Chapter Sixteen: Abraham:

Location: Sacramento, California

Diary Entry: Abraham

Day 111

What a world!

Everyone I know has vanished. But, I am not bothered by this. I pretty much have been alone all my life. Not much has changed except for the sand on the ground. I would kill for some liquor. I don’t care if it’s cold or not. I can’t stay here. There’s nothing. I should be used to that by now.

I used to be king of nothing. I sat on my porch with beer in my hand. Nobody bothered me. I shouted at annoying kids to get off my lawn. I hadn’t planned on doing anything that New Year’s Eve. It was going to be like how spent the previous ones in my life. Alone and drinking.

I was pretty happy with that.

Now, I’m not so sure about that.

At first, I didn’t care what happened to me after the sand came. (Okay, I was surprised like everyone else. I live near the forest, not the desert. Why the hell would there be sand everywhere?) Everyone else was busy looking for each other. I just sat on my porch drinking what I had left. When I ran out of alcohol, I got bored. The power went out around the world and all of the neighbors were gone. With nothing else to do, I hit the road.

I didn’t think about where I was going. I had to get away from my house. I had to leave my truck because what was the point? It was just a giant piece of useless metal now. The walking wasn’t good on my leg. For the most part, it was just my cane, Simon, and me. I didn’t need anyone clinging to me. Why should that part of my life change?

That ended up changing day to day too.

It started off with Neil. I have seen him around my neighborhood. He lost his parents and didn’t know where they went. He clung to me for reasons. The boy didn’t talk much, I’ll give him that. In fact, Neil always seemed so sad.

“Cheer up, kid,” I told him one day. “You can’t be looking sad all the time.” Neil looked up at me and then looked at his feet. I ended up dropping him off with some church and leaving. He would’ve been a nice kid under different circumstances. I couldn’t stay with him, though.

I don’t why the youth was attracted to me. They just come to me. They don’t stay, though. It doesn’t bother me. I have been used to staying alone. I’m still not used to not having any booze. I would kill for a cold beer right now. I am not used to not drinking. This alone is why I hope this sand goes away soon.

I don’t really have no idea what I am doing. I don’t have any plans. I’m just living and moving along. Everyone wants to go the ocean. I don’t see the point. What’s there? Water? Seems pointless to me. Right now, I’m just going to keep walking. That seems to be working out so far. I might meet another young person and lead them around until they leave again. It really doesn’t bother me anymore.