https://pixabay.com/en/end-of-the-world-nature-armageddon-560859/

Inbox

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Nothing in the inbox. Again.

Terry remembered the days when he used to be inundated on an hourly basis with emails. How it had made him feel... needed. Important. Maybe even loved. Like he was an integral part of this world, a part of something big.

Given the way an exploding inbox had made him feel, you would have thought an empty inbox would make him feel desolate. Superfluous. Expendable. Maybe even hated.

Just the opposite, in fact. He loved the silence. The vast empty space in his day. It wasn't just the inbox, it was everything else that went with it. The unceasing demands that the world had stopped making of him.

He went to the cupboard and grabbed a can of soup, opened it, and poured it into a pot on the stove. Then he sat down to wait for it to heat up. Jasper rubbed up against his leg insistently, so he picked the little orange tabby up and set him on his lap, stroking his soft fur. He sighed a contented sigh and listened to Jasper fire up his loudest purr, like a little motor, idling happily.

Outside, the sounds of mayhem peaked for a moment, then died away.

He was so glad he'd barricaded the door and windows first thing, when the news channels, inevitably, had been forced to start reporting what was really going on, (though by then everybody could see it anyway). And so grateful for the solar power he'd been tinkering with in the months leading up to those reports. And all the canned and dry foods he'd put away. And the water catchment system he'd rigged up. And that he lived in a penthouse.

Being paranoid seemed to have payed off. He'd done the right thing with his money.

He heard the pot on the stove start to rattle just a little. It was hot, would boil over in a few minutes if he didn't turn it off. He placed Jasper on the floor and poured the soup into a bowl, sat down to eat.

Yep. Zombie apocalypse or no, today was a good day.

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©2018 Bennett Italia, all rights reserved.

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Hi everyone! This is my 88th 5 minute freewrite. (Disclaimer: these usually take me significantly longer than 5 minutes to write and edit ).

Come join in the fun at @freewritehouse! Many thanks to @mariannewest for hosting this wonderful daily freewrite :) https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-411-5-minute-freewrite-wednesday-prompt-inbox

Today's prompt: Inbox

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