Awareness

Salutations and Greetings

Can you recall the past? The finite and pivotal moments that made up the essence of who you would become today. Do you remember the sunny skies and how the colors of the world seemed so much more vivid? How innocent you seemed as you tried to make sense of a seemingly never ending world full of so many people.

As you grow older, the world seems to shrink with the new spaces your defined presence could take up. Innocence no longer seemed to remain as well as you become hyper aware of the trials and tribulations mere existence in this world provided.

You take what you can and try to make something for yourself; a home, a well paying job, a chance at life but the curveballs keep coming. You search and apply for so many jobs, hoping that one will finally reach back. So far you haven't heard anything. Hours are spent on websites looking for new listing, searching and scanning for an opportunity. In your boredom and melancholy, you miss-click a link; a series of glitches and multiple link changes bring you to a website that reads "Welcome Home".

"Huh?.."

You raise an eyebrow, leaning in a bit as the bright, colorful, and slightly nauseating website greets you. Hadn't you just been looking at one of the many Indeed knock offs?.. You frown, looking at the page before you. You are greeted by a smiling male puppet, his bright blue pompadour striking you as reminiscent of your grandmother's favorite 50s singers hairstyles. He sits on a rock, a paint palette in his hand and his eyes directed right at you; unwavering in their gaze as he smiles brightly. You roll your eyes, thinking about how the puppet struck you as some odd combination of Elvis Presley and Bob Ross before deciding to snoop around the website, desiring a break from the misery of job hunting.

As you read each page, you are introduced to each character, their unique yet almost stereotypical cartoon personalities being described in little profile text boxes, detailing what their role in the "Welcome Home" show would have been. You giggle slightly as the show reminds you of some outdated predecessor to the Muppets and "Sesame Street".

Upon looking at the diagram of the entire neighborhood, you see that each house is circling one center point, Home as the website details. Its own gaze and the way it follows your cursor are especially unnerving, and you swallow what saliva had built up in your mouth as you watch it. Why did it feel like it could through you instead of stay in its in bubble on the webpage? You shake your head, hastily exiting to the guestbook where you read each little message left from visitors who had arrived in the past. The website must of been new or least not well-known as not very many signatures were recorded but you decided to nevertheless contribute your own little greeting, 'Hello Wally! :)', before going back to the main page where a new update seemed to have arrive during your exploration of the other links contained on the website.

"JOIN THE WELCOME HOME RESTORATION PROJECT"

Your eyes go wide as you look at the details of the job listing before you. Was this just a pure stroke of luck? The salary was very generous and right within the range you needed to finally build up a savings and get out of the downtrodden town you found yourself in and it happened to be a work-at-home job. You quickly click the link, thinking nothing of the many reroutes the various pages had to go through until the screen before you went black and a pair of eyes stared right back at you before beginning to look around wildly. Your breathing quickly picks up pace, your eyes dilating as words begin to type in front of you.

"You're there... I can't see you. Can you see me? Then stay quiet.."

As the final words appear before you, you notice the world around you become less saturated, colors becoming more gray and the light around you becoming darker. A panic begins to settle within you. What was this? Was the thing staring at you.. looking for you? You let out a scream, disregarding the message as you try to quickly exit the website. The moment your hand touches the mouse, however, a sharp ringing penetrates your ears. The sound reverberates against your eardrums, the pain reaching your skull quickly as tears fill your eyes. You try to stand, reaching towards the mouse once more before you collapse to your knees and the world goes black.

The eyes in the computer stop shaking wildly, the pupils shrinking down and the gaze becoming more sorrowful. A quiet sigh is heard.

"They never listen..."