Fiction: Black holes and other unexplained fates

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Charlotte (MotherOwl) over here. This week's prompts are: alphabet, bookends, careful, devoted, gland, elegy and/or fabulous, island, legend, mirror, yak, violent.

Fiction: Black holes and other unexplained fates
At three years old, Mo was learning her alphabet with the menu at the Fabulous Fairyland Diner when her mother left her there. Later, a woman claiming to be Mo's grandmother took her to live with her for about a year. Then the grandmother left Mo at the Diner. Her father came for her and Mo lived with him for about two years before he dropped her off at the Diner and was picked up by her father's aunt. About eleven months afterward, the aunt left Mo at the Diner's backway beside the large dumpster. No one came for her.
    Adele, the waitress who worked at the Fabulous Fairyland Diner, took Mo home. Mo never understood why everyone kept leaving her but she accepted it as her fate.
    At fifty-three, Adele had a dream of living on her own island where she sits by the water and drinks tequila and takes naps all day. Often, she told Mo the legend of her great-great-aunt Gaia who sailed the world with a yak and found her own island and her own people while fighting violent pirates and sea monsters. Mo had believed the story but when she got older, she thought it was impossible that such things should happen to anyone. But Adele said, "Monica (for she liked to use Mo's full name), everything's possible until you prove it isn't." Mo often looked in the mirror in the bathroom and imagined she was Gaia sailing the world with a yak but sometimes that yak was an elephant or a tiger.
    For a while, all was well until Adele got sick when Mo turned fifteen. The long year where Mo was going to school and visiting Adele at the hospital, she didn't wish for Adele not to leave her. She wished for her to get better but Adele didn't get better. But Mo had learned even if everyone left her, she would still be fine but she was glad Adele didn't leave by her own will.
     For nine years, Mo was contented being on her own until one sunny August day when a black hole appeared in the sky. Scientists all over the world didn't know why or how a black hole got here but they all agreed the black hole was heading toward earth and in about six months, it will be close enough to swallow up the planet and no one will survive. There was nothing anyone could do. Even the greatest minds on the planet had no solutions. The richest took to building spaceships but the rest of the world had no such options. In the papers, elegies, essays and articles, all biding farewell to humanity began to surface. Mo didn't bother reading them.
    The next few mornings, Mo stared up at the black hole from her nine-floor apartment window. It was like a smudge, a mistake someone made that could be easily erased. If Adele was here she would say the black hole was taking its sweet time. It must wanted people to suffer before it completely destroy them. But she would tell Mo to ignore it and not to worry about it every minute. And she would give it a name. Mo chose Milo for the black hole after Adele's cousin who had a pleasant face but had a hot temper.
    Though it was likely the end of the world, Mo found she didn't feel any different but she was surprised at how people were behaving. Her landlord, Mr. Stillman, known to kick anyone out if any of his tenants didn't pay on time, even if they were off by a minute, didn't kick Mo out when she was an hour late with her September rent. He merely took the check from her and threw it on his desk and kept on reading the paper. When Mo went to buy groceries and was short five dollars, the cashier, who must had a gland problem as he was sweating even though it was a cold day, just sent her off with a smile. The public library where Mo usually borrowed three books a week had half empty shelves with books scattered all over the place and children running amok. The librarian, Mrs. Chance, always so strict on keeping order and following rules, was sitting at the front desk reading. When Mo appeared, she came around the desk while holding three tote bags full of books. "Take these. No one enjoys them more than you, Mo. Have a good end-of-the-world day." She smiled and returned to her book.
    In the afternoons, as there was no work as her boss said he wasn't going to bother to open up the diner, Mo sat in her apartment and read the books Mrs. Chance had given her. Her eight inch, wooden dodo bird bookend along with a thick dictionary were holding up her nine precious books. Every day, she would carefully cleaned the dodo and set it back down on her desk beside the window. The dodo had been Adele's. She had inherited it from her great-great-aunt Gaia. It used to be a pair but Adele had sold the other to pay rent. The dodo had been Mo's faithful companion for nine years. It was time to find his mate.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For weeks, Mo devoted her time searching all the bookstores and used shops for another dodo bookend. Most places were opened but people didn't seem eager to work. Trash were everywhere as the streets were not properly cleaned. Cars were parked haphazardly. People were moving about in some haze or if not, they were staring up at the sky. No one seemed to care to keep any kind of order or normalcy. Except for the weather. It was behaving as usual as if it didn't know the world was ending.
    The new year came and went but no one celebrated except Mo. She cleaned her apartment, baked and ate a cake, waited up until 12:01 and wished the world a new beginning and went to bed.
    One bright February afternoon, Mo was walking toward home and carrying a pair of rubber gloves she had brought for washing dishes when she found herself in front of the entrance to a junkyard. Would the dodo be found in there? Adele used to take Mo to various junkyards 'to hunt for treasures' as she said. She was very fond of looking for antiques among the discarded.
    Soon, Mo was knee high in garbage. It was a good thing she wore her thick boots though her coat was making her sweat. The rubber gloves were a bit loose on Mo's hands but at least they reached her elbows and kept most of her clean. As she dug through one pile after another, she thought how nice it would be if Adele was here. For hours, she kept on. Other people were there too but they didn't even give her a glance as they were too busy digging.
    When she was about to give up, Mo spotted a wooden dodo sitting inside a cardboard box with a bunch of bubble wraps. She rushed toward it and grabbed the dodo but someone else had their hands on it. "Let go!" said the man with his wild, grey-black hair flying all around.
    "You let go!" said Mo. It occurred to her she was fighting over a dirty bookend that smelled of peanuts and dirty socks when the world might be ending soon. But she must have the dodo!
    The man paused his pulling but he didn't let go of the dodo. "Twenty bucks and it's all yours."
    "What?" She couldn't believe this jerk. "No way. I had it first. It's mine! You let go!"
    "No way! How about 10 bucks?" He smiled showing a few missing teeth.
    "No!" She shook her head. A slow darkness descended upon them. They both looked up. Above, the black hole was expanding and blocking out the sun.
    "It's here! The end of the world!" The man let go of the dodo and ran off. People were running and scattering while others were at a pause and looking up. Mo looked up again. Milo was maybe not a good name for the black hole. It was so calm, it didn't seem like it had a temper.
    Soon, the sky was completely covered in darkness but below, there were lights coming from car headlights and windows where people had turned on their lights and even flashlights. Then all the lights blinked out. They were in absolute darkness as if someone had taken a black marker and just covered the entire world with it. Mo clung to the dodo though it smelled worst than before. She couldn't see a thing, not above her, not around her, not even in front of her hands. Slowly, the sounds around her died down. For a moment, Mo held still. A streak of light fell down from in between the darkness. The black hole was shrinking or maybe it was moving away. Bit by bit, the sky was blue again with its few clouds lingering. Soon there was not a black spot or blur in the sky. The noise slowly returned. Mo stood and let the cool breeze glided past and around her. In the bright daylight, everything seemed normal as if the black hole had never appeared.
    Across from her, by the entrance, a group of people were watching a small television sitting on a crate. Mo joined them. On the screen, two scientists were talking about the black hole. They were theorizing about it being a cloud or some sort of rock. But what about the several man-made satellites that disappeared around earth's orbit? said the anchorman. The scientists started talking about the deterioration of man-made constructions. Mo didn't believe it. These people were refusing to speak the truth. But did it matter?
    Mo was kind of sad Milo had left because when people thought they didn't have any time left, they were kind though a bit careless. But she was glad it left but this time she didn't mind she was left behind.