The apartment was quiet -- too quiet. That was what awoke Sasha at 7:47 in the morning.
"Dammit!" she muttered out loud. She had really hoped to sleep in this morning.
She thought for a moment, trying to remember what had woke her, but she couldn't remember any noise or anything. That was when it occurred to her that it wasn't a noise, but a lack thereof that had done it. No noise from the apartment next door or the one above. No noise from the parking lot, which was right outside her bedroom window. No annoying little rat dogs yapping away in the square. Nothing.
Sasha got up and looked out her bedroom window. There were no cars moving in the driveway, which wasn't altogether unusual. She didn't see anyone moving around in the laundry room or the office, either, which was not the norm.
She slowly walked into the kitchen, put on some coffee, and prepared her cup. Then she walked over to the window and looked outside. Normally, there was always at least one person wandering around out there. This morning, however, there was no one. It was early, though, so she put it off to that for the time being.
Once the coffee was ready, Sasha poured herself a steaming cup and sat down. Sometimes, she watched the news in the morning, but today didn't feel like one of those days. Instead, she turned on Hulu and summoned 'The Golden Girls', which she had been binge watching lately. Once that was done, she turned to her trusty laptop.
Sasha was a writer. Not a really successful one, but a writer none the less. She opened up her laptop and began her day by posting a couple of entries on Fan Story. She then went to a site named Reedsy and checked out the writing prompts for the current contest. She selected one and opened Word to begin writing.
When Sasha wrote, she got lost in it, so it was no surprise that it was nearly 11:00 am when she came to realize that she still had heard nothing. Still no people talking outside, no dogs, no kids, nothing. Once more she decided to take a look out the front window. Still nothing. It was the same when she looked out the bedroom window again.
Sasha looked out of her door. Her neighbor always had her door opened during the day, and Sasha figured seeing that would put her mind at ease. However, her neighbor's door was closed up tight. Now Sasha was beginning to get an uneasy feeling. Try as she might, she couldn't shake it. That feeling that something wasn't right. She decided a phone call to the office, hoping a human voice would settle her uneasiness.
She grabbed her phone, located the number to the apartment office, and dialed. The phone rang. Once, twice, three times. Sasha allowed ten rings before giving up. That long, sharp-toothed rat called fear was now beginning to gnaw away at her stomach. She sat down and attempted to do some more writing, but she couldn't concentrate.
Sasha decided to take a walk to the mailbox. Certainly, she would see someone outside, or a car moving at the far end of the parking lot, or something. She returned from her walk more confused and fearful than ever. There had been nothing. Well, that wasn't entirely true.
On her walk to the mailbox, Sasha hadn't seen any people, but there had been vehicles moving on the street. What had her so frightened at this point was that, even though she had waved to a couple of the passing cars, no one waved back or even acted as though they had seen her.
Beginning to have a feeling of panic now, Sasha attempted to call someone outside of the complex, but the call wouldn't go through. She decided she would leave -- drive someplace where she could interact with other people. Anywhere would do. A store, a library, anyplace. Terror set in as she discovered that her car wouldn't start. Sasha began to beat on doors, screaming as she went. She received no answers.
Okay, Sasha thought. I need to calm down. This can't really be happening. My imagination is getting away from me. People aren't home because they are at work, sometimes cars won't start and sometimes calls don't go through, she rationalized. That's it, she thought. That's why the office didn't answer. There is something wrong with my phone.
Having calmed herself, she decided to go in and have some lunch. She decided that if a call still wouldn't go through after lunch, she would walk to the office and just make up some excuse so she didn't appear insane.
After she ate her sandwich, she tried her phone again, with the same results. She slipped her shoes back on and walked to the office. There was a note on the door stating that the office was closed at this time due to the stupid CO-VID19 virus. Of course it was. Everything was. That explained why they weren't answering the phone. Sasha checked the laundry room. There was a note on that door stating that it was closed for maintenance.
Going back to her apartment, Sasha felt a little better. She decided to lie down and take a nap. Maybe when she woke up it would be time for people to come home from work and she would be able to see some movement.
When she awoke from her nap, Sasha immediately looked at the clock. It was 4:30 in the afternoon. She resisted the urge to look out the window. Instead, she went to the kitchen for a snack. She wrote a little more, and before long it was 6:00. She still hadn't heard anything, but she wasn't going to let that freak her out again. She wandered over to the living room window and peeked through the blinds. Still nothing. No people, no dogs, nothing.
Walking to her room, she convinced herself that she would definitely see something out front. When she saw that absolutely nothing had changed, she decided she needed a plan of action. After careful thinking, she decided the best thing to do would be to calmly knock on the doors of the people she knew. But she needed some reason.
Sasha decided that she would bake some cookies and bring batches to her friends. Once the cookies were baked, cooled and wrapped, it was almost 7:30. She figured someone should definitely be home by now. She opened her door and looked out. Still nothing.
She started with the friend that was furthest away. No answer. The same result at every other door she tried. She went back home with all of her cookies, feeling very discouraged. This was absolutely ridiculous. Sasha decided that she would have to watch the 10:00 news.
Sasha made dinner, ate, and took her shower. At 8:45, she again attempted a couple of phone calls, and again they would not go through. Not to worry. She set an alarm for the news and worked on her writing. At 10:00, the alarm went off and Sasha closed her computer and turned on the news.
Of course, the first story on the news was Coronavirus, then they talked about the protests. Then came the story that sent a shock through Sasha's entire body.
"In local news, the body of a local writer, Sasha Johnson, was found in her apartment early this morning. It appears that she died of natural causes."