The Disappearing Alley

We all think of our world as one grounded in logic. A place in which the supernatural and abstruse only exists in stories. I thought so too, for the longest time.

When I moved into the vicinity of a certain building, I should soon find out just how wrong I was.

The aforementioned building is a giant old mansion. Its huge walls are right next to my living room window and tower over every other building in the surrounding area, including the small apartment building I live in.

It consists of various different buildings or wings, which are all connected to a huge main building. In its prime the place might have been fancy, maybe even beautiful. Now though, after decades of neglect, it is just old, run down and even a little creepy.

Behind some of the many windows you can still see old, musty curtains, but I am almost sure no one lives there anymore.

To start about myself: My name is Linda. I am a thirty-four year old woman. I moved into this apartment a good month ago and was quite happy living here.

Sure, most people wouldn't be happy living in this place, but I was rather content.

After years of substance abuse, shitty relationships and other troubles, this new life of mine felt pretty good. I even found myself a job. Sure, it was sweeping floors in a warehouse, but at least it was something.

At first I thought the place would be a typical dump, considering the age of the building and how cheap it was.

It was surprisingly nice though, at least for a place that was part of the public housing project.

The low rent was most likely due to the area. Like the old mansion next door, almost all other buildings in this part of the city were run down and abandoned.

As you can imagine, not many people live here. There are eight apartments in total, four on the first floor and four on the upper one. Only two apartments apart from mine are occupied.

An old couple lives with me on the upper floor in the last apartment down the hall. I've talked with them a few times and they seem quite nice.

The ground floor is vacated except for the apartment right below mine. A group of young people live there. They might be students, they might be potheads, I don't really know. Never so much as seen them yet, only heard them at nights a few times. As long as they don't cause me any trouble though, I don't mind them.

This whole mess first started one morning, at least, as far as I can tell.

I got up and while I waited for my morning coffee I took a quick look out my window. There wasn't much to see, since it faces the wall of the mansion as I mentioned. For whatever reason I couldn't help but feel that something was off about it this morning. I wasn't able to put my finger on it and soon I shook my head.

"You just need your coffee, Linda." I said to myself.

It was a few days later, that I couldn't blame it on my lack of coffee anymore.

There was a noticeable difference: It was much darker outside than usual.

At first I frowned and thought my alarm had gone off too early or I had changed it by accident, but no, it was the same time as usual.

Normally the sun shined down into the alley between this building and the mansion and at least a few rays of sunshine reached my living room window. Now though, it was all dark outside.

I opened the window and looked outside. I couldn't help but think that the alley must have shrunk in size.

It was an absolute ridiculous thought. I waited, hoping that I was imagining things or that my mind was playing tricks on me and that the optical illusion would soon vanish. It didn't.