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Alex awoke late, the kiss of sunlight dancing across his eyelids and stirring him to wakefulness. He had been waking up late for the past month and a half, his usual routine disrupted.
Normally, Mom would run the laundry just before the sun rose, the gentle, rhythmic knocking of the old washing machine thumping against the shared wall of Alex’s bedroom serving as an alarm clock for the seven-year-old. He’d pull himself out of bed and get dressed, then he would help Mom hang the load of clothes she just washed and help her make breakfast.
Only, she wasn’t here anymore.
Granny and Grandpa had been here since Mom went to the hospital, and Granny always washed clothes in the afternoon. What was a comforting sound to Alex in the mornings was grating and infuriating as he tried to do his homework after school— or maybe that was just an easy excuse when he found the letters and numbers on the page shifting before his eyes.
Still, the sound of afternoon laundry was better than the steady beeps of machines whenever Granny and Grandpa would take him to see Mom in the hospital. She didn’t look like herself— all skin and bones, sleeping all through the day. Mom would never do that. She was always the last to go to sleep at night and the first to wake up in the morning, her routine carrying along with it the usual sounds that Alex found most comforting.
He found himself even missing the sounds that he found upsetting— Dad’s angry voice, Mom’s crying… The silence that followed their arguments always unsettled him, but nothing could have prepared him for the all-encompassing silence that he now found himself steeped in.
The house was dead silent that morning— Alex had heard his grandparents leave in the middle of the night, thinking little of it since Dad would sometimes leave at night too. He shuffled out of bed, pulling on fresh clothes and taking Dusty out to the backyard.
Strangely, outside was quiet too. Did all the birds oversleep without Mom’s music box playing so they could sing along? Even the usual roar of the highway on the other side of the wall behind the house was dead quiet, as if all the cars and people had disappeared.
At least there was Dusty, his paws padding through the grass as he ran around, excited to start his day as always. His wagging tongue was warm and comforting against Alex’s skin as the pup licked his hand and his arm, his breath hot as he panted against him, hanging jowls smacking between licks. If everyone else disappeared from the world, at least whatever power had taken them away had been kind enough to leave Dusty with Alex.
Without Mom or Granny here, Alex was directionless. He knew how to make himself some simple foods, but he found his body pinned to the back porch instead. Listening for anything— bird calls, traffic going by, or better yet, Mom’s voice. Still, it was only Dusty and only him.
Alex began talking to himself, repeating things Mom would say to him and answering back as if having a conversation with her. They talked about the beautiful weather, and about going to the beach now that it was summer. The sunflowers that would surely be blooming soon, and how they’d dry the seeds for snacks like always, which Alex would have to be careful eating since he had a tooth loose. How much Mom loved the cake that Alex and Granny made for her birthday a couple weeks ago. Wondering if the Zuzu City Dwarves would ever break out of their losing streak now that diamondball season had started for the year.
The words flowed ceaselessly, and when his eyes were closed, Alex could imagine Mom really was there beside him. Her body as full and round as it always was, not shrunken and tired and strung up to machines, wearing a brightly colored sundress and the pendant full of seashells and sand that she always wore.
Alex reached up to grasp that very pendant, recalling that Mom gave it to him when they came to visit her for her birthday. The grains of sand shifted as he manipulated the necklace in his hand, his eyes glazing over as he tried counting each grain individually.
Then, a car pulled up. A door opened, then another door slid open. That must have been Granny and Grandpa. Alex ran inside, maneuvering around the furniture as he made his way to the front door. Opening it excitedly, he was met with the somber faces of Granny and Grandpa. Alex had never seen either of them cry, but judging by the deep creases in their faces and the streaks of tears down their cheeks, it was evident that both of them had been.
Granny pulled him into a hug, whispering apologies in his ear before she at last broke the news: Mom was gone. Not just gone from the house, but gone, gone. Alex found himself wishing that the unsettling silence would return as his own sorrowful wails rang out, echoing into the still morning.