Lauren Zalenski
Creative writing I'm awake and all I see is darkness. The time is 10:00 A.M. I wonder if something is missing with this picture. It seems as if there is there is barely any light outside. It is difficult to see beyond my hands. I can't understand why this is happening. It quickly gets lighter outside as if something had been blocking sunlight from seeping through the windows. I jump up, look around to see my surroundings. I somehow end up fully clothed and meandering about town. There is nobody here. Nobody. Where is everyone? I glance back at my watch carefully studying it as to make sure I don't make a mistake on the time. Nope it's still normal time, it's 11:30 in the morning and no one is even wandering about the streets. Not even Crazy Gerry, the homeless guy who always tells his crazy stories about his crazy insane adventures that he's been on while hitch hiking on the southern railway. He's always here, blabbing on about his imaginary happenings. Although now they don't as unrealistic. Where could everyone be? I start heading towards the woods on the outskirts of town, pondering about what might have happened yesterday that could possibly explain the lack of human life. Nope I've got nothing. I now worry about getting lost so I double back towards town. This is really weird. What caused this to happen? What has happened that I am missing? The missing piece of the puzzle that turns this big question mark into some bloody answers. I've travelled about twenty metres since the point I last stopped. I have no idea what to do, but I could have sworn that I heard something, but I decide to shake it off and keep walking towards town. There! There it is again! I know I heard something for sure. I stop and say a timid “hello?”. No answer. Hmm I’ll say it again “hello?” there is some rustling from behind the trees, then out comes a Golden Retriever. She barks at me in excitement. I assume because she is happy as I am to find a living, breathing, being. I kneel down to pet her, but I notice something on her underside. It's a huge burn mark. I quickly scoop her up and jog toward town. Who knows how long she's been in this condition. I finally come into the clearing that is the small city that I call home. I sprint toward the nearest place with medical supplies; the hospital. I burst through the doors with my shoulder to shield the dog from any further injury. She whimpers in pain as I place her onto a hospital bed. I rush to get the bandages, tweezers and the ointments/wound cleaning supplies. I take care as I intricately dress the wound. She doesn't so much as flinch each time I swab the huge monstrosity of an injury. I finish with wrapping