Welcome to a Nightmare

Chapter 2: All Wrong

Henry's eyes open with confusion. He can feel that his head is throbbing and his body aches in weird places. He realizes that he's been sleeping on various metal components that are attached to the roof.

Roof! Suddenly, everything comes rushing back to him. His mom finally got married to Killian and they were all singing and dancing because his mom had a song in her heart that saved their family from the Black Fairy's clutches... except it didn't protect all of them from her curse! The last thing he remembers is clinging to his mom, Regina, as the black smoke overtook the entire town. He must've blacked out after that.

From what he can tell, he's been asleep all night. There is the familiar Maine dew on the gravel and metal vents he was laying on, and the gray skies that greet the town in the morning. It's still hard to see what the Storybrooke looks like. His heart begins to pound in anxiety. He knows what a curse usually does to their town and he's afraid to look to see what might've happened. He's only starting to process the sounds of the town around him and he knows immediately that something is very wrong.

Instead of the pleasant and quiet sounds of the morning, like birds in the nearby forest, or even the sounds of Pongo barking in the street as Archie walked him, are gone. No normal noises of the tiny town slowly waking up for the day. Nothing is familiar because it is no longer quiet, but it's crazy loud.

The sounds of multiple motorcycles zooming down the Main Street can be heard. The only person who owned a motorcycle in town was August, and even then, he didn't ride it very often. There are the sounds of boisterous traffic, horns honking and shouting, something that hardly ever happens in small towns. He hears loud music blasting all around him, bells ringing like that of slot machines and many other noises that just don't sound right.

Henry gets up and tries to go to the edge of the roof to see everything for himself, but there's a large looming building blocking his view of the street.

Where the hell did that come from?! He thinks to himself. His mom and Killian picked this specific roof because it had a great view of the town, including the clock tower. What the hell is blocking it?!

Henry races to the stairwell and heads down into the street, wanting to get some answers.

Where are his moms? His grandparents? His aunt? His new step-father? Where's Violet?

He finds the building that was once a business is now completely empty, covered in graffiti and trash. His heart beats against his chest as he hurries down out of the abandoned building and onto the streets of the town.

However, the sight that greets him is not what he expected.

The tiny and quiet streets of Storybrooke are now a hellish landscape. All around him are large amounts of flashing lights, neon signs advertising bars, nightclubs, casinos, which explains the slot machine sounds, and other cruder establishments that would make anyone's skin crawl. The streets are grimy and covered in trash, there's not even the sign of a flower or anything green. Any surface of a building that is not blinking and advertising drinks at half-price or ladies' night on Fridays, is covered in graffiti. The slang and slogans spray-painted on include Happiness Comes to Die, Sons of Anarchy, Welcome to the Dark Side, and Hells Angels Zone.

Henry watches in horror as a gritty gang of bikers drives down through the middle of town... if it can be even called that anymore. Storybrooke seems a lot bigger, like a city, a mini Las Vegas if he ever saw one. All the bikers are clad in leather, sunglasses, were smoking cigarettes, wearing chains and rings, and had sleeves of tattoos. It's all so bizarre!