“Hello? Is anyone there?”, Emily cried out, her voice trembling. Only the gentle crash of the waves responded. She began to walk, her feet sinking into the soft sand with each step. The beach stretched on endlessly in both directions. Surely she would find someone, something to make sense of this emptiness. But there was nothing. No people playing in the surf, no seagulls circling overhead. Emily was completely and utterly alone.
The panic rose inside her chest until she thought her heart would burst. What was happening? How could everything and everyone just disappear? Emily collapsed onto the sand, tears now streaming down her cheeks. She held back a cry, the sound too painful in the overwhelming silence surrounding her. Something was very wrong here. And if she didn’t discover what was going on soon, the consequences might be even worse.