The day of Aemot

"Only one brat calls my name so rudely" she responded again.

"Mrs Jane?" The young boy called out modestly.

"She's awake?" Yvonne slowly got herself together once again.

They could hear her voice get closer.

"Jane, it's me" Harry said as she came towards the door to answer them.

"I thought I heard Shaun" she said just behind the door as she opened it.

"I'm here"

She opened the door to the trio.

"What? What are you guys doing here? What's happening?"

"My parents aren't waking up" Shaun, the young boy there talked first.

"I've been waking my mom and dad and Fiona but they're not waking up" she said.

"What are you talking about? Are they okay?"

"They're fine, I guess. That's if it's the same with mine" Yvonne said much calmly now.

"Wait. You too? What do you mean, 'they're not waking up'. Are you sure they're okay?"

Jane had heard both Yvonne and Shaun. She knew Shaun since he and his family lived just across the street. And Yvonne? She couldn't tell immediately that she was Claire's sister, since she knew Claire as well. But she could tell she lived nearby. Yet still, why were the both of them talking about the same thing?

"They're breathing at least" Harry said. "They're just not waking up"

"What? Your mom's not waking up too?"

She was probably going haywire. He could tell it better.

There were times when people would come banging on their door for one emergency or the other. There were some that were easy enough for his mother.

But there were also those so complicated that she often had this distressed look on her face when she couldn't immediately deal with or stabilize the patients condition. She'd have to call the clinic and refer them to the doctor based there as soon as she could.

He could imagine the same for Jane right now.

Nevertheless, Jane calmed herself down and asked,

"Did they take anything out of the ordinary last night? Like a new or more medication than usual, or some type of food?"

"No" Shaun said shaking his head.

"Not really" Yvonne said.

"How unresponsive are they?"

"They're just not waking up no matter how many times I push them" Shaun said.

"I even pushed Fiona so she fell to the floor and still she didn't wake up"

"That's... Well, just hold on a bit" she said quickly going back inside.

Shaun's voice cracked a bit. He had also been stressed out and worried as well. Seeing Jane somehow hugely alleviated their stress.

Harry also hoped it would just end with Jane waking up and recognising the issue with the world right now, telling them it wasn't so unnatural and it could be corrected.

But then, she hadn't looked at the time, had she?

Soon enough, she surfaced again, dressed up with a sweater as well. She didn't seem interested in the weird weather though. But then, just as Harry had expected, she had questions about the time.

"Hey, what do you think is wrong with my phone's timezone? Even my wall clock's telling the wrong time" she said as she hurried out holding a box by the handle with her left hand as she closed her door.

"Mine too" Harry said.

Her eyes widened.

"Everything's just weird this morning. The cold, the time, the lights" Yvonne commented.

Jane didn't ask any more questions after that. She felt she had to understand what the issue was with these 'unawaking' people first. Hearing any other thing about this morning might be enough to throw her off.

"Let's go to your place first Shaun" she said walking closer with the little boy.

"You said their breathing was consistent, right?" she asked Yvonne.

"Yes"

"Alright. You can go home and wait there for me if you'd like" she suggested.

"You're?"

"Yvonne. Harry's home is next to mine"

"You're Claire's sister?"

"Yeah" Yvonne answered, trying to recall if she had met this person before.

"You both can go home and watch them incase you see something different" she suggested again.

"I'll be coming as soon as I'm done here" she said as they left her place together, parting ways at the entrance to her front yard, as she crossed the street with Shaun while Yvonne and Harry went back the way they came.

Harry had also been relieved when Jane responded. He also wanted to believe this wasn't an inexplicable situation they were in. He had kept hoping against a few uneasy thoughts, wanting to believe these things had an explanation.

"It's okay Harry" Yvonne said as they . She could tell he was probably hiding his worries, keeping himself composed and trying to figure things out, unlike herself.

"Nothings wrong with them. They're alright" she said, suddenly seeming confident.

Harry hoped so too. But what really disturbed Harry was the possibility that this could be way beyond Jane. Maybe Yvonne might have had similar thoughts cross her mind as well but had probably kept rejecting them.

As they left Jane's place back down street, they hadn't gone past a few yards when they noticed more movements around. Those were people. More people were waking up and moving around. But then they were so few that the neighbourhood still looked scanty.

"What the hell's happening? Even you?" They heard someone say.

"We should get the nurse now!"

"I just went there but no one's responding..."

Yvonne paused on her tracks.

"Ehh"

It was probably dawning on her.

"Jane! Jane!" Someone banged at Jane's door again after they had just left.

"They're all..." Yvonne tried to say something.

"Jane!"

Harry stopped as well. And while they remained there, suddenly a desperate voice screamed from a corner.

"Help! My son's not waking up! Please somebody, help!"

That must have been a mother scared out of her wits after waking up to find her child unresponsive. And she wasn't the only one freaking out. A few torch lights flashed about as people walked around meeting other people for any sort of help for their dormant family members only to realise that it wasn't just them.

And though they were just a few, but the uneasiness in the air was getting quite lucid.

"This might not be a medical issue after all, Yvonne" Harry said.