The Glitch

The Glitch
Written by: Daniel King

It was a regular afternoon. The mail had arrived, I had eaten breakfast, and was headed to work. My job was a surveyor. I Looked at old property zones and surveyed them. Each property zone that was unoccupied had to be cleared and surveyed, which would determine what would be built there.
I was working more than usual in The Suburb Zone. Mysteriously, home units had been burning down for seemingly no reason, according to authorities. Because I surveyed the property zones that were struck by this strange phenomenon, I usually got the firsthand story of what the officials had inferred. But so far, no one seemed to have a clue what was happening. I arrived at the unit, or what was left of it. It was strange, as the burn patterns were all very similar. Only large chunks of the home unit had been eaten away by fire, and very specific patches as well. The only time results differed was if when the chunks were burned, the unit collapsed due to lack of support. This particular home was not the case. According to the Law men, the family had been asleep when the fire struck, and were not able to escape in time. Fortunately, many families had escaped or were not home when the fire struck, but due to this strange case, the Home Relocation Department was swamped with people whose homes had been destroyed.
04/16/15-I entered the home's doorway, the actual door was nowhere to be found, and looked around. Sure enough, the familiar burn patterns streaked the walls and ceiling, and the carpet's usual wooly texture had been charred and turned to a crunching sensation underfoot. Furniture was barely recognizable, and belongings strewn about, representing how quickly a family's life had been torn to pieces. As I walked and slowly turned my head to look at the entire room, I felt a crunch that was much different than the crunch of the carpet's ashes. I stepped back and looked down, to find I had stepped on a picture frame, presumably of the family. The broken glass had turned the family's smiles in to faces of terror. All of a sudden, my mind snapped. I felt the world around me all of a sudden change. I could see the family sleeping soundly in their beds, the fire, bursting out of nowhere, and slowly engulfing all of them, I could see it all happening, as if it were a video taken and stored in my mind, I all of a sudden could feel the intensity of the flames licking my arms, and I ran for the door, leaping out as the fire roared through the home. Then, I looked up, and everything was gone. I saw a couple law men staring at me, as to them, I had flung myself out of the home for no reason. I turned around, to see that the home was no longer on fire, and that all the damage to it was still exactly how it was only minutes before. What had happened? I asked myself. Was it some strange day dream? Is the home haunted? Am I? All these questions raced through my head, but I realized how silly they were. Haunted? No such thing. Daydream? Only children did that. But something definitely happened, and I didn't know what.

My ride home, strangely enough, was eerie. I had tried to forget about what had happened at the home, but I kept asking myself questions. I had surveyed many destroyed homes, all about as bad as that one. Why now am I all of a sudden acting up? Then, for a second, that eerie feeling returned, but it was so strong, my muscles tensed up and I made a swerve on the road. After taking control of the car again, I heard a boom. I quickly stopped the car, and turned to see a home near me was in flames.
I got out of the car, and people began to gather around the burning home. A couple standing to the left of the home was dialing 911 on their phone, another, simply stood in part horror, part awe. My mind snapped again, and all of a sudden, my surroundings changed again, this time, I could see a woman trapped on the second floor, the flames quickly surging down the hallway. She ran into a room at the front of the home, and opened her window. I then could see her lungs, filling with fresh air, but then quickly being suffocated again by smoke. Then there was a bang, originating in the room she was in, and it knocked her out the window. Time seemed to slow, and I could see her very slowly tumbling from the window. I felt powerless, thinking I could do nothing. But then, I could. I felt my body rush forward at impossible speeds. It was incredible. The next thing I knew, the woman was resting in my arms, her smoked stained face staring up at me in shock.