Drabble: Nightmare

Sapho walks alone on London streets. Literally. Nobody is out and about: no cats, no rats, no Coalmen, no Rubbery Men. All is silence expect her footfalls, an occasional drip of water. Nobody is in London. Nobody. She walks to Esse’s, then Karin’s, then Marina’s, explores their houses, searches every room, every closet, every cupboard. It is all entirely normal, nothing is amiss, out of place, or disturbed. It is just that everyone is … gone.

Days pass, then weeks, still nobody. Months pass; they are very, very lonely. Sapho has explored, called, left notes, all over London, but it is hopeless. There really is nobody. And now, she’s too tired, too sad to do anymore.

One day, sitting in a chair, she looks down at her arms and legs; they are covered with dust. How long has she been like this?

She wakes in her own, real, bed, rolls over, and reaches for … nobody.