My Short Story Page 5

After entering his bedroom he ran through a plan in his head of how he wanted the interview to go.  They would see him and not be bothered about his lack of qualifications and experience.  They would be so bowled over by his personality and ability to learn that they would wave aside all their prior expectations and give him the job.  He would leave happy and pass the other candidates who would look at him with a mix of envy and scorn.  He would return home an employed man, save some money (buy Joanne the Bieber cd and shut her up), get a house, a car, move out, meet a beautiful woman, marry and settle down.  Yeah right he thought, if only.

                He walked to the small window and looked out at the bright sunny day.  It had been sunny everyday so far this…….  He stopped and realised he couldn’t remember the last day it hadn’t been sunny.  He looked out across the street and at the other houses in the street.  No one was about.  Surely at this time of the day there should have been someone.  Anyone.  He looked closer and breathed a sigh of relief.  The street wasn’t empty, there was a man standing across from his house.  Dressed in a dark blue suit the man appeared to be watching his house and Alan involuntarily shuddered.  The way the man was just watching his house made him uneasy but then he remembered that the house next door was for sale and that the man was probably just an estate agent or a prospective buyer eyeing up the other residents to gauge what sort of neighbourhood it was.

‘Yep that must be it, what else could it be?’

                He made a mental note to mention it to his dad though.   I mean you couldn’t be too careful what with all the bad thing happening just a couple of miles down the road.  He moved aside from the window and sitting on the edge of his bed reached underneath and pulled out his shoes.  He had polished them the night before and didn’t trust leaving them downstairs in the hall in case they got scuffed by the dogs mental gymnastic routine with the post or by his sister dragging her school bag along the hallway (as she was prone to do).  After carefully tying his shoes and using his tongue and finger to get rid of any dust mites that might have accumulated overnight he decided to check his email.  He went over and switched on his computer.  Nothing happened.  He tried again and still nothing.  He looked across at his alarm clock and saw that the display was dark.  He went over, picked it up and shook it, nothing happened.   He looked at the plug  in the socket and wondered if the fuse had gone, but that made no sense because the computer was plugged in a different socket.  Both fuses going at once?  Possible he supposed.  Highly unlikely, but possible.  Something else to mention to his dad.

                He decided to use the bathroom before leaving, the last thing he wanted was needing to go when he was in the interview or worse going and then being called while he was there and missing his place in the interview queue (which he knew there would undoubtedly be).  He went into the bathroom and lifted the seat, it was empty.  No water. 

‘What the …..fuck?’

His confusion felt like it had frozen his bladder and he no longer had any urgency to go.  He went to the small sink and tried the taps.  Nothing.  He tried turning them all the way.  Still nothing.  He went over to the shower and standing back from the unit turned the water dial on. Not a single drop.

‘Ok, ok’ he tried calming himself but he knew it wasn’t working. 

                He went to the top of the stairs and took two steps down. 

‘Dad there’s no water in the bathroom and I think the power has gone from my room’

He waited for the response and the sigh that usually followed.  He didn’t hear anything.  He tried again, louder just in case he was in the kitchen or the garage.

‘Hey dad you there, problem with the water, better call someone I think.  Dad?  Mum?  Joanne?

                He came down the stairs two at a time no longer bothered about scuffing his shoes, in fact all thought of his interview disappeared as he went into the kitchen and found it empty.  He tried the living room and the garage, completely empty.  Even Tyson had disappeared.