

    Charlie Wilkens wasn’t upset when he woke to find an empty world. In fact, it was the best damned thing that had happened in his 17 years on the planet.
    He was frightened at first, of course, when he woke to find his house empty, both cars in the driveway, and no sign of his mother or asstard step-dad, Bob. But when he went door-to - door and