It has been a week since half the world disappeared. I think everyone is still mostly in shock. A lot of people died after the disappearances, too. There were accidents, too many to count, because all of a sudden, no one was driving a car, the pilot was gone from a plane, a surgeon vanished from his operating table, and so many other situations where a single person decides the fate of others. School has been cancelled ever since. Half the students are gone, and so are half the teachers. No one can think about equations or literature right now, I suppose. My mom is gone. Dad's still here. I don't have any younger siblings, and I'm kind of glad for that right now. The kids from school, we've all been keeping in touch. At least, as much as we can. Even after what happened a few years ago, when we were kids, I don't think any of us ever thought we'd have to text around, just asking if the others were alive. We certainly never thought that from so many there would be no response at all.

I've been trying to stay busy, just help where I can. I've been watching the Richardson's kids, who live down the street. They're kinda in the same boat as me. Their Dad is still alive, but their mom, well, she didn't vanish, but… She was a hero. That's what I keep telling the kids. There's 3 of them now. Used to be 5. Their Mom was a firefighter. She was an amazing woman. Worked crazy shifts, but still managed to be the greatest Mom to her children, and a trusted adviser and confidant for half the neighborhood, especially kids. She was just one of those people that kids would instantly trust. There was a fire, a few blocks away. Someone disappeared while cooking, and the whole apartment complex went up in flames. Mrs. Richardson went in to help, and she didn't come back out.

Anyways, there's just three little Richardsons now. Emily's the oldest. She's taking it the hardest, understandably. At eight, she's the only one who really understands what's going on. That the world has changed, overnight. Hunter is four. He knows his mom and brothers are gone, and cries a lot when he wakes up and his mom's never there anymore. Bailey is the youngest. She's not quite two, and so I guess she can only barely understand that her mom is gone, and doesn't have the capacity to know or care about much else. She's the lucky one, from my perspective. Since Mr. Richardson works a really important job, an aircraft controller at Kennedy, he has to keep going. Everyone's hurting, but there are some jobs that can't stop, especially with so many of their workers gone. Medical professionals, like my dad, police officers, emergency workers in general, and transit workers. Lots of people still need to travel. Not for the normal reasons, as much, but to find and help your loved ones, if they're still here. I've been babysitting for the Richardsons occasionally for a couple years, but now I'm here most of the time. Whenever Mr. Richardson can't be here. I'm worried about my Dad, but he's not home much or often now either. The other day, we were both home at the same time for a little while. I asked if he minded that I'm hardly ever home anymore, and he said no. Told me that right now, the world has been turned upside down. Everyone's just trying to get their bearings, much less process and grieve their loss. Right now, we've all got to just help everyone else out however we can.

He's right, too. Everyone's doing that. IOUs have become more common than dollar bills, but I don't think that anyone ever plans on collecting. We're all just trying to keep going. Most people are just helping others however they can. It's strange, in a way, how this huge tragedy has brought not only our city, but the entire world closer together. There's still a few bad eggs, though. Criminals and deadbeats who think they can get away with theft and whatever else, figuring there's no one to stop them. The Avengers are gone. Whatever caused this, and I'm guessing it had something to do with the giant death wheel that appeared over the city, I guess the Avengers went to fight it, and they haven't come back. So it's just the police trying to keep a cap on all the crazies. Besides the straight up criminal idiots who have decided it's the purge or whatever, and have been ransacking stores, there's also the Rapture morons. I think I might dislike them even more. Yesterday, I tried to take the kids down to the park. We used to go there all the time when I babysat them. It's only two blocks away, but on the last corner before we got to the park, there was this Rapture moron. He scared the crap out of the kids. He might be right, that this is the end, and everyone who's gone were the righteous elect who God recalled to Heaven, but I kinda doubt it. I know a lot of buttheads went whoosh, and a lot of great people who are still here. Regardless, there's absolutely no excuse for screaming stuff like that at children. He scared Hunter, and he even made Emily cry like crazy. Took me an hour to get her to calm down by telling her that guy was just a mean stupid head. She stopped crying, but I'm not sure that she totally believed me. Heck, I'm not sure I believe me, because I don't think anyone knows what to believe anymore.

- Author's Note-

Thank you so much for reading! This is my first ever published fanfic. I'm not really sure where it's going, or that it's worth continuing, so any feedback is much appriciated, constructive critisicm included.

I know the speaker jumps around a lot, but that is intententional. It's supposed to read as a bit "rambly", as I figure that's how someone might muse to themselves or write in their diary after such a huge trauma.

In case you were wondering, the speaker is a teenage girl, who may or may not attend a highschool seen in the MCU. This is based in New York City.