The Town of Forest Shadow

Prologue

The usual day. A fire here, a ghost over there. The usual day. Driving home from work, the hospital, might I say. Past the pond holding the blue blobs that fell from the sky three months ago. A normal town, I would think. But still, it is a normal, usual day, that I live every second of my life in. I turn on the radio. "This is a story about them," the man on the radio says. We don't know his name, as he has never said it, and we don't know what he looks like, as we have never seen him. "A silver Subaru goes by on your left," he says, as a silver Subaru drives by the drivers side of my car. "It keeps going, and it doesn't stop." I turn off the radio. I hate that man's voice. We all do. But we listen, as he is the only one who knows everything going on in town, and describes it for us.

I get out of the car and walk to the door of my house. I go to grab my house key. It doesn't work. I had forgotten that you only need to bleed to open the door. I cut my finger with my house key and push open the door, locking it behind me as I enter the house. I see a shadow on the floor of my kitchen. I do not approach it, as I know who it is. I enter my living room to see my dog, in a fixed point in space, in his own little time bubble, still next to my computer table. "He's still alive, don't worry," a voice whispers from behind my couch. I don't look to see who said it, as I already know who did. I pat the dog on his head. I don't remember when he got here, or where he came from. I just remember fifty dollars leaving my bank account and the dog appearing. I walk up the stairs and into my bedroom, glancing at the locked door at the end of the hallway. I look into my room, looking for today's mail.

On the bedside table, is the mail. No return address or stamp. Just my home address. I pick up the mail. It is still warm, like a pie just departing the oven. It is still warm from its arrival, which was approximately fifteen point ninety-seven seconds after I had left for work. I climb into bed, as it had already begun. I can hear the whispers from behind me. I can see their shadows on the floor next to my bed. I am scared, yet I have been in this position since the dawn of time. I can't even remember how old I am, as I have been this age for so long. The frogs begin the crawl out from under my bed, and the cockroaches climbing over the lampshade of the lamp. Their shadows grow larger. Not in the shape of people, just beings. Beings from the closet. Yes, they are probably queer. The reason why I am trapped under the covers of my bed. The reason why the want to take me away, but can't. Send help.