I felt a cozy warmth rush over me. Like when I used to get tucked in at night by my parents. That feeling of security and glee.
I punched on the accelerator and found myself taken away at crazy speeds powered by nothing but electricity. I can feel my wallet in my back pocket, it’s coarse and leather. I pulled into my driveway. At the end is a large modern house surrounded with glass and decorated with a brilliant interior. Not a mansion by any means, but I feel spoiled just looking at it. When I leave the car, I can spot my wife from one of the large panes in the kitchen. I return the wave she gives to me and I can feel the warmth she emanates from here. I take a glance around and it’s a beautiful summer day. Someone had turned the saturation up. The colours were vibrant and the breeze was refreshing in my lungs. I was so happy I could cry.
Before I knew it, I was walking in the front door and I exclaimed an excited “Hello!” I took off the long sleeve sweater I was wearing and threw it aside to the floor. The house was gleaming with sunlight from outside. Although it was almost entirely silent. I ran upstairs to the kitchen to find the space where my wife was, but she wasn’t there. “Where’d you go?” I asked aloud. But silence answered me again. I roamed the halls and rooms upstairs to no avail. Going back down the stairs, I went to the basement. It was cold down here. Opening the door at the bottom of the stairs opened up to the large and unfinished space. There was concrete floors with intermittent patches of carpet. The insulation peered at me through cracks in the walls. I wasn’t sure why I thought she was down here.
When I decided to take a few more steps into the room, I heard a knock on the wall to my left. It was about 12 feet away. I walked over to see what the noise was, but the door I came in through slowly shut behind me. Leaving me in a total void. I yelled out “Hey I’m down here!” I reached out my arms to try and navigate with the walls, but they were gone. I felt a bitter breeze roll past my hair.
I could hear my wife’s voice whisper “Your mother and father are calling, don’t walk away.” I don’t know where she is. Her voice came from no direction. I tried walking forwards, one step at a time but couldn’t feel anything except the concrete. My breathing became heavy as my lungs felt like they were shrinking. I turned everywhere to try and find an inkling of light. I could see something far off in the distance. It was the embalmed corpses of my parents. They had no clothes, and a petrified look on their faces. I missed them.
My clothes were damp from sweat. My legs became frozen. “Wh-where am I?” is all I could think. I try to speak it aloud but I’m not sure if I made a sound. Their mouths had opened, but no words came. Only a cacophonous, low-pitched droning that became the growl of some kind of large beast. I was terrified. I could finally move my legs, and immediately began running backwards only to slip on my sweater. The way back was slow and the last glimpse I caught before impact was the deflated visages of my parents rushing me with their arms extended.
I recoiled back and when I hit the floor there was a sharp crack. A wide wave of sensation came over me. I’m not sure if it felt good or if it hurt. I opened my eyes to my ceiling. It was dingy and disgusting. Rotting wood and peeling plaster. There was that smell of the dirty dishes and scattered trash. I couldn’t see the sky, but I swear there were bright stars. This is my house, I realized. All I could feel was the high and the blood leak from my skull. All I could feel was regret.
