wolven7 | "I want you to notice, when I'm not around...."

He ticks off, subconsciously, the list of people he hasn't seen, today. There's a surprisingly large number. Where is everyone? He shrugs, and goes back to eating his lunch (something scrounged from the fridge, at home), and reading his book (oldskool cyberpunk, for the second or fifth time). He's always loved this story; the feeling of connection with an artificial thing, always makes him shiver. Technology, wanting only to be beside us, as equals, being placed above us, as gods. So tragic, and true... He looks up, and around, as he smells a brief whiff of something burning. It's strangely familiar...

There's no one in the courtyard. This isn't that, "hey-there-are-a-few-people-out-here-but-no-one-i-know," no one-- this is No One. Even the janitors are gone...

He checks his pager, for the time, and sees that it's only 1.45-- there should still be a Lot of people, out here. He begins to wonder, slightly, whta the Fuck is going on here, his paranoia being slightly on edge, as it is. He gathers up his things, and makes for the University Center. There's Always Someone, in the University Center. As he crosses, over-side, to the old building, and the cafeteria, he sees what look like after images, or heat haze, floating above the side walks and streets... But they look like people and cars... There'll be someone, in the University Center. He has decided this, with near Word-like finality.

There's no one in the University Center. He wanders around, through the corridors, calling out names, and listening to the Muted echo, his voice garners, for it's trouble. And the construction crews are gone. He finds a pay phone, and hears nothing, from the reciever. Not a static hiss, not the deadness of something blocking the cradle. Simply nothing. The sheer Lack and Antithesis of sound, coming from that phone, is deafening. It threatens to pull him into the earpiece, and he slams it back down, onto the base. He s;lups down, to the floor, and realises the inherent futility found stealing anything, or, otherwise, running amok, at this juncture (it's not like he'd be getting away with it; there's simply no one there to stop him). So, he is utterly alone, and supremely bored. Wonderful.

He pulls out his book, again, and wonders, briefly, where everyone went. Then he giggles, softly, to himself, and says, "Heheh. Wintermute..." Resuming his reading, he wonders what the next change will be...

_________________

She's looking for her friends, and wanting to go to lunch. She notes that the courtyard is rather empty, today, and simply attributes it to the year, drawing to a close. She takes a small break, to go to the rest room and, when she returns, everyone is gone.

She looks around, sniffs the air and wonders aloud, "Is something burning...?"

And then it's gone.

(c)Damien Williams. All Rights Reserved