The Science Of Words

Part 5: Ivi

I wake up sweating. The air feels hot, too hot to be morning. I sit up and turn towards the window. It's not morning, the sun's nearly at its highest. 

My mom is going to be so mad that I missed the bus. And half the school day. I scramble out of bed and get dressed as fast as possible. 

I run down the stairs, expecting my mom to be waiting for me, ready to yell at me for being lazy. But she's not.

"Mom?" I call. No one answers.

I rush to my mom's room. She's not there. Where is she? 

I hurl myself up to the attic, where my brother's room is. To be honest, I haven't even been in his room since we moved. I arrive in the doorway and reach for the doorknob, before realizing it's not there. The door has a huge gap right in the middle wide enough for me to walk through easily. The edges are rough and splintered, and debris litters my brother's floor.

I gingerly step through the hole into my brother's room. The room itself is nearly empty. My brother's bed stands in the corner, but there is no other furniture. 

I go over and sit on the bed. At my touch, the bed falls to pieces, sending up a cloud of dust. I quickly stand up with a small scream.

So my mom and my brother are gone. At first I'm worried, but then I come to my senses. My mom would be at work at this time. She must just not've realized I didn't get on the bus. And my brother would be at school. I don't know why he wouldn't've woke me up, but maybe he forgot. And about the hole in the door? Maybe the door wouldn't open, and that was the only option. See, there is a perfectly logical explanation for all of this. 

I walk down the stairs towards my room. Evelyn's door is open, but why wouldn't it be? She's probably at daycare, like she always is. I don't think it's really worth it to try to go to school this late, and I don't have any way to get there anyway, so I go sit on my bed and write poems.

Around dinner time I go downstairs and make myself some pasta. My mom must be working late. My brother must have something he had to do after school. Evelyn must have been picked up by...somebody, my mom probably arranged for someone else to take care of her for a little, though I don't know who. Everything seems normal. 

Even when I go to bed at nine, I'm still not worried. My mom might not come home until ten, and I'll be asleep by then. My brother might be staying over at a friend's house. Mom might be planning to pick up Evelyn from wherever she is when she comes home.

I set my alarm for five thirty; that way, I'll have plenty of time to wake up and get ready, and I won't sleep in.

----

When I wake up, my mom isn't in the house, and neither is Evelyn. Since my brother's probably gone on a sleepover, it makes sense he's not here, but I can't think of a good reason for mom and Evelyn to be gone. 

I text my brother to ask where he is, but he doesn't respond. He's probably busy getting ready for school and isn't looking at his phone. I try calling him, hoping he'll be more likely to pick up. A muffled ring sounds from up in my brother's room. I run upstairs, expecting to see him home, but he's not there. His phone is sitting on the floor near the window. He must've forgot it.

I shrug and head downstairs to get ready for school. I walk to the bus stop alone and wait in the morning chill. The bus squeals up unenthusiastically and I board. I do wonder why no one told me where they were going before they disappeared, but I'm not worried. 

Tadashi comes up to me after class. 

"Hey," He says.

"Hi," I reply.