Alone

Maddie arrives home, and her mother fusses at her to take her shoes off; the rules are different at dad’s house. Maddie’s mom gives her some vegetables for a snack, though Maddie secretly ate a Twinkie earlier—now that Maddie is in middle school, she sometimes lies to her mom and gets annoyed by her.

Maddie thinks the clothes her mother wears to her meditation group are goofy, but her mother says the clothes are comfortable for the activity and points out how tight Maddie’s jeans are. This annoys Maddie. Maddie’s stepdad, Paul, arrives and thanks Maddie for babysitting tonight. They live in Millerville, Colorado (a suburb of Denver), and Maddie mentions the existence of checkpoints and a curfew for adults. The parents leave.

Maddie has a baby half-brother named Trevor—the son of Maddie’s mother and Paul. Maddie loves Trevor but sometimes resents having to share a room with him or take care of him when she would rather do other things. Maddie also has twin stepbrothers (Paul’s sons), Elliot and James, who are in fourth grade. Maddie wants to plan her weekend instead of feeding baby Trevor, so she uses a Twinkie to try to bribe Elliot to do it instead. Mom’s house is gluten-free, so junk food often works as a bribe, but not now because Elliot is busy helping James with science homework. Maddie envies the deep bond between the twins.

Maddie lives half of the time with her mother and Paul and half of the time with her dad and Jennifer (who have no other children). The parents switch every week, which annoys Maddie because it prevents her from bonding as much with her siblings or ever getting fully used to their habits. Maddie gets a text message from her friend Ashanti confirming their weekend plans.

Maddie is planning a secret slumber party with her friends Ashanti and Emma. The girls are all lying to their respective parents in order to spend the night unsupervised with no adults in Maddie’s grandparents’ summer apartment, which is currently vacant (Maddie’s dad has a key that she can easily steal). Emma and Ashanti will each say they are sleeping over at the other one’s house. Maddie will tell her mom she’s gone to her dad’s house on Friday night like normal, and she’ll tell her dad she’s staying an extra night at her mom’s to help the twins with a school project. The girls plan to eat snacks and watch old movies while doing no chores and having no needy babies around.

Elliot asks Maddie for help with his English essay about Island of the Blue Dolphins. The protagonist lives alone for 18 years on the island she’s from. While everyone else left, she stayed behind to take care of her brother, who died, leaving her totally alone except for animals, including a dog that she takes in as a pet. Elliot has to choose if the protagonist’s biggest challenge is protecting herself from wild dogs, obtaining food and shelter, or learning to trust another friend.

Elliot thinks maybe the wild dogs are the greatest challenge because the dogs are what killed the protagonist’s brother. Maddie agrees that wild dogs are dangerous, but she argues that lack of food or safe shelter would be even more dangerous. Elliot seems satisfied with this answer and thanks Maddie for the help.

Maddie puts all her brothers down for bedtime. She plays on her computer until her mom and Paul return home. She pulls her history book out and pretends to study as Paul steps into the shared bedroom to check on her baby brother. He tries to converse with Maddie, but she ignores him, though she is unsure why she is rude to her stepparents sometimes.

Maddie leaves for school in a good mood, allowing her mother to kiss her goodbye. She spends the day on autopilot, except for art class, which she enjoys. After school, she rides her bike to the store to buy snacks and soda for her slumber party. She then bikes to her grandparents’ apartment, passing the checkpoints her parents talk about on the way there. Maddie does not seem to understand or care about the checkpoints, convoys, and curfews. She settles in, eating snacks and watching television.

Maddie’s parents both believe her story about being at the other one’s house. Her parents and stepparents are apparently close and planning to attend a concert together soon.

Maddie’s friends text her. Ashanti has gotten sick and cannot come, which ruined Emma’s cover story. Emma tried to tell her parents she would spend the night at Maddie’s instead, but Maddie’s mom told them Maddie was too busy and still at her dad’s. Since her friends are not coming, Maddie decides she may as well enjoy relaxing alone with no parents or chores.

Maddie wakes up in the night to loud noises of trucks, voices, and people breaking into her grandparents’ apartment and is frightened, so she hides. She overhears a neighbor saying this apartment only has residents part-time, so it is probably empty. She stays hidden until the people leave.

Maddie wakes, realizing she fell back asleep, and finds an alarming number of missed calls and text messages.

One text is an automated emergency message about an “imminent threat,” instructing people to follow directions from any local authorities. There are also voicemails from Maddie’s mother and father. Each parent still believes Maddie is with the other one and plans to meet up with Maddie later. Neither parent explains why they are leaving, where they are going, or for how long.

Maddie’s friends Ashanti and Emma also texted her, saying they are relieved they were not all at the sleepover after all. They ask which transport Maddie is on.

Maddie calls each of her family members and friends, but everyone’s phone goes to voicemail. She texts them all, but no one responds.

Maddie turns on the news station. The anchor is talking about the “imminent threat” that caused evacuations, but the anchor is vague, noting only that it is an emergency in the western part of the United States. There is footage of people waiting in lines to get on planes, buses, and trains, apparently heading for shelters elsewhere in the country. Other than that, Maddie learns nothing useful about where her own family might be.

Maddie wonders what the threat might be, considering a possible attack. She peers out the window. Everything looks safe and normal except that no people are around. She wants to go investigate outside.

Maddie has second thoughts about going outside, realizing that the threat could be something invisible, such as something wrong with the air. She puts her grandfather’s bandana around her face like a mask. Outside, nothing seems unusual. Birds are flying and singing, so she reasons that the air is probably fine. She gets on her bike to explore.

Maddie rides through the neighborhood to the town center, seeing no people on the way. However, the streets are littered with dropped items that the transports must not have had room for, and many people left their doors wide open. Maddie calls out, but nobody answers. She arrives at the bus station.

At the bus station, there are bins full of cell phones. Maddie hears one ringing, but she can’t find it before it stops. She sinks to the pavement and cries.

Maddie pulls out her own cell phone and calls her mom. She hears her mother’s ringtone coming from one of the bins. She calls her dad, stepparents, friends, and everyone else, and each phone rings from a barrel nearby.

Maddie calls 911, but the automated message says that number was disconnected. She tries to contact her grandparents, who are currently in Texas, but another automated message says the call volume is too high for her call to go through. Maddie realizes it could be a long time before her parents realize she is not with either of them. They may or may not be on the same bus or end up at the same shelter, and if they do not have phones, they might not be able to communicate.

Riding toward her dad’s house, Maddie notices people have left their pets behind. She finds that her stepmom, Jennifer, also left her flutes behind, which Jennifer always takes when she travels. At her mom’s house, the minivan is still there, along with several half-empty suitcases. Apparently, everyone left in a rush and could not carry much. The house is messy. Maddie goes to her bedroom to cuddle a stuffed animal.

Maddie reflects that just yesterday, it was a normal school day. Now, everyone has completely disappeared. Because the animals remain, though, she figures that everyone will probably return soon.

Maddie cleans the whole house so that her mom and Paul will hopefully be pleased when they return. She considers moving her mom’s van from the driveway into the garage but recalls her mom being angry last time she drove without permission, so she decides to leave the van where it is.

Maddie calls her grandparents four times an hour but continues to receive the same message about high call volume. She turns on the kitchen radio and hears that people who were evacuated are being put in shelters in the eastern part of the United States. She still does not know where her family is. She wonders what danger has led to the evacuation and how it might affect her.

Streetlights illuminate like normal, as do certain neighbors’ lights that are on timers. There are no people, but she hears dogs howling and locks her doors. She turns the television on, but the channels are no longer working. She watches old movies instead.

When her mother’s alarm goes off and Maddie remembers what has happened, she is so distraught that she runs to the bathroom to vomit. She notices her mother’s hair and considers saving this piece of her mother, but she lies on the floor instead, trying to mentally replay her mother’s yoga video with its breathing exercises.

Nature seems normal outside. The absence of humans does not seem to have affected the plants and animals. Maddie then hears a loud noise from the neighboring house and assumes it is a person.

Next door, Maddie finds the neighbor’s dog, George, eating cookies off the kitchen floor next to a broken cookie jar. The jar breaking was the loud noise. Maddie gives George dog food and water, lets him outside, and then decides to take him back to her house. His company makes her feel better.

George is very affectionate and obedient. He follows Maddie everywhere as she cleans both houses, looks for signs of other humans, and leaves her own sign at the bus stop announcing that she has been left behind and needs help. The cell phones in barrels are mostly out of batteries and have no service. Along with television stations, the internet is no longer working, so Maddie cannot email anyone or reach them online either. She remembers her father’s rule to stay put when lost in the wilderness because others might try to come find her there. Even though her hometown is not the wilderness, she decides to follow the advice.

Maddie is watching an old television show when the house loses power. She looks outside to see all other houses have lost power, and the streetlights are out as well. She finds a flashlight, matches, and candles, observing how her mother would refer to the candlelight as ambience.

Maddie and George go outside to look at the stars, which are brighter without the lights of the Denver skyline. Distant coyotes howl, and George growls in response. Maddie remembers some constellations but wishes her father were present to tell her the names of the rest.