Dark

Limbo

She didn’t know why she could do it. She didn’t know how she could do it. She didn’t know why she continued to do it, though she had a faint idea. She really didn’t like faint ideas. They were never definite and almost always wrong. They weren’t set. She didn’t like things that weren’t permanently set. That was why she didn’t know why she liked going. It was never permanently set. It didn’t have permanently set rules. It didn’t have permanently set anything.

                As you could imagine, someone who didn’t like things that weren’t permanently set had a hard time in this world. She tried her best to not freak out over the little things that didn’t stay as planned and most of the time she could handle it as long as it was small. But when big things changed like her office building being closed for a few days due to a large gas leak or her laptop crashing inexplicably, then she broke down. She re-organized her house in various ways and cleaned nonstop. She had to compensate for the things she couldn’t control with things she could easily control.

                Some would call her a control freak. Others would call her OCD. People close to her would just say that she likes things a specific way. She didn’t deny any of those things, but she didn’t accept them either. She just called herself an over-planner, because she did over plan things. Every morning she ran through what she wanted her day to be like in her head and expected it to go according to her morning plans with few complications or deviations, though that rarely happened.  Something always happened whether it be something big or small or right inbetween. Something always happened and when she got home she re-organized and cleaned till she felt better. At least, that was what she did until she figured out how to do it.

                I think that would be a brilliant place to start, so there I shall.

                (Her Point Of View)

                I walked down the left sidewalk down to my office building as planned that morning. No birds had flown into me and I had dropped nothing, so everything was according to plan so far; a good start to my day.

                I got my usual coffee in my usual cafe and didn’t slip in any unusual puddles in said café, so again, another plus.

                When I got to my office building Lucy said hello from the front desk and I said hello back, reminding her to water her desk plant like I always did.

                I walked past Phil and John, who were complaining about their assignments for the day and stalling by doing so by the water cooler, like always… So far so good.

                I reached my office doorway and closed my eyes tight.

                (SKIP)

                As I wandered around the forest, I couldn’t help but think that the black and white feel of the forest made it seem even more unnatural. It already felt unnatural to me, but that made that feel much more prominent and it was beginning to scare me. I wanted color to come back and noise (other than my footsteps on the dry leaves and sticks) to be there. Even when I spoke out loud I couldn’t hear myself. That scared me even more, but what scared me most was that I hadn’t seen another living being. No bugs, no birds, and no people. No nothing. Nothing but endless, unpredictable, black-and-white, soundless forest. I couldn’t control it, which was the absolute worst part. I couldn’t control where I went, I couldn’t control anything. I was just… helpless. And I couldn’t go back home and re-organize my bookshelf and clean till I dropped. I was stuck in the forest with no way out that I could see.