After the End (on pause)

Chapter 3 - 8:00 to 9:45 pm

Chapter 3 - 8:00 to 9:45 pm

                           The darkness melted into an ethereal dream sequence; passing in rapid succession until halting at one particular scene. At first the dark was the same perpetual inky black, but soon it began to sharpen and form shapes.  A dark forest materialized around me, cloaking me in its blanket of humidity. It seemed to have recently rained, as the trees dripped with moss and a dank fog clung low to the dips of the damp ground. The only unsettling element of the forest was that I was there alone without a clue as to where I could be. Soft chirps of crickets fluctuated around me in an evening symphony.

                           The setting began quite comfortably. I was warm and at peace with the night, until all noise abruptly stopped aside from the snap of a twig behind me. I spun around to the noise, my heart in my throat. Suddenly the atmosphere shifted. The towering trees no longer looked comforting but rather imprisoning. The branches were reaching for me, trying to claw at me. I began to feel watched. Eyes pricked my skin from all angles. Glowing pinpricks of light expanded into thousands of eyes surrounding me. Whispers rose from the silence, too monotonous for me to catch any words. There was nowhere to hide, no where was safe. I let out a small whimper of fear. I just want to go home.  I close my eyes and pictured my bright, warm home. My mom setting the table for dinner; chatting with my dad as he watches a sports game. I could hear my parents laughing over a joke that only they found funny. The memory fills me with longing and a pang of loneliness in a sea of terror. Where are they? When I was little they told me they would protect me from anything. Where are they to protect me now?

                           As I opened my eyes I gasped as I was transported. I was still in the forest, but no longer lost in a ring of fear. No I stood on the fringes of the trees as I somehow wound up at the end of my street. How did I get here? My memory felt fuzzy, as though I had just woken up from a long sleep. I sighed with relief at the houses bathed in golden porch light during the late hour. I burst from the forest confines and sprinted to the third house from the woods on the left; mine. As I made it to the front door I realized something was…off. The usual night noise was present but no traffic could be heard; a rarity when you live a block away from the highway. I could also see no other lights in any of the houses aside from the porch. I hesitantly turned my door handle, suddenly wary. As walked in, nothing happened. The house was silent but completely black. Still feeling tense, I flipped on the foyer light. Nothing.

                           “Mom? Dad?” I asked with only my dying echo as a response. I continued up the few stairs into the kitchen and living room area. Once again I saw no one as I flipped on the lights, illuminating my reflection in the windows. I finished my search up yet another flight of stairs to our bedrooms and bathrooms. After searching these I figured they must have gone out somewhere. I had just picked up my cell to call them when the sudden blaring of my house alarm startled me half to death. Not being able to comprehend why it chose now to go off, I looked at the small screen to see the trigger. It read 6, 8. Searching the list posted on the wall beside the keypad I saw that these meant basement window and office motion detector. My blood ran cold at this. I hadn’t even walked around the first floor; there was no way the office was triggered by me, and I definitely didn’t go down in the basement. But why didn’t it go off when I walked though the front door? Nothing added up in the situation but my only thoughts were: someone’s here. At that point I figured it would be smartest to leave the house and wait for the police.

                           Considering the triggers once again, I crossed of the option of going through the front or back doors as I would walk right passed the office and basement entrances. I decided to go with an old fire escape plan my parents and I had conjured up when I was little. One of my windows looked out over out garage roof, which was roughly about 8 feet from the ground in the back. I gently eased the window open and shimmied through, my heart pounding in fear of an intruder in the only home I’d ever known. I softly landed on the roof and slid off the edge on my stomach. Once I managed to fall off the roof enough to be holding onto the edge, I gently dropped the two and a half feet to the ground. As I jogged around my house and toward the end of my street I realized every house that had an alarm was wailing terrible sirens. The shrill noise sliced through the air, but still no one emerged. I began to sprint up my street and towards town, seeing every house blaring with alarms. Despite this, no cars drove, no cops patrolled, and the only lights illuminated porches and doorsteps.