A man watches as his reality slowly fades away...(Cramp Winner & 2017 Quill Nominee!) |
OUT OF PLACE The strangest thing is happening to me today. I didn’t feel right when I woke up. It’s like I don’t belong here, or maybe I do and it’s everything else that doesn’t belong here. The first thing I did was start writing this in case somebody else reads it. I’ve had this feeling before, but never this strong, and it only seems to be getting stronger. Or worse. At first I thought it might just be my eyes, because everything is in black and white. There’s no color at all. It started with the TV, but in the next hour or so, everything in my house gradually started turning black and white. But that wasn’t all. When I went out to check my mail I noticed there were no cars on the street. And no people. None at all. But I could hear them! The sounds of people walking up down the street, laughing and telling their stories of how their weekend went. And the cars were whooshing by me! It’s a beautiful Monday morning when everybody should be going to work, so where are they? Or why can’t I see them? It’s ten o’clock and I can still hear them. Somebody even knocked on the door, but when I answered it nobody was there. OK. Now I’m going to do this in chronological order, because things are really getting weird. 10:20 am: I think it might just be me. My right foot just disappeared right in front of my eyes! So strange! I can feel the hangnail on my big toe, but I can’t see my foot! Odder yet, the TV is gone now, but I can still hear the clackety-clack of the Big Wheel and Drew Carey asking who the contestants would like to say ‘hello’ to! 11:00 am. Went to the library to judge my contest. It was open, but there was still no people, no cars, and no books in the library. 11:27 am. Just got back from the library and took off my shoes. Now my left foot is gone! I can still feel it though, so I think that’s good. Or bad? 11:48 am. Now all of my furniture has disappeared. And so has my neighbor’s house. The world is slowly disappearing right in front of my eyes! 12:34 pm. Just called my sister on the other side of town and told her what’s happening. She thinks I’m doing drugs again. But her voice sounded far away and tinny. After yelling at me for three minutes she finally hung up. Then I set the phone down and watched as it slowly faded away. I almost wish I was on drugs. At least that way there would be a reason for this happening! The strange thing is that even though these things are no longer visible, I can still feel them. So I guess they’re still there, right? 1:42 pm. My right leg and left arm are gone now. What the hell is happening to me? This has got to be a nightmare! I’m lying down. Maybe I’ll wake up and this will all be just one terrible nightmare. 4:19 pm. Salvation! It’s over! Just woke up and everything is back to normal! It was just a nightmare! Thank God! 4:26. I should have known it was too good to be true. My furniture is here, my house is here, I'm here. But I opened my front door just now and everything else is gone! Everything! There’s just a huge green light for as far as I can see. It's like my house is floating in some big green abyss! I’m going to step into it. I don’t belong here, wherever ‘here’ is now. I need to find my way back to reality. I feel so out of place… |