Things were starting to come together now that the missing puzzle piece had been found. But Noah wouldn’t have ever thought that one piece could change the whole puzzle so much.Noah let it sink in slowly. At exactly midnight on May eighth, everyone had vanished from the face of the earth apart from two fourteen year olds, Noah Jordan and Arrianna Saunders. Arrianna and Noah are two barely-acquainted teens whose lives are connected in an unexplainable event. They both wake up to a deserted earth. Every other human has vanished without a trace.

Left Alone

By Jenni Abere

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Jenni Abere
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-1512-5

Chapter One

Life

Arrianna Saunders walked self-consciously to the bus, all too aware of who was behind her. Her crush for the entire eighth grade, Noah Jordan, and his friend of much less importance, was directly behind her. It was May and she still doubted that he knew her name. She slid into an empty seat and really wished that one of her friends was on her bus. Normally, being alone was a relief to her but today she felt vulnerable while Noah laughed with his friend.

She hauled her chunky winter jacket out of her backpack. Even in early May the mornings were cold enough that she needed it. In the afternoons it was hot enough to wear shorts. Spring in Minnesota was the most annoying season to Arrianna. It teased; getting warmer and warmer just to be chilly and rainy in time for the weekend. She stuffed her awkward jacket back into her backpack. The bus was filling up and a sixth grader plopped down beside her without asking, "Can I sit here?" Noah and his friend, Joey, laughed. Yeah that's his name, Joey.

They're talking about me! Arrianna thought, paranoid. She wasn't in the most stable position on the social food-chain and on the bus she was friendless. Please talk to me! She silently begged anyone. She knew he wouldn't even notice she was there, but that was almost worse. Didn't Arrianna strain her neck in the hallways searching for him? Didn't she always notice what table he was sitting at during lunch and go out of her way to walk past? She tries so hard just to be noticed by her and does nothing when he's directly behind her? I'm hopeless! She scolded herself.

Finally her stop came. The unfortunate sixth grader, with whom she chose to strike up a conversation with, eagerly stood up to let her out. Normally, her stop came all too soon. She did have hours of work ahead of her but it was better than the agony of wondering if he had noticed her social awkwardness. Arrianna trudged up the long driveway to her house, flung her backpack in and left the door unlocked while she ran to her neighbor's house. When Mrs. Treddington answered, Arrianna's sister Zinnia was poised on her hip.

"Have they been good?" Arrianna asked, while Mrs. Treddington awkwardly passed Zinnia off. Oliver and Jacob bounded to the door smiling brightly.

"Like always," Mrs. Treddington assured her as she patted Jacob's mass of wavy blond hair. He blinked his dark grey-blue eyes in surprise. Of course, their mother never touched her own son in such an affectionate manner.

"Thank you so much. Did my mother pay you this morning?" Arrianna asked politely. Reaching for Jacob's arm and gesturing for Oliver to follow.

"Yes, she did. Have a good evening." Mrs. Treddington eased the door shut as Arrianna's gaggle of little siblings returned her pleasantries.

"Ollie kicked me!" Jacob whined. He was the middle child of the younger Saunders, at four years. Zinnia was slipping out of Arrianna's arms by the time she reached the front door.

"Can you grab that for me, Jake?" She pleaded.

"Yep." Jacob flung the door open and Oliver kicked him in the shin and snickered when Jacob yelped.

"Oliver!" Arrianna scolded, setting Zinnia down. Zinnia tottered into the living room and collapsed suddenly slamming her head into the leg of a chair. She screamed, at her full tantrum ability. Arrianna raced over and bounced her on her knee.

"It's okay, Zinnie, I'll get you a band-aid. Shh, don't cry." Jacob scrambled into the kitchen and came darting back with an ice-pack. Jake was young but very thoughtful. Oliver sat on the couch quietly until Zinnia's sobs quieted to a whimper. Propping two-year-old Zinnia on one hip, and holding Jacob's hand with her free arm, Arrianna led the miniature, yet rather chaotic, mob to the family room, where no further harm could come to them. Oliver and Jacob argued over the remote and Arrianna tried to tune it out until it turned into a wrestling match.

"Cut it out!" she screamed, and the brothers ceased their fight.

* * *

"This is my stop," Joey stood up before the bus had come to a complete stop, or even began to slow down, and made his way down the isle. Noah followed, clutching each vinyl seat to keep from toppling over. They cut through yards and impersonated the literature sub with a southern accent.

"I can't believe Britney thought she was British!" Joey and Noah cracked up remembering the impossible red hue of Britney's face in the after-math of her innocent question.

"I know, British people don't sound at all like Oklahomans!" Noah added, still chuckling.

"Was she from Oklahoma?" Joey asked unlocking the front door of his modest Suburban house.

"Yes, she said she was after Britney asked her if she was British!" Noah said as they erupted into another fit of laughter. They dropped their bags on the ground and kicked off their shoes.

"Do you like ... ice cream?" Joey asked, rummaging through his freezer. Ice cream sounded great. They drowned it in hot fudge and made a game of flinging little chocolate chunks into the sink from the table. Noah loaded his plastic spoon catapult. He bent the tip back and aimed at the tiny kitchen sink. He released the spoon. The chocolate chunk flew across the kitchen, ricocheted off the window and finally landed in the sink. The boys cheered and headed upstairs when they were done.

Just then Noah's phone rang. His hand dove into his pocket and fished out the Blackberry phone. It was Leon. Noah really didn't want to answer. Leon worked for Noah's dad and pretty much was responsible for keeping him in line. Noah's dad was a business tycoon and Noah was expected to be twice as successful. Joey stared as Noah debated whether to answer or not.

"You have a Blackberry?" Joey's tone was laced with poorly disguised envy.

"Yeah ... sorry but I have to take this." Noah decided it wasn't worth the trouble he'd be in later to ignore this call. "Hello?"

"Hello Noah." said Leon bitterly. "Have you recently had a math quiz, perchance?"

"Perchance, I did." Noah mocked.

"And did you study?" Leon asked.

"No, the opportunity didn't present itself." Noah said, hoping that the more intelligently he spoke now, the milder the consequences.

"I will pick you up in ten minutes." Leon said in a tone only an idiot would question. But at this point Noah would rather be an idiot.

"Why?" Noah whined, kicking himself for sounding like a six year old. "It's my free day."

"Incorrect, it would have been your free day if you hadn't gotten three wrong on that quiz." Leon's tone was proper and cruel.

"That's still like a B+!" Noah yelled into the black phone. "Isn't that good enough for you?"

"It's not about me; it's not about your father, either. This is about you, Noah. Your future!" Leon's voice hinted towards pleading but that's the most emotion he ever portrayed.

"I don't want to be some business man when I grow up. Why can't I be what I want to be?" Noah rushed into another room, suddenly aware of Joey's perplexed stare.

"You simply don't know what's best for you, can't you see that?" Noah hung up on Leon. Before Noah could even begin to explain Leon was there, honking obnoxiously from an equally obnoxious limo. No one has a limo in the suburbs. No one except Noah Jordan.

* * *

Arrianna had finally managed to shut her brothers up. She fled to her room where she now got to concentrate on homework. It's a strange relief from little sibling drama to correct sentence fragments. She was barely into it when Oliver barged into her room.

"What?" Arrianna spun to glare at little six year old Oliver. Oliver held up a little sheet of paper.

"I need help." He muttered, thrusting the sheet at Arrianna. She examined the paper. Learning the Alphabet - Letter R. Not another one of these. All year, the kindergarten class had received these - a project where you had to make a collage of things that begin with the assigned letter. Were they only on R? Is that much time really dedicated to sharing and nursery rhymes?

"It's not that hard!" Arrianna snapped. Oliver's face fell and he turned to leave. She immediately felt horrible for hurting her brother and embraced him. "I'm sorry, I'm just really stressed. I have a lot of work too. Go look at those Alphabet Books we have, okay? If you need help I'll be here." Oliver nodded and solemnly walked out of her room.

Arrianna worked until five-thirty and realized that they must be starved since they hadn't had a snack. She raced down and stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing the kitchen. There was a puddle of water by the refrigerator, but that wasn't the half of it. Oliver knelt on the ground picking up tiny burnt pieces of macaroni that were scattered across every inch of the kitchen. Jacob was scraping cheese off the stove top and Zinnia - little Zinnie - was slopping around in a heap of strawberry yogurt under the table.

Arrianna screamed and they all looked up, Zinnia's face covered in yogurt. Jacob stuffed a piece of burnt cheese into his mouth and grimaced. Oliver threw the macaroni over his shoulder into the sink.

"We were just getting a snack." Oliver explained backing away from Arrianna like she had just sprouted a third arm out of chest. "We didn't want to bother you."

"You should have waited for me! Or you could've asked me and I would have helped you. Now you have a big mess you have to clean up." Arrianna stayed clam and sat on the counter top as Jacob spat out that piece of cheese. He continued scraping. Oliver kept cleaning the floor. Zinnia began to lick the yogurt right off the floor. She had to draw the line somewhere.

Arrianna plopped Zinnie in the kitchen sink and gave her a shower on the spot while the boys cleaned up the yogurt. Innocent little Zinnie had made quite a mess. Pink yogurt smeared her chubby cheeks, dangerously close to her pale blue eyes. Her perfect ringlets of thin strawberry blond hair even had yogurt in it.

While Zinnia sat on the counter on a towel, she fixed them some non-burnt macaroni and cheese and got some fresh yogurt. Jacob went up to the boys' room. Oliver showed Arrianna his project. He had a rabbit, a rhino, a bowl of rice and a stick drawing of a girl with frizzy red hair and dots surrounding lime green eyes. Above, it said "My Sister" in her brother's shaky hand-writing.

"I don't have that many freckles, do I?" Arrianna teased. "And Ollie; my name doesn't start with R. It begins with an A."

"But you're R-ianna!" Oliver insisted, squinting his green eyes and crinkling his freckled nose. "With an R!"

"I know; the English language is messed up. But my name is A-R-R-I-A-N-N-A. So find a few more things that begin with R. Look in a dictionary or something." Arrianna worked until eight when she put Zinnia to bed in her crib in the corner of their room. At nine she unplugged the PS2 and dragged her brother's up to their room.

It was ten thirty. Arrianna was done with her load of homework that she planned not to put off until Sunday night when the front door opened. "I wonder who that could be." Arrianna muttered sarcastically tip-toeing out of her room.

Chapter Two

Families

"This is so lame!" Noah screamed slamming the gleaming door of the limo. Joey stared in awe, his mouth hanging open, frozen on his doorstep. The limo pulled out of the driveway and wound its way through the suburban neighborhood. Noah knew that this would be a perfect "What wrong with this picture?" scenario. Little houses in a row, kids playing outside, neighbors chatting, and a big black limo with dark windows. That's the story of my life, thought Noah. Always the thing that's wrong with the picture. Not the shark in the fishbowl, or the monkey driving the taxi, but the fourteen year old kid named Noah Jordan.

Finally they arrived back at the Jordan Estate and Noah flung open the door while the limo was slowing down next to the cobble stone courtyard in front of the mansion. He stumbled out of the car. Leon called after him, but Noah didn't slow down. He sprinted toward the woods, happier than ever he didn't have a heavy textbook today. He began on the neat trail but quickly tore off into the woods. The deer trails he followed were invisible to most, but Noah had spent the majority of the past seven years out here so he had a sharp eye. He slowed his pace once he was a ways into the forest.

Noah was right. Being alone in the woods was just what he needed. He sped up his pace and jogged. He was sure-footed and picked his way around roots and rocks with ease. Finally he heard the roar of the river ahead. Leaping from boulder to boulder he made his way down onto the shore. Noah knew this route by heart. Up the river, a few hundred yards ahead, there was a secret hideout. When he reached the fort, nestled up against a small cliff it was like a tremendous load had been lifted.

It was a Pueblo-replica made by Noah himself. When he had seen cliff-dwellings in Colorado he knew he had to have one himself. The fort had two levels. First he climbed up the rickety ladder to the top level. Once he had squeezed in the tiny hole he hauled the ladder up the same way the Ancient Natives did during an attack.

The roof had a front wall but was open air on the other side except for a cliff that hung over it a bit on the other side. The dwelling was made out of rocks and concrete from the old dam on the river. He used the mud and some more concrete and tree trunks to hold it all together. There was a pipe coming up next to another hole with another ladder. He climbed down into his bedroom. It was cool and musty inside. The pipe was connected to a small fire place and the ground was covered with flat stones he had found. There was a small cot in the corner and a section of a tree trunk made a bedside table with an array of candles.

A card table was in the other corner covered in books about Native Americans and nature and how to find nonpoisonous food in the outdoors. He was stocked up on dried fruit, chips, candy, and water. He put a few logs and a scrap of birch bark in the fireplace and started a slow flame. He threw the empty box of matches in. He sat, mesmerized, as the flames consumed. Sometimes Noah wished this was his life. Search-ing for food, feeding a hungry fire, repairing his home, being alone. He put on another log so the fire wouldn't go out and climbed back up on the roof. The cliff only went up about twenty feet above him. He had a strong rope tied around a sturdy tree on top. He had some stakes nailed in to the cliff and there were some natural foot and hand holds.

Noah stepped into the self-belaying harness and started up the cliff. Every few feet he pulled the slack out of the rope and kept going. At the top he took off his harness and explored. He hadn't been here since the snow melted. The top of the cliff was abundant with wild raspberries. He sat and ate until he was full and his hands were stained red. This is the life, Noah thought. Maybe I should run away and live here. Run away like my brother. He wanted to, but was too close to home to forget. There were reminders everywhere. The sun began to set and Noah stepped back into the harness.

He carefully let himself down, kicking himself off the cliff a few times and when his feet touched the roof of his fort, the sunset was at its best. He scrambled on top of the overhanging above the roof and watched the sun sink down radiating purples and pinks across the sky.

He lowered the ladder out of the window and climbed down, hoping that now he was strengthened enough that if he never saw this place again he would live.

* * *

If Arrianna's mother had planned to make an unseen entrance into the house, her plans had failed. Arrianna lurked in the kitchen while her mother noisily kicked off her shoes and sauntered off towards her bedroom. That was her cue.

"Hi mom." Arrianna sprang out of the kitchen, radiating childlike innocence. "You're back late." She stated, careful not to glare accusingly at her mother. "Didn't your shift end at seven?"

"Yes, it did." She answered gruffly, not pleased with the confrontation. "There was traffic."

"That's a bit of traffic for a Friday night at seven."

"What do you know about traffic?" She snapped. Arrianna shrunk back at the smell of her mother's breath.

"Mom, where were you?" She whispered.

"In traffic! I thought we'd already covered that. There was a lot of traffic!" Her mother turned away from her and started down the hall.

"Where? At the bar?" Arrianna regretted the words before she had finished saying them. Her mother flinched visibly and froze. After a few painful moments she regained her composure.

"Didn't I tell you to clean the bathroom?" She demanded, without turning towards her. With that, she completed her postponed journey to her room and slammed the door. The lock clicked.

Arrianna's hands trembled with anger. She felt strong and fierce with her sudden high of emotion. Muttering to herself, she flung the door open and whipped out the cleaning supplies. She scrubbed vigorously. Arrianna almost felt pleased that her work was done to the extent it was when she finished. Almost. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and got in her pajamas.

As soon as she was over her anger the door to her mother's room burst open. Arrianna stiffened. Her mother's head leaned around the door into her room. Her frizzy faded red hair fell in her eyes.

"Clean up the kitchen." She ordered, and left without any reply. Arrianna jutted her jaw out, trying to dull the wave of fury. Her life as a lowly slave had been resumed.

"I wish that everyone would just leave me alone!!" She pleaded. When her work was done, she climbed into bed at last, considering how great it would be if everyone would leave her alone.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Left Aloneby Jenni Abere Copyright © 2010 by Jenni Abere. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.