Warriors Awaken

Amis

    Something is wrong. That's my first thought when I wake up. It's quiet... too quiet. Where is the voice of the morning reporter on the TV talking about the latest travesty? Where is the soft murmuring of mama's voice as she sings when she thinks no one is listening. Where is the sound of the newspaper rustling and the crunch of too done toast made by my father who wakes up early for work just to hear mama sing and to see me before he takes of? Even the pitter patter of Elly's toe nails on the hard word floor as she follows mama about the kitchen, tail wagging hoping she'll give her a scrap of food if she happens to be cooking.
    There's nothing except the tick... tick... tick of the large clock in the living room. Did I wake up late? Early? Glancing at my alarm clock tells me neither of those guesses are correct. Maybe it's set to the wrong time? I grab my phone and pull the charger out and let it fall back to the floor. The time that lights up on my dim phone screen is the same as the alarm clock.
    Then what's wrong? Even if Elly didn't have to go outside every morning at around 6:30 every morning, my parents would never stay in bed until 7:15, the time it is now. We got our hyper golden retriever only one year ago, so I would know. My parents have always been early risers; all my life, I would sometimes wake up at around five am and they would be happily awake enjoying each other's company.
    I swing my legs out of bed, tossing the covers off at the same time. As it's usually hot in my room, I hardly ever wear pants. I quickly pull on the first shorts I see laying on my floor and tuck my phone in the waist band. I cross my room in a few long strides and am about to turn the knob to open the door when I get a bad vibe. Shuddering, I let my arm fall to my side and look around my room. When I find what I'm looking for, I grab the big flash light my dad insisted I have in my room just in case. Both mama and I thought he was silly for having those in every room because phones had flashlights nowadays but he said it made him happy and we backed down. It's not like they were hurting anything anyway. Suddenly, I'm glad he wanted them in the rooms. If needed, I now had something to defend myself with if there was someone or something in my house that wasn't wanted or welcome.
    This time when I got back to my door, I opened it, pushing it open slowly and silently. Once out of my room, the near silence became once again overwhelming and heavy. In desperation to just hear something, I turned on the TV. Whatever show came on, I didn't recognize but it didn't really matter. I just needed something to permeate this awful quiet and whatever was playing at this moment worked for me as I wasn't really sure what the handsome actor on the screen was saying; it was just background noise as I looked around.
    It's obvious they're not in the living room, there would be no where for them to hide if they were in there. All that's in there is a chocolate brown, suede couch with deep blue throw pillows on it; one light brown, also suede rocking chair and a fluffy dog pillow. Also, the TV that currently depicts the actor confessing his undying love to a pretty, fake blonde actress and the loud clock. From the living room I can either turn around and go back down the short hallway that leads to my bedroom and my parent's or I can turn left and look in the kitchen/ dining room or I can turn right and go out the front door and hope they're just chilling in the front lawn. We have no garge or basement so I guess those are two places that I won't have to check.
    I choose to go to left because it's kind of two rooms (really they're connected) to look for them. Two room is more chances to find them than just one room, right? Breathing deeply and gripping my flashlight I turn to the left and walk into the kitchen to find...
    Nothing. No dirty breakfast plates or today's newspaper. For the first time, worry grips at my stomach but I push it away. Just because they're not in here doesn't mean anything. A quick scan of both the kitchen and the dining room proves empty and the worry comes back but again, I shove it away. It's not time to panic yet. I still have their bedroom and outside to check. This thought does little to calm me but I leave the kitchen anyway and make my way slowly to my parent's bedroom. Their door is closed to prevent Elly from wandering the house during the night and making messes or chewing on things while no one can see her.
    Summening the little courage I have left, I push their door open and see both my parents fast asleep under their blue and white plaid comforter, Elly laying at the foot of the bed. What's strange though is that not one of them lift their heads when I enter. At least the dog should have, but she didn't. I flick the lights on and nothing changes, not even a change in position, for any of them. Something is wrong. As much as I try to push that thought away, the worry resurfaces and I don't even try to get it to go away, there's no reason.
    "Mama?" My voice is shaky and weak so I clear my throat and try again. "Dad? Mama? Elly?" Nothing. I can see the blanket rising from their breath so I know they're not dead, but why won't they wake up? Tears threaten to fall and I don't know why. I try to swallow them and walk to mama's side to the bed and shake her. She doesn't wake up. I jog over to dad and shake him too but he doesn't wake either. I do the same to Elly but I know she won't wake up. Why would she if my parents didn't? Tears start falling and for the first time this morning, I am scared. What am I supposed to do? My family is asleep and won't wake up for some reason.
     Not knowing what else to do, I climb into bed with them. I don't want to be alone, even if I am with people and a dog who won't wake up. After getting comftable under the blanket, nestled between the two people I love the most in this world I pull my phone out of my waistband, glad that I had the forsight to bring it with me instead of leaving it in my room; I don't know if I could have made myself go and get it.
    First things first, I need to talk to someone. Desperatly. I call my best friend, Rose. My phone shakes as I scroll through my contact list for her number and when her name appears, I tap it harder than I probably need to. My phone rings once, twice, three times. It keeps ringing until I get her voicemail. She never misses my calls. Panic claws at my gut and I can't push it away. I call a few more friends but none of them answer. More tears fall and I curl up into my mama. I'm hoping she wraps her arms around me, kisses the top of my head and tells me it will be okay, but she doesn't. But that doesn't mean I can't hope.
    My one last ditch effort is TalkNow, the most popular social media today. It allows anyone with an account to talk to anyone. I've met some pretty cool people on there, a couple of which I called just in hopes that someone will talk to me but none of them picked up the phone when I called. I don't even bother direct messaging them. There's no reason to stare at my messages just for them to never indicate that they were read. I just go to the chat lists and try to find something that will be interesting to read for awhile to get my midn off this. It seems I have a lot of time alone on my hands, might as well put off doing anything important. I'm about to click on a random one when the app tells me to refresh the chat list. Curious, I do and what I see makes my heart stop. There's a chat room with the title of "Anyone Else Awake?" and it has three members currently in it.