Aoede Rio's Story

Aoede
I opened my eyes. The entire room was painted bright green, and the color was alright, a little too bright, just not my favorite. It was pretty much only my parents to blame for that.
I got up to take a shower, and changed into a plain brown t-shirt and my favorite pair of white capris. I spent a while dragging a brush through my hair, then combing through it again before loosely braiding it.
That's when I realized something strange. There were no morning noises from my parents. None at all. So that's when I rushed all over the house, and found out that they were just plain gone. Then I looked outside and saw no dogwalkers, no joggers, no runners, no movement. And the car was in the driveway, and my parents weren't in the backyard.
Of course, rather than feeling worried about them, because I don't do caring about my parents, the first thing I did was go to my amazing iPod, and start blasting the music with the help of the wonderful device known as an iHome.
Of course, I had to find my violin, which was in my room, and not in my studio. The studio, once the attic, was where I did all my artistic work, and where the iHome was. Hmm, it was too warm. I cranked open the windows. I'm pretty sure that no one else would hear, since no one else seemed to be here, and they wouldn't be here to complain. They, meaning the parentals, wouldn't let me practice this because it wasn't part of Orchestra work and it wasn't classical. They were so annoying. Of course, I could listen to the song, no, we won't stop you from doing that, Aoede darling, but you are not allowed to play it, or even learn to play it.
Being me, I learned the music anyway, but couldn't check if it sounded right, so I had to wait until they left the house. So the first thing I did when people disappeared, including my family, was practice the song Duel by Bond, playing the violin part and checking if it sounded right against the music.

I snorted, rolling onto my side. I could hear the faint whirr of my alarm clock vibrating on my desk. It was too far away to turn off from where I was, although that didn't stop me from reaching out blindly and knocking over the large pot of pencils balancing precariously on the makeshift tower of History and Physics textbooks. A groan reverberated in my throat. Brilliant.

Kicking off the covers with a bitter sigh I pushed myself up into a sitting position. It was dark, save the sliver of sunlight peaking through the gap in my curtains (which was odd to say the least - my mom usually came in to open them around six). I rubbed my eyes with the ball of my fists. God knows what time I'd gotten to sleep last night, but whatever it was I doubted it was early. My best friend Christian, who'd moved to LA 3 months prior, had convinced me to partake in a 12 hour Halo marathon. And I'd never been one to refuse such an offer, especially when it involved the brainless shooting of numerous idiots via the internet.

I yawned, rubbing my nose with the back of my hand. The morning air was warm on my skin, and I could feel a thin layer of sweat beginning to form on my brow. I figured I might as well shower now; impress my mom with an early wake up. I could do with getting in her good-books again, especially after the 'Puff the magic dragon' incident, a night which I was sure we'd both rather forget. Yawning again, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and got to my feet. I reached for my phone, switching off the alarm, before throwing it onto my pillow. I didn't even bother checking what time it was. I knew I must be early; I couldn't even smell pancakes yet.

The water was hot against my chest. It was almost enough to wake me up. I looked up, letting the droplets beat against my face. The house was still silent; I couldn't hear anything from downstairs, let alone my brothers in the next room over. How goddamn early was it? I switched off the water and grabbed a towel, tying it around my waist as I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. I squinted, eyes trained on my face. Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair in a half hearted attempt to tame it. Thankfully, the unruliness of it all kinda worked.

That was when I heard it, coming from the house next to ours. Music, blasting at full volume, vibrating the bathroom wall. I frowned. "What the..." I always knew the girl living next-door was kinda weird, but this? This was a whole new level of crazy. Slipping on pair of tight fitting jeans and a plain white tee, I made my way back to my room. Lucky for me, my room backed onto whatever room the shit ass tunes were coming from, meaning it was even louder in here. I momentarily wondered why in hell my mother hadn't thrown a hissy yet. Or why it hadn't at least woken my brothers.

Shaking my head, I pushed open my window and leant my elbows against the cill. "Hey!"

Aoede
I was certain I heard someone yelling next door, and slowly got up to turn off the music. Violin in one hand, bow in the other, I stuck my head out one of the attic window. Nope, no one there. So then, of course, I had to continue to stick my head out the windows until I figured out which window it was. As luck has it, it was my neighbors.
They had three boys, one who was the same age as me, and two a few years younger, and as far as I can tell, it was a single parent household. I feel sorry for the mom. The guy who was the same age as me, forget what his name was, skipped school. And didn't do homework. I kinda envied him a little bit. His mom seemed really nice.
I stuck my head out the window to find out that it was the guy who was the same age as my sticking his head out the window. I waved with my violin bow, a slight smirk on my face.

It was a good minute before the music went off. I watched the house for a moment longer, cocking an accusative eyebrow when I spotted Crazy's head sticking out of her window, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. She was in my Math class. She sat a couple of seats over. She'd be hot if she wasn't so weird.

I frowned at her, "What the hell is wrong with you?" I spoke much quieter than I had done before, but made sure I was still loud enough so she could hear me. "You're gonna wake up the whole goddamn neighbourhood." I cast a quick look behind me, listening for any sound of movement from within. Still nothing. There was no way my mom would've slept through that. Like, no way in hell. Maybe she was out at the store. When I was younger, I remember her going out to clear her head at like 2 in the morning if she was having one of her lows, so her being at the local convenience store a couple of blocks away was totally plausible. Yeah. That must be it.

I shook my head, before turning my attention back to Crazy, frown firmly in place.

Aoede
I was fighting the urge to laugh, and I know that I probably looked weird. For some reason, him being so confused and angry was funny. I know people think I'm crazy or sick for thinking that, but honestly. There was something entertaining about that.
'Wake up the whole goddamn neighbourhood,' huh? So he actually hadn't figured it out. I think I can credit him as being stupid, which may be rude, but for me, it was the truth.
However, I was going to have to open my mouth. I tended to dislike talking to people. It was just something about me. I think it happened after I turned five. I gave him the one minute sign and put away my violin and bow, then stuck my head out the window again.
"There is no one here." I told him, one corner of my mouth twitching. "I don't know what happened, but it seems like you and I are the only people here. Maybe in the entire world."
I found this idea insanely funny, I don't know why. Just the fact that no one else existed and I could do practically anything I wanted, I guess. "For me, at least, it's a relief, though I'm sure you must be concerned."
I popped my head out the window and headed downstairs and out of the house, throwing on a pair of black boots in the process. I waved at the random guy from the street. I really couldn't remember his name.

"What?" My brow furrowed and I looked over my shoulder again. What in God's name was Crazy on about? Of course we weren't the only people here. The thought was ludicrous, almost as crazy as the girl spouting it. Like this wasn't some movie we were living in. This was real life. Stuff like that doesn't happen. "You're mental." I said quietly, more to myself than to her. Still, there was a small voice in the back of my head telling me she was right. A voice which I consequently ignored.

When I turned back round she was gone. Well, gone for a moment. I spotted her again almost instantly, waving at me from the street. My eyes narrowed pensively, my mind whirring as it debated whether to follow her. I could feel my heart begin to pound loudly against my ribcage as I pushed myself away from the window. She was lying. Of course she fucking was. The creep. I grabbed my grey sleeveless hoodie from the end of my bed and made my way to my mom's room, pushing on her door until it opened (goddamn thing had always been stiff). Her bed was empty. I couldn't feel my legs. I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding. "Shit." Slamming the door shut behind me I ran to my brothers' room, kicking it open only to find both beds empty too. "Mom!" I called out desperately. "Keegan! Liam!" No answer. It wasn't as if I was expecting one. In a last attempt to hold on to a scrap of hope I slipped my phone out of my pocket, selecting my mom's number and holding the receiver to my ear. It went straight to voicemail. I did the same again with my brothers and Christian, but to no avail.

Feeling the panic begin to seep into my gut, I threw on my hoodie and thundered down the staircase, quickly slipping on a pair Vans and ripping the front door open. "Hey!" I called out again, eyes scanning the street until I found her. "I--" I jogged up to her, chest heaving. It wasn't as if I was out of breath I was just...panicking. Nothing was making any sense. "I--They--They're gone." I ran my hand through my hair again, gaze flicking between her face and the road. "Just--What the fuck."

Aoede
He disappeared, and I heard the muffled sounds of yells. Didn't matter. I was right. I knew I was right. I usually knew when people were around, but right now, there weren't any. No traffic noises, no nothing.
I drifted off into daydream land, standing in the middle of the street. In an ordinary world, on an ordinary day, by now, I'd have been run over. Everyone disappearing except for me and this kid was a bit surprising, and I couldn't think of any logical reason. Maybe a dream? Nope, don't usually remember dreams, and I wouldn't be dreaming 'bout the neighbour.
I heard a door being flung open and looked over immediately. The guy came out the door, looking extremely panicked. Don't blame him, not really. His family seems like the caring sort.
He wasn't calm. If someone was watching us, I wonder if they were laughing. Here was my neighbour, panicking, and here was I, as calm as if I was out for a stroll in the park on a normal day.
"Well, first things first, it would probably help if you calm down a bit. Second, what time is it?" I frowned, my eyebrows scrunching. It can't be good for him to be panicking like that. When did I look at a clock, anyway?
"Haven't looked at a clock all morning..." I mumbled. "The parentals would usually be yelling at this point."

I shot her a glare. "Calm down? Calm down?" I felt my fists clench. What was wrong with this kid? "How the hell are you not freaking out right now?!" I paced a couple of steps, perhaps deluded enough to think that maybe if I walked or did something the least bit normal everything else would seem a little more normal too. Yeah. Fuck that.

I snapped my head round to look at her. "The time?" What did that matter? It could be nine in the freakin' evening and it wouldn't change anything. Still, I knew I could do with borrowing a little of her calm. Maybe if I stuck with Crazy, a little of her chill could rub off on me too. Cause right now, I had no idea what was happening, let alone where my mind was. Blind panic wasn't exactly a fun thing to experience, that was for sure.

I reached for my phone again, thumbing the indented home button whilst my hand tried not to shake. Four zeroes lit up at the top of the screen. What. "Uh," I frowned, turning my cell round for her to see. So, unless Liam had been messing with my phone again which I was pretty sure he hadn't, it was..."Midnight."

Aoede
"I'm not freaking out because I don't particularly care. I don't like my parents. I was planning on moving out after finishing college and living somewhere very far away after changing my phone number and adding them to spam for my e-mail." I informed him, a bit wryly. I don't understand where all this patience was coming from anyway. I have no patience for reckless idiots, even though, on occasion, I am a reckless idiot.
I watched him pace. We were still in the middle of the street. When he calmed down slightly, and turned his phone to me, I raised an eyebrow in shock, but other than that, my face stayed neutral. "Lovely. It would be midnight. Whoever did this has an interesting sense of humor. We're going downtown."
I started walking down the middle of the road, and was suddenly struck by a thought. "I wonder if the reason we didn't disappear is because of a drug or something that we took. Can't be anything OTC, or there'd be more people out and about, what with me blasting music, and you yelling, and us standing in the middle of the street. So it'd have to be prescriptions."
I swore. It's not something I do often, if I even do it. "Damn, but I was forced to take too many of those."

As I was sitting contemplating my certain doom, I heard music blasting from somewhere down the street. Odd. One of the zombies must have bumped boom box or something. I sat for a while, trying to come to grip with what had happened. The zombie apocalypse. This just didn't happen to normal people. Stuff like this happened to people on the news or to people in movies. But it was happening now. So I ran upstairs and got my dad's shotgun. Damn zombies won't get me... I thought as I held it up to my shoulder, feeling the weight of it. I had only shot it a few times at a shooting range when I was nine. I didn't really know how to load it or anything, but I would figure it out.

As I was admiring the gun's craftmanship, I heard voices - human voices - outside my house. '...have to be prescriptions. Damn, but I was forced to take too many of those.' Humans! Thrilled, I bolted downstairs to the frontdoor. Looking out the peephole, I saw that weird girl who's in my math class - I skipped several grades - and that slacker kid who should be in my English class, but he tended to skip. I didn't know them that well, but they shouldn't be out there with the zombies, in any case. I threw the door open and looked around furtively. Then I gestured for them to come over with the hand that had the gun. "Come on!" I stage whispered. "They'll get you! They're everywhere!"

Aoede
So here I am, walking down the middle of the street with my neighbor, and here's this random guy from my math class waving at me with a gun, talking about people getting us.
And I know I'm thought to be crazy, but this kid was probably worse off than I was.
"Hello. It seems like time has stopped at midnight and we three are the only people in the world. There isn't anything else, whatever you think." I told him, slightly amused. I'm not even sure the kid could use the gun, or even what he thought the gun was supposed to protect him from.
"We're going downtown. Wanna come?"

I pursed my lips, frowning. How could you not care? "Whatever." I brushed her off with a shake of my head, somewhat losing my trail of thought when she started going off about drugs and 'OTC'. Whatever the hell that was. At least she had some sort of plan. A plan was good. It helped. Made my mind a little less muddled. Even if that plan was simply 'going downtown', I figured a little sense of direction and structure would help. After all, maybe we'd find someone. And right now I wouldn't even care if that someone was my Math teacher.

That was when the weird kid from my English class appeared, waving a goddamn shotgun. "Jesus..." I muttered, more to myself than to Crazy. What the hell was he doing? Who'll get us? Who's everywhere. Almost on instinct I cast a quick look around, but there was no one. Just me, Crazy 1 and Crazy 2. Go figure I'd be stuck with the two mental cases.

And then she had to go and invite him, didn't she. I sighed, resisting the urge to literally lift up my hand and face palm myself. "Seriously?" I rose two incredulous eyebrows at her instead. "Dude's more of a nut than you are." But, I supposed we couldn't just leave him. We could be the last three human beings on the planet (at this point I'd decided to just embrace the fact that we were now part of some messed up sci-fi movie) and I wasn't that insensitive. Nobody deserved to die alone.

Maybe like my mom had. Maybe everyone was dead. I blinked, pushing the thought away, but I couldn't help but look over my shoulder, back down the street where my family should've been. Wait..was that?

"Nora?" My brow furrowed. She was here to? And she was on my doorstep...what? I cupped my hand over my mouth and called out again, louder this time. "Nora!"

'Hello. It seems like time has stopped at midnight and we three are the only people in the world. There isn't anything else, whatever you think.'

"What?... But... the zombies..." I protested lamely.

'We're going downtown. Wanna come?'

I was confused. How had these idiots not died already? Weren't the zombies everywhere? I stepped out onto the street cautiously and looked around. Well, if there were zombies, they were certainly very good at hiding. I slowly began to doubt the zombies' existence.

'Nora?... Nora!' The kid from my English class was now shouting desperately down the street. And that was when I finally came to my senses. It was an odd feeling, like bursting out of water after you've been holding your breath down there for a while. I felt like the biggest idiot, holding my dad's stupid shotgun and talking about zombies. Okay. No zombies. But, if there weren't any zombies, what the hell was going on? "Yeah, sure, I'll come." I shut the door behind me and trotted out into the street with them. "Sorry about that." I said to the girl. "Didn't mean to confuse you." And I smiled genially at her. She seemed nice, if a little... strange and there was no reason to set off on the wrong foot.

Aoede
My lips twitched slightly, my equivalent of a grin. "Nice to know y'all think I should be committed to a mental ward." But it was strange that the other kid thought it was a zombie apocalypse.
I sighed. "My advice is, don't carry the gun which you can't use. Do you have anything like this?" I opened my zipped pocket and brought out a Swiss Army knife which I had bought ages ago, back when I used to go camping. I always kept it, and I figured that if there was a minimum of people, there may be criminals somewhere and I'd grabbed it on my way downstairs. "I think knives are easier to use if you insist on carrying a weapon." And now he probably thought I was crazier than I'd already seemed.
I looked back to where my neighbor was calling out to another girl. Good. At least there was one other girl, because it was obvious I was stuck with two kinds of idiots. One being convinced it was a zombie apocalypse, and one in a full-blown panic. Hopefully the girl wasn't the hysterical type.
"C'mon." I called briefly, following my neighbor. "We might as well travel in a group."

"What? What are you talking about? I can use this." I said, gesturing to the gun. "I'm practically an expert marksman with this thing! And no, I don't carry one of those." This kid was weird. Why did she think I wanted her in a mental ward? I didn't. I was hoping she wouldn't call my bluff with the gun when the new kid piped up.

'...And what else, why do all the clocks read midnight? The world is turning to hell.'

"All the clocks read midnight? What?" I looked down at my watch and saw that it read 0:00. "What the hell? "You're right, they do..." Then it occurred to me that I hardly knew any of these people. "Hey," I broke in, "before we start trying to explain what happened, let's have some introductions first."

Aoede
I raised my eyebrow slightly. "No, you cannot use 'this thing,' as you call it. I don't think it's even been loaded." And why did I know this? Because one of my cousins likes to hunt. And he had it in his mind to try to teach me and failed because I simply refused to go along with what he said. But I did watch him long enough to figure out how someone who knows how to use a gun holds a gun.
So everyone's clock reads midnight? Lovely. Even more fun. I'm more than ever sure that whoever did this is laughing at us right now.
And unfortunately, the boy with the gun raises a good point. Introductions. How I hate introductions. The teachers do not understand how to properly pronounce a Greek name.
"After, we're going downtown." I said in a monotone. Let's just get this all over with.

Jackson - or rather, Ash - sighed heavily, opening his eyes. As usual, he could see the 3OH!3 poster he tacked onto the ceiling. Slowly, as if hopeful, he raised a hand and pressed it over his left eye - No change. Yep, he was still blind in his left eye. With a growl, he turned his head to look at the clock. Surely, he slept through his alarm again. He did it every day, so he set an alarm on his clock, his iPod, and his phone. Though, he at least woke up at his cellphone alarm enough to silence it and go back to bed - But... he was sure he didn't remember waking up to it. Wait- What the hey? Suddenly, he sat up before falling back a bit, catching himself on one elbow as he turned his body to look at the clock.

Midnight?

Slowly, he reached down and pulled the blankets off of himself and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Yawning, he stretched his arms and back by doing what every person seemed to, stretching their arms outward while arcing their back. Slowly, he stood and dragged himself across the room, yanking the door open. He crossed the house to Michael's room, knocking.

"Hey!" he yelled at the door, waiting for a grumpy response. Another moment of silence and there was no reply. "Mikey! Get your lazy ass up!" he yelled, banging on the door again. He may wake others in the house, but at this point, he didn't care one bit. If they didn't answer, whatever. He growled and passed through the kitchen back to his room. His mismatched eyes briefly glanced at the clock, and when he did, he stopped dead in his tracks. Midnight. "No fuckin' way." he muttered. It had been at least three minutes if anything. Perhaps all the clocks had stopped in the house. Soon, he stood at his adoptive parents' house, banging on the door. Usually, his parents were light sleepers - But no matter how much he beat on the door and yelled, there was no response. "The hell?" Grasping the doorknob, he twisted it and pushed the door open.

Empty beds.

"No. No no no, this ain't right." Turning sharply on his heel he rushed back to Michael's room. He threw the door open and his jaw dropped - Another empty bed. His dad, mom, Michael and- "Crap, Luke!" he dashed across the house once more and almost threw his younger brother's door off it's hinges. At the sight of another empty room, he found himself darting back into his room and tearing the closet door open. Being a strong young man, as he pulled the doors open, they flung outwards as he let go and smacked against the wall, resulting in damage to the wall. Bursting from the front door, he hastily pulled his jeans on the rest of the way (When he emerged from his house, they had bunched up at his upper thigh) and stuffed his wallet into his pocket before connecting the wallet chain. Glancing out on the street, he sighed.

"Hey!" he bellowing in his booming, carrying voice. He didn't much care that he was a bit boldly presenting himself, he'd put in his shirts in just a moment. Carrying a black T shirt and a black and gray plaid shirt, he walked down the street until he caught sight of a small group of people. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he checked the time again - Still midnight. "Damn, i don't even remember takin' anythin'." he muttered before calling out another 'Hey!' down the street at the group. Approaching them, he began to pull his shirt on, pulling some dogtags out and letting them rest against his chest before beginning to pull on the plaid buttonup. Stopping near them, he began to button up his shirt. "Okay, now i'mma try and be patient here - But what the hell is going on? Why is everything stuck at midnight and why is Salem cleared out like a radiation zone?"