They are with us

Journal Zero: A Visit

Car rides was topic of heated discussion today. To me, car rides always were the go-between of long trips to your destinations, where everyone is left to their own zones but intersect at a singular place. I always thought myself special for understanding better than other kids my age, even better than adults. I never really understand when adults understand things. They are all really oblivious. But all of this was going to change.

Today, I visited a peculiar restaurant. Not that, I had not visited this place before, but every time I did things seemed to change. The atmosphere, the scent, the workers. Everything. After a minute or two of frantically trying to look for a place to sit down. We sat down at a table near the kitchen and went about our business. There was a unusual chime that filled the room. Every time I heard a chime time seemed to shift. The place was brimming with emotions, everyone having their own. Every chime connecting some. Unable to find the hidden ones.

Our order came soon enough. My family was pleased. I did not look down but I started to eat. It was tasteless. My family seemed to enjoy it. The chime creeped behind me again and again. With every time I tried to make it stop I could hear more. I asked my family if they could hear the enveloping sound, they said, " You must be dreaming, we cannot hear anything." Their faces contorted in what I registered to be laughter. Ugly. I looked away.

The munching of my brother, the whispers of my parents I could hear it all. I wanted it to stop but something was holding me back. The entire place began to spin. Time itself stopped but the room was spinning. Slowly but I fell onto the other side. Dishes began to float, tables and chairs crashed into each other like moths attracted to flames. A great mess. The chime did not stop. I saw something falling towards me, I tried to duck but realized I was unable to. It started to gain speed like a ball thrown really hard by a bowler. I began to scream only letting out foreign sound. Just as it was about to hit me I fell back to our world, my mother had touched me.

The room halted, time started again. A grinning child came running towards me. I saw something else in place of his hand unsure what it was. He came up to me and said, "You have crossed, you will never be the same again." Now laughing he back away. No one seems to notice him except me. He goes away as soon as he had come. The worker keeps bringing meals but no one was full yet. Alas, after what took for me years we had finally finished and were heading down towards our car. The boys words were ringing in my ears like a old playlist of music. I was walking close to my parents but I was distant. My body was ahead of me leaving me behind.

I had finally reached to the comfort of my car where it all began and we headed home. The word 'Home' seems to be the opposite of me, warm and fuzzy. As we gain speed human faces turn into grotesque pieces of something that I could not quite understand. I try hard to hold reality, my eyes carrying it. A bump comes by and my eyes slip for a second. The buildings start to float, the people with it. The car starts to accelerate faster than it should, I am afraid we are going to hit someone. 

There are people on the crosswalk right in front of us, I try to warn them to move but they cannot hear me. The floating buildings are what they are looking at. I see mothers, fathers, children, the elderly. Disquiet envelops me but the car does not stop. Seconds from the crosswalk I hear the sound of loud music and snap back to reality.

My body being a few seconds faster than me realizes what happened, than I too. The music is one of my favorites. I get a questioning look from my brother next to me but he soon forgets and watches outside from his window. I fall asleep.