When All Else is Gone

•Chapter Four• What Happend?...It Only Gets Weirder

When Abigail had finally calmed down she had one question. "What Happened?" No one had an answer. The drive home was quiet, they were all spent. Abigail sat clutching the teddy Heather had brought her. The trail was easy enough to follow.The drive was monotonous with nothing to look at. It barely even seemed like they were moving even though they were driving fast. With no reference point and no air rushing past it felt like they were on a giant treadmill going nowhere. Still even as they sat quietly, Heather knew that something was different. Something had changed, her family was terribly annoying. They couldn't understand her. But she loved them.

Heather was right it did get dark. They had made it too the bran flake part of the trail before they couldn't continue. Sleeping in the car was less than comfortable. The children laid down the back row of seats. They had no blankets so it was just a hard but flat surface. The parents were reclined in the front seats sleeping uneasily. In the midst of the night, -Heather had no idea the hour-  Abigail woke her with an accidental elbow. "Abie what are you doing?" she asked as Abigail continued to scoot closer to her. "I heard a bump." Abigail explained. A bump so you have to crowd my space? Heather thought but said, "Dad probably kicked the dashboard or something."
She was far too tired to care. Heather rolled over to make space but Abigail quickly closed it and lay next to her. She's scared, don't be mean. She told herself. Plus she was out of options since she was now up against the side of the car but that was alright. She went back to an uncomfortable sleep and waited for the night to end.

They were disappointed when they awoke. They had been expecting, or maybe just hoping that everything would be back to normal. But it wasn't. It was just as white as the day before... The drive seemed to pass quickly. They made it back to the house before the clocks read 9:00am. That day the Taylor's sat down and had a talk. "We don't know what's happened and we don't know how long it will last." Mr. Taylor told them. They looked less than hopeful. Mr. Taylor put on a smile. "But we're that Taylor family. We can handle this!" He received a few smirks and smiles. "We have to keep going and we need to plan as if this will last for a while. We have to find some things out. and make preparations. Heather, I'm putting you on inventory. Start with food, find out how much we have and come up with a plan for us to make it last." Heather nodded. It was a big job. Once again she could see the trust her father put in her.

"Pete I want you to go around the house and find out what works, lights, plumbing, outlets, all that stuff." Pete gave a thumbs up. "Abigail, I need you to investigate the house, tell me if you find anything interesting." Abigail smiled seeming pleased with her job. It was good of Mr. Taylor to give her one even if it was just busy work. "Is everyone good with their jobs?" They replied with nods or words of agreement. "Alright, let's split up gang!" Pete exclaimed before darting upstairs.
Heather grabbed a spare notebook and went to the kitchen to take inventory.

There wasn't much.
They usually only bought food for about a week in advance. Luckily Pete seemed to be full of good news. "Lights work!" He shouted from upstairs. "Plumbing works!" He shouted. It made no sense though. Delightful but impossible. How could the lights or plumbing work. Where were the electricity and water coming from?
Heather was about halfway through inventory when Pete came into the living room. She was crouched behind the counter digging into a cabinet when Pete said "TV works!" the words repeated a half second after. "TV works!" "Whoa." Pete said
"Whoa." Pete's voice echoed. Heather stood to look over the counter into the living room as she recognized that something was strange. Her eyes widened. Abigail had been looking underneath the couch but was now facing the television. "Dad! We found something interesting."
She shouted out. "Dad! We found something interesting."  "What is it?" He shouted back. The words were echoed once again. "Come look." Abigail said. "Come look." came the repetition.

Mr. Taylor walked into the living room a moment later and froze when he saw the television. The screen displayed their living room as seen from a ceiling corner. It showed the Taylor's in real time standing in their living room looking at the TV.  Heather searched for a hidden camera but when the screen showed her looking right at it she could still see nothing. "This is weird" Pete said as he waved to himself in the television. The words kept repeating just a half second later. "Very weird." Mr. Taylor agreed then agreed again on screen. They all sort of stared in a brief stunned silence. It was Mrs. Taylor who broke it, Heather hadn't realized her mother was behind her. Mrs. Taylor clearly couldn't take it anymore. "This is insane!" She marched into the living room "Who's watching that? Where is everyone? What the hell is going on?" They watched her then watched the tail end of it again on screen still thoroughly weirded out by the effect. "Turn that off, I can't stand it!" Mrs. Taylor yelled clearly on edge. Abigail picked the remote up off the coffee table. Rather than turn it off however she changed the channel.