In the Dark

 I don't like being here.  In the dark.  No one to talk to.  Nothing to do.

How long have I been here?  I don't know.  My Fitbit ran out of juice hours ago. Or has it been hours?  Maybe it's just been a few minutes.  Maybe it's been days.  All sense of time has fled me.

Why am I here?  I don't know.  My grips on my memory of the 'before time' are starting to slip.  I'm married.  I have children.  I'm old enough to be a Grandfather, but I don't have grandchildren, at least not yet. I work...somewhere.  Something done mostly on computers.  Spreadsheets?  Some program where I enter data?

How did I get down here?  Did someone put me here?  Or did I trap myself? I don't know.

What have I been eating?  What have I been drinking?  I don't know.  I can't recall eating or drinking anything?  And yet, I'm not hungry or thirsty.  If that's true, I couldn't possibly have been down here for too long.  

More time passes.  I don't know how much.  My stomach does not growl.  I do not feel parched.  As best as I can tell, I am not dehydrated.

And then a door opens wide, a doot I did not know was even there. 

Light floods in, so bright I shield my eyes.

I hear the sounds of many people. Children laughing.  Adults in spirited conversation.  Music playing.  It's KISS.  They're playing KISS, the song Rock 'n' Roll All Nite (and Party Every Day).  Is it the band, or a cover band, or a recording? I can't tell.

I gingerly step outside.  As my eyes adjust, I see many people milling about in a backyard.  Children appear to have laser guns and are chasing each other.  Groups of adults, a dozen or more in bunches of three to five, are talking with each other.  They are animated, most with drinks in their hand - wine glasses, cocktails, bottles of beer. Two men are cooking at a grill, a multitude of hot dogs and hamburgers.

This is nice.  But I don't recognize a soul.

A woman comes up to me - short, heavyset, pretty face.  She smiles at me.  She seems to know me.  I don't know her.

"Tony!  Good to see you!" She hands me a beer, a brand I've never heard of...Pirate's Cove Lager?  "Glad you could make it!"  Out of nowhere, my thirst was coming back.  I greedily slugged back about half the bottle.

I could barely speak; my voice had fallen to disuse.  "What/" I had to pause.  Took another swig of beer, hoping it would help.  "What is this?"

"It's a celebration!"

"A celebration of what?"

She looked surprised, as if I should know.  "It's over!  You mean you don't know?"

"What's over?"

"My goodness, you really have been out of it!"

"Yes.  Yes, I think I have."

"Well, it's over, Tony!  Really over! Everybody got vaccinated, and the last variant has played out!  It's been weeks since the last case!"

I remembered.  A global pandemic that had killed millions, including many here in the States.  Was that why I was hidden away?  And why would I just be by myself?  Would I not want to protect my family as well? Wait!  My family!

"My family!  Where is my family?"

She stared at him in disbelief.  "Tony.  You know what happened, don't you?  They died, Tony.  They all died.  From the pandemic.  It was after the funerals that you disappeared.  Don't you remember?"

Flashes came back to me.  Debbie being sick, having to go to ICU, and then his son and daughter.  And he couldn't get in to see any of them - they were in strict quarantine.

Tears rolling down my cheek, I turned around, heading back to the doors to my self-imposed prison.

"Where are you going, Tony?" she pleaded.

"I'm not ready yet."  I entered the doors and said as I was closing them, "Maybe later."

The darkness enveloped me.