The Last Man Of Flatbush

It was a very normal day like most, a cold brisk wind, followed by a blanket of snow. I had just stepped out of the outhouse in Flatbush, Kentucky, and those cold mornings from a dead sleep just to answer the call of nature were becoming more distasteful everyday. I was still buttoning up my well worn army jacket when I noticed something in the distance. The corn field had since been harvested, so all that was left was dried up corn stocks that seem to be enduring another blistering winter. A bright light seem to shine on the backside of the barn when it happened. The barn was sitting there full of hay, twelve horses, a few chickens, and the next moment it was gone nothing left, but a burnt spot on the ground where the barn had sit for three generations. I stood there in a state of shock looking at an empty lot where the barn once stood. I rubbed my eyes, than slapped myself in the face to see if I was having a night- mare. I stood in the cold with red finger marks on my face. I started walking toward the burnt spot when I heard my dog "Fireball." She was running as fast as those short little legs that God had given her would carry her. I had just turned around as she jumped up, and as she was flying through the air, and I was about to catch her when she vanished in mid air. I thought to myself," I have got to be in an episode of the Twilight Zone, but Rod Serling was no where around. I had only taken a few steps toward the house when I looked back, and now the outhouse was missing in action. The only thing left was another burnt spot where the outhouse once stood. It finally dawned on me that something very strange was occurring in the little town of Flatbush. I had just grabbed the door handle, turned it in the clock wise fashion, and as I pulled the door open the entire house vanished before my eyes as I stood in the cold with the door handle in my hand, as I screamed, "What in the cat hair is going on?" The wind now contained freezing drops of water, as I was struggling to stay warm. I climbed under a pile of leaves to generate some heat, and waited for the day to arrive. I must have slept for hours, because I could feel the sun beating down on the pile of leaves. I could feel something underneath me, but wasn't exactly sure what it was, but I could feel a latch. I pulled on the latch and I disappeared in to the earth. I fell straight down until I hit the bottom. It was very warm in fact it was quite toasty. The first thought that came to my mind was I  in hell? But no man in a red suit or a pitchfork like I had imagined. I looked up and all I could see was a dirt roof with tree roots extending out of the dirt. My cell phone rang, and it was my best friend Dean who I had known since first grade. He says, "Where are you?" In honesty I had no idea after falling through the trap door, but I say, " Home." He then replies, "Well, you may not know it than, but something really strange is going on in the little town of Flatbush." I say really? How so?" Then I lose the call and my phone says, "No signal detected." I flip on the the flashlight and realised that there was a passage way right in front of me. I was a bit apprehensive about entering the darkened passage, but of course I couldn't stand here until something happened, so I enter the passage. I look down the passage, which seem to twist and turn like a maze. My light revealed passages that seem to go no where, and after I had walked for some distance I stopped to look back, and though I should have seen a long twisting corridor from where I had just came, I did not. It was as if I had not been walking, because the wall was still behind me. I continued to walk down the path until I came to the end and could go no further. I looked up and there were several holes in what seem to be a round metal plate. Light from above was streaming through the holes in beams of light. I heard voices from above talking, but not really for sure about their discussions, but I could see their eyes piercing through the holes. I felt like an caged animal from
the zoo. It was almost without warning that the metal lid was removed, and I saw several men peering at me from above. I heard a voice that was very familiar, which was my friend Dean. He says, " What in the hell are you doing down there?" Several arms extended through the circular opening and they pulled me up to the surface. I am now standing in the center of Maple and Oak Street in the downtown of Flatbush, Kentucky. I look back toward the ground and was about to ask Dean about the manhole I had just came through, but for some reason is was now gone, and all that I saw was the redbrick cobble stone Street. I then looked back at Dean who was no where to be found. In the distance I saw a few parked cars, a lady walking her dog, two kids running down the street, and a policeman on the corner. I immediately ran to the policeman in hopes to found out about the strange occurrences in Flatbush. He looks at me after I had shared my story from the beginning, and he suggested that maybe I was working a bit to hard or the sun was getting to me. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks it is hot as hell, and I thought, " What happened to those freezing temperatures? My mind is beginning to spin like a top. I walk over to the post office enter through the front door expecting to see the inside like I had a thousand times before and poof nothing but an empty field with a burnt spot where buildings once stood. I walk back through the door and I am once again on the street, but the streets are now as empty as ever with not one person in sight. I ran down the street checking in each of the buildings and one by one the buildings disappeared, and all that remained were burnt spots across the whole town or rather where the town used to be. I came to realize that there was not a soul in Flatbush. The people and the town had seem to vanish right before my eyes. I did realize I was the last man in Flatbush, not another soul around, where did everything go? The whole town was now overgrown grass like the wilderness before the town was ever established, so I started walking East toward the sun.
In another dimension of time is the little town of Flatbush, Kentucky and the briskness of another bitter winter is still plummeting against the elements. The snow covered streets have since been packed down by the the traffic of the town's people going from place to place, as if Flatbush is still in the status quo of life. Dean is sitting in the barber shop waiting for his hair cut when Jim the barber remarks, " Do you know it's been about a week since any one has seen hide nor hair of old' Nick Storm, maybe one of us should ride out to his place to check on his welfare. " Dean was the most likely candidate so he made his way through another blistering winter only discover his home as quiet as the local graveyard. In the house everything seem to be in order and untouched. The bed was still made, all of the dishes were still in the drainer, and his computer had been on for some time as the screen saver was still active. Dean thinks to himself, "It's not like Nick has just disappeared off of the face of the earth." The next several weeks not a word from Nick, which was not in his character. In time the winter fades into the historical past, and they are the beginning to see signs of the spring, and in time everyone forgets about Nick  Storm, but in the local post office are some old flyers about his disappearance. On Straightfork Road his house still sits as quiet, as it was on the day he disappeared from Flatbush. Life seems to be back to normal, and Dean has since married with several children and another on the way. Every time when Dean drives past his old house he considers, " I wonder what ever happened to old Nick Storm. "
The year is 2017 and the first assignment for the new year at the local elementary school in Flatbush is for the children to trace their family history as far back as they possibly can in the local library.
We look into a small room on Mutton Avenue of a ten year old boy who spends most of his day reading a book about paranormal activity. This boys name is Nathaniel J. Stone, who could careless about his heritage. He is about to walk through a door of no return, but unknown unto him.
It is the first day of school after a very short summer vacation, and there is a new teacher by the name of Rosanna Santos she is a very strict, but raised in the Catholic faith. The class comes to order and she walks up and down the isles examining each and every child like a drill Sargent inspecting her troops. She comes to Nathan Stone who has his head buried in a book as if she did not exist. The other students are literally waiting for her shoe to drop as she stares a hole right through him. He looks up in an non threatening way and says, "Yes!" She stands there like a teapot about to blow and says, "Nathaniel is it?" He merely nods his head as she says, "I think that just maybe you should begin to examine your family tree, so I may understand why you even exist!" He looks at her in a matter of fact way and says, " If you wish." She than continues to walk up and down the isles watching each and every child like they were peasants and she was Queen for a day.
On the following day Nathan begins to spend time in the school library tracing a family tree that seems to be insignificant in his life in the year of 2017.
In another dimension of time we find Nick Storm wandering through the unbridled land filled with the brushes and brier's prior to the he establishment of Any Kentucky settlements. His mind is somewhat in the revolving door of the elements of time. One minute he is living in the town of Flatbush, Kentucky thriving with the local residents and the next minute he is traveling through the untamed wilderness trying to find his way back to 2017 with little success.