Sign of the Times

 

Photo credit: Robsalot (that's me!)

Jim had to admit there were some good things about this, for instance, at this very moment he was flying down the freeway, going the speed limit, at 5 pm on a Thursday afternoon. He was pretty sure he had never seen the city fly by at this speed before. He could get used to not wasting all of his time inhaling the exhaust of perpetual gridlock. He would probably fall behind on all of his podcasts though.

Today was actually the first day he had been back into the City since it happened. As he was driving in this morning, he was surprised to find he actually felt a bit nervous as the metal crags and peaks of the skyscrapers emerged on the horizon, would it be the same as he remembered? But as he drove through the streets he found nothing had changed. Well, there were no people to be seen, but the buildings, the statues, even the trash, was the same. He actually found the silence downtown to be peaceful, it allowed him to get the job done quickly and get out.

It was still an hour before sunset when Jim pulled in his driveway. His roommate, Marlene wasn’t home yet, but he was sure she would be back soon. He settled into the couch and to watch the shadows creep across the living room floor when the door flew open.

“It’s about damn time,” he exclaimed over his shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Marlene answered as she stomped into the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

“Don’t forget to lock it!” Jim grumbled.

“Duh,” she replied, “hey, what’s that?”

“What, the sign?”

“Yeah, the big fucking neon sign that is now taking up the whole living room wall.”

“I got it downtown today, it’s the sign from the bar I used to own.”

“Oh, does it work?”

“Of course it works, not that I am going to turn it on right now.

“Come-on, just for a second, please?”

“Fine,” he sighed and plugged the sign into the wall, the neon flickered to life, filling up the room with a red glow.

“Wow,” she said, but before she could finish her sentence, there was a pounding at the door.

“Shit,” Jim exclaimed as he yanked the chord from the wall.

Jim and Marlene briefly made eye contact before they fled from the room, through a trap door in the hallway, and down into the basement. The thick metal door slammed shut behind them and Jim slid the lock closed.

“I told you we shouldn’t have turned it on,” Jim sighed

A second later the splintering sound of the front door giving way echoed through the house. Then there were footsteps, a dozen at least, shuffling across the floor above them.

“So I guess we’re spending the night in here.”

There was a long silence, and then Jim replied, “I knew we shouldn’t have turned on that light, it was too close to nightfall.

“Sorry,” was all Marlene replied.