The Abyss Between Timelines

True Punishment

I shot upright. It was all a bad dream. I reached over to scratch an itch on my back, but it wasn't an itch. I regained full consciousness as a Terminite bit me. I was in the middle of the forest. I was further into the forest than I thought I was. I was trying to decipher what was real and what was a dream. It had seemed so real, but the thought of what was there was too terrible to be true. It couldn't be real. It had to be a dream.

"Sorry for leaving you alone my sweet dreaming child," the beast from my dream emerged from the forest. "Perhaps you are confused."

"Damn it!" I screamed. "I thought you were a dream. Go away! I hate you!"

"You will not get rid of me that easily." It smirked, mouth foaming and ears twitching. "Like I said, you were murdered before birth in this timeline. Your so far into the f-f-forest because Jonathan blew up his house. All of this as an effect of you never being born." A deep growl formed in my throat.

"Put me back," I growled. The creature however, backed back into the forest and disappeared. I screamed at the beast. I wish it had never existed. Shaking off the Terminites crawling over my body I got up and walked towards where town should have been. The sun was beginning to rise as I got to the first street. I had no idea where I was, as the street signs were graffitied over, a trait the town I was in lack. I just needed someone who could help me. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack though, as how does one explain the inter universal nature of my problem. My mom was a caring person, however, until she is aggravated. Perhaps she could help me, or at the very least prevent me from curling up into a ball until I die. I started walking and thinking. Looking around at first, it would be hard to tell the difference, same dirty streets, same ruined buildings, same gritty atmosphere. But this place was even worse. Shattered windows, fallen lamppost, caved in houses, and the Terminite problem had hugely increased. They were in every crevice of everything, infesting the place like rats. I wasn't sure how I stopped this, but I did. Finally I got to my own house. But this place was different. The paint had been completely peeled off, and many of the boards were broken. But it was occupied, as it was one of the few houses with partially alive plants forced to grudgingly survive, but the place had fallen into disarray. I quickly knocked on the door, and a murderous screech echoed around hallow and broken walls.

"I told you to leave me the hell alone Jamie!" my mother's voice screamed with hellish rage. I already didn't like the sound of that, and I was already regretting coming here.

"It's not Jamie!" I managed to shouted my father's name over her screaming. It stopped and she opened up the door and squinted at me.

"Who are you?" she asked. "I don't know you, but at the same time I feel like I do."

"I'm Alex," I said in my really nice voice hoping to pull at some heartstrings here. "Sorry to bother you ma'am, but I lived alone in a little cottage in the forest, but it was destroyed by Terminites. I just need a place to stay for the night." My mother's crazed eyes softened, as her kind side kicked back in, and a wave of relief came upon me. I was glad to see that even without me, she would still have her kind personality. She gestured me in, and sat me down at the couch with several tears and stuffing spewing out.

"It's rude to keep a guest on an empty stomach," she muttered. "I don't have much, but it will do in a pinch." She hurried off to an unseen room, leaving me alone on the ruined couch. Unlabeled bottles, full, empty and broken littered the entire room. There were several pictures frames across scattered across the room, but many were smashed, leaving bits of glass and splintered wood to litter the ground, or pictures torn precisely to get something out of them, and the aftermath of shredded paper coated the ground like huge snowflakes. Random belongs were also thrown carelessly onto the ground, and a few were even in the trash despite their nice and expensive stature, including a lot of out prized possessions such as awards. My mother came back quickly with a little snack, an old potato, and a small blanket. The potato was old and bruised, and the blanket was so thin and filled with holes it wouldn't keep me warm, but I was grateful nevertheless.