Empty City

When he woke up, the man got out of bed and walked over to the window to listen. Something was amiss, definitely, he just couldn't quite put his finger on it. He skipped showering, put on his pants from the day before, and walked out into the hall. The neighbors weren't yelling or arguing or talking on their phones, there were no T.V.'s blaring, no stereo's rattling on, it didn't feel like his building.

He went out on the street and found it empty, then walked the three blocks to the foot bridge that went over the freeway. All eight lanes lay still, not a car in sight, which was so odd it took his senses a full minute  to process what he was seeing: clear tar, as far as the eye could see.

He didn't panic but walked from the freeway to Center Street where there were still no cars or people in sight.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Hello! Is anybody here?! Huh? What the hell!"

He screamed out the worst curse words he knew then stopped forming words and began just screaming nonsensical sounds at the top of his lungs. He did this until his throat burned and his voice grew hoarse and rough.

A skunk ran out of the Wienerschnitzel parking lot across the street to the bank parking lot opposite and the man was embarrassed that the skunk had witnessed his yelling.

"Hey! Skunky! Where is everybody huh?! You scare ‘em off buddy?"

The man laughed weakly. He wasn't ready to admit that the morning was making him anxious, that the emptiness was getting to him. He walked the streets until he came across the car lot with a Cadillac lined up with a few other beaters left for dead. He picked up piece of broken cement from the curb and threw it through the window of the lot’s trailer office. He found the Cadillac keys hanging on a hook with the others, went back out to the lot, and let himself into the car.

He tore up one street then down the other, hitting every curb on every turn. He pulled onto the sidewalk at one point and took out a table and chair posted in front of a deserted cafe. He finally got tired and ran into a flag pole where he left the car. He had nothing to do so he began the long walk home.

He was walking by a park when he noticed and old man sitting in the grass. The old man had a long beard dotted with dirt and he stank. There was a grocery cart parked in the grass next to him filled with junk. The younger man was going to ignore him until he realized the old man was a person and the only one he had seen that day.

“Hi, how are you?” the younger man called out and the old man looked up from the grass, seemingly surprised.

“What?” the old man said.

“Well, where is everybody? There’s nobody out anywhere. Did something happen?”

The old man shook his head grudgingly and said: “Burning Man, man.”

The younger man nodded. He had forgotten about Burning Man. He walked back to where he had crashed the Cadillac and tried to drive it back to the lot. It started okay but wouldn't reverse, so he left it, not knowing much about cars anyway. He went home instead and decided not to worry about it.