I woke up to see a hole across the street. Where there had been a house, there was a gaping hole in the ground.
Somebody had lived there, I think. I’m pretty sure. I know that it wasn’t uninhabited. Maybe I had a friend there.
I couldn’t really remember what it looked like. I thought there might have been a tree. I’m not sure what kind. I remember, quite vividly, that they had one picket on their fence that was out of line, but that was it. It’s like when you drive by a demolition site and try to recall what was there.
It was hard not to focus on the hole. My eyes were drawn to it, and it felt like when you have lost a tooth- if anyone but I can remember that- and your tongue is feeling at the gap. It feels nasty, and eerie. I went out to the edge of the hole. It was deep enough that I couldn’t really see the bottom.
Another neighbor was already there. I didn’t really speak to him much before then. Nobody spoke to anyone much.
“So, what should we do?” I mumbled nervously.
He shrugged.
Well, we didn’t do anything.
I went to sleep feeling alright but was shocked again when I woke up. A hole takes a while to get used to.
I saw my neighbor trying to fill it. He was shoveling dirt into it and had dug up quite a lot of dirt. But the hole was far too deep if it even had a bottom. He was simply making it bigger.
I decided not to tell him to stop. If he would listen to reason, he would have stopped by now.
I remembered I had something scheduled for today. It wasn’t important, probably.
I thought I might visit my other neighbor. She was a waitress, or something. She should be going to work right now, I thought to myself. But her car was still in the driveway.
I should also be going to work, I thought. But it didn’t really seem worthwhile.
I knocked, only for the door to open in on itself. It had been left unlocked. I shouted for an invite, and, not hearing one, invited myself in. I chided her in my mind, not letting people in when they want to visit.
When I got to her room, she looked up at me. She had been crying a lot, I think. Her eyes were reddish with bags underneath.
She said that she had been crying all night, since when she noticed the hole, but couldn’t really figure out why. She hadn’t been eating anything, I noticed.
Well, if she was hungry, she could feed herself.
My street is silent now. One neighbor died of exhaustion after trying to fill the hole, another just gave up one day and walked in. The waitress still hasn’t left the house. I think there’s just me and the hole now.
Just me and the hole.