How It All Ended

Chapter 3

 Believe me, it wasn't my plan to stay down in my basement for two damn weeks. That first night, Rich and I were about to head back upstairs to try and see what was happening out there. Yeah, it was pitch black outside and damn near impossible to see anything, but Richard and I figured that we had the cover of darkness going for us. Maybe there would be a decent amount of moonlight that could help us out.

Rich opened the basement door, and both of us stood at the top of my steps, and we listened for a moment.

Everything outside seemed pretty quiet at first. As soon as Rich tried to take a step into my kitchen, we heard someone shout, "Get Back!" Followed by a loud cracking noise, most likely a gunshot. That was our cue to get our asses back into the basement and stay put for the time being.

"Looks like we'll have to try that again in the morning, Dom," Richard told me.

I sat down on the bottom basement step," That would probably be for the best. Getting shot just ruins my day."

Rich chuckled. "Mine too." Richard then reached into his jacket pocket to grab his cigs. "shit."

"What?"

"All out of smokes."

"Damn," I said sarcastically.

"Shut up."

Rich sat down on a box that was full of junk, and he looked out of my basement windows. All Rich and I could see out there was darkness. Probably for the better that we couldn't go outside and see what was happening; would've been a waste of time.

"Rich, what the hell do you think is actually going on?" I asked my neighbor.

"Dom, I really don't know. I can't think of what this could be."

"The power's out, and people are acting like assholes...more so than usual."

Richard laughed, "Oh yeah."

"Lights go out for a day, everybody decides to become a prick."

"We don't know if the lights'll be out for only a day, though." Rich reminded me.

"That's right."

"It's not that hard for things to go to shit, Dominik."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I can't stop thinking about my daughter."

"Oh yeah." I had forgotten that Rich had a daughter. "Where was Beth again?"

"I haven't talked to her or her mother in a long time, Dom. Last I checked, Beth was still in college."

"She could be okay. You don't know, Rich."

Rich sighed, "Yeah." I could hear the worry in Rich's voice. "What about you, kid?"

"What about me?"

"What about your family?"

"You know I lost my folks a few years back."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Any extended family?"

I shook my head. "Nah. They don't like me, I don't like them."

Richard laughed. "So you couldn't care less?"

"Precisely," I answered.

I couldn't sleep at all that night. My mind kept wandering, "What was happening? Was this everywhere? Why is damn near everyone going crazy out there?"

Richard was sleeping like a rock, however. Rather than sit in the darkened basement, I decided to chance it and go upstairs to see if anything was happening.