He stumbled out of his room toward the bathroom and suddenly froze. There were workmen dressed in coveralls in his house. They didn't seem to notice him.
None of the workmen talked. It was eerily quiet. He tried to get in their way, and talk to them, but they simply moved around him like any obstacle, blank looks on their faces.
They acted more like robots than people. He discovered if he stayed out of their way, they didn't seem to be affected by his presence. But what were they doing?
A large group of them was swarming around Zoe's room. They were taking the stuff out of her drawers and closets and neatly folding it before placing it into boxes, which they carted out. Each box had some sort of barcode on it.
Zoe slept in the middle of this, completely unaware. He slipped past the workers and tried to wake her. But nothing worked. She was completely comatose.
Two of the workers approached him, and he thought for a moment they were going to try to stop him, but they went for Zoe. One held her, while the other removed her pajamas and packed them up with the rest of the clothes.
After they removed everything still on her, one of them carried her out of the room. He followed. They headed down the stairs and out the door. He tried to follow, but there were just too many of them swarming about and she was soon lost in the crowd of identically clad workers.
Where were they taking his sister?
He returned upstairs. The workmen were still concentrating on her room, removing things. The place was stripped bare, then they brought in a dropcloth. Zoe had painted the walls black herself. They began to paint, covering up the black paint with a neutral white like the rest of the house.
They were slowly removing any trace of Zoe's Goth touches from the room. And they were working fast. As soon as the room was completely empty and devoid of any personal touches, they began to bring boxes in, and set them down on the floor, and unpacking the items inside.
He turned toward his mother's room, and tried to wake her up, to no success. It seemed everyone was out but him.
He wasn't sure what to do. He didn't see any way to stop them. He even tried calling 911, but the line wouldn't connect.
