vanished

Beams of light slowly creep up a sheetless bed and onto a naked man, his eyes twitch slightly as the light touches his stubble covered face. He sits up still half asleep before wearily opening his eyes, looking around the dust covered room and picking up clothes left on the floor from the night before and struggling to put them on, he grabs a phone from the side of the desk and let's out a slow whistle turning to see a dog with a slight brown coat a d missing half it's ear missing sat wagging it's tail on his bed. The man holds up a collar and a lead with a slight smile. They both go to the front door to be greeted by a meow coming from his feet, he looks down and in-between his legs is a small pure white cat, he pets her before opening the door to his apartment and leaving with the dog.

He walks through the hallway and gets into a creaking lift, the dog sits as they stand there slowly descending to the bottom floor, the doors creak open and they both walk out of the building. As the two walk the man notices all he can hear is the footsteps of both himself and the dog, he thinks to himself "little quite today" before entering the park and letting the dog off to run about. He sits up against a tree and watches the dog running around and sniffing everything, his eyes slowly become heavier and heavier, he lets out a yawn and sinks slightly as sleep takes him. He's woken up by the dog licking his face, he jumps up and checks his phone showing the time 1PM, he mumbles "fuck" under his breath and looks around for anyone who saw only to see nothing but an empty park. They both walk home surrounded by no noise but the sound of their own footsteps, the hair on the man's arms stands on end as he looks around but he looks down to the dog and feels calmed, he pets the dog and with a smile and strokes the dog "Alba's gunna be pissed it's past his feeding time". The two arrive back to their apartment to be met by an annoyed cat waiting at his food bowl, the man pours out some kibble before going to the kitchen and pouring himself a bowl of cereal then a bowl of food for the dog. He slumps into the chair and opens his phone and scrolls to contacts then clicks "Elara", he lets out a sigh and click the call button, his heart thuds in his chest as the phone rings and rings until he is put into voicemail. The dog comes over and comforts the man who now holds his head in his hands.

A few hours later he sits on the edge of his bed and plays the guitar before opening his bedroom window and smoking a cigarette, he turns his head to look at the main road covered with car lights but is met by a completely unlit road, he scans the streets and roads but no movement is seen. He walks to the living room and turns the TV filling the house with peoples voices for the first time today, an old TV show he watched when he was younger plays and he cuddles up with Alba and the dog, he falls asleep with his head resting on the dog. he rubs the grit out of his eyes and sits up, the tv is still playing some old show he had never seen before, he stands up and stretches before opening balcony door and lighting a cigarette and watching over the city once again, nothing has changed but he notices movement down by his building, he squints his eyes to try to see what it is but loses sight of it as its swallowed by the darkness. He goes back inside and feeds the dog and cat before leaving the apartment and taking the lift downstairs once more. As he travels downstairs it creaks slightly as it stops at the first floor, the doors slowly open into the empty main lobby. A cold breeze washes over his body as he walks towards the entrance, he turns the corner to the doors and is met by a dark figure with beady eyes sat on the branch of a tree Infront of the building. He stumbles backwards almost tripping over his feet but steadies himself before falling, the silhouette hoots before flying off and he lets out a chuckle as the owl vanishes. He steps outside, sits down and lights a cigarette taking in the quite night. He pulls out his phone and attempts to call Elara again but gets no answer. He returns home and falls asleep cuddled up next to the dog.