The Picture

You've been here before. However, that was before the accident. The place looks quite different compared to the last time. You look around and notice the gashes throughout the walls that reveal the inner workings of the place. Pipes are exposed and cracked, causing water to spew onto the floor. You stagger backwards, covering your mouth and nose, gagging at the strong stench. You retch away, holding yourself as you move towards the center of the hallway. You turn the corner and see violently flickering lights that barely light up the floor. Continuing to walk down the hallway, you see some doors.

Maybe it's in one of those rooms. You think to yourself as you try to open the first door. It opens with ease, followed by loud freaking. The room isn't in much disrepair, just a few openings in the walls and floor. You inch around the holes, taking deep breaths as you make your way to the back of the room. You look out a window.

Devastating.

That's probably the only way you could explain it. Buildings are decomposing and some have just reduced to rubble. Even the movie theater you and your family went to every Sunday is now just a pile of rocks. All the trees in the area are dead even though it should be the middle of spring. The once bustling street that was filled with cars and people is now just a barren wasteland where the cars were left to rust after the disaster. Many people died. You were lucky. You were out of the country when it happened. They told you that you can't come back for decades, but you came anyways. Your first instinct was to go to your family's home, but there was nothing left.

Now you're outside ground zero, looking for the only piece of your family you have left. A picture. The picture means everything to you and you've been searching for it for months now. So far no luck. Then again, why would you be here if you had already found it? You carefully walk around, moving things then putting them back where you found it. No luck. Just some papers and some books. Wiping away tears of frustration, you wonder why it is so hard. You know this is the right place but it looks so unrecognizable now. You exit the room and go towards the next one.

You then hear what seems to be footsteps. You look in the direction of the noise and see a woman in the dim light. From what you could see, her hair is slicked down, like glue, and her complexion is a sickly yellow-green colour. Her eyes look sunken in, wrinkles framing her entire face. She shuffles over towards you and you can see her more clearly. Multiple cuts and burns dawn upon her face and body. She stares at you with pleading eyes as she switches  her gaze to her right leg. Your eyes follow, her lower leg is a dark purplish colour, almost mutilated. Maybe something had fallen on her leg and shattered the bone. She stares at you desperately and croaks out with a hoarse voice.

"Help me." as she reaches out with outstretched, shaking hands. You stumble backwards.

"I'm sorry, I really have to find something I've been looking for."

You then turn around and run off in the opposite direction. You turn left and go up a set of stairs. Once you reach the top, you lean against a wall to catch your breath as you feel something wet and slimy start to drench your shirt. You squirm away from the wall and try to get a better look at your shirt. You sigh heavily as you realize that this substance might not be easy to clean. Continuing on your quest to find the picture, you walk aimlessly as you try to find another room. You proceed down the long, slimy hallway when you see a row of doors. You try to open the first one, but it won't budge. It feels as  if something heavy is against it, preventing it to opening. You decide to push harder. The door swings open effortlessly this time, causing you to face-plant onto the floor.  You heave yourself up, rubbing your nose with your trembling hands.

This room is much worse compared to the last one. Chairs are topples over and spread across the room with large scratch like tears in the fabric. Paper is scattered everywhere in complete disarray; It looks as if someone has ripped the room apart in a fir of rage.

You creep across the floor, avoiding all the holes. Browsing around, you don't see much else. Just more ripped up paper, broken flooring and some stray fabric. At the other end of the room you see a large chest looking object. Curious to see what could be inside i, you walk over. Upon closer inspection, this dark brown coloured chest isn't actually a chest. You notice the brown log to be slightly furry and... moving?

Realizing this is a living being of sorts, you quietly take a step backwards to not disturb the animal. However as you take that step, a loud snap echos the room. The creature moves to stand up. It looks like a dog. However, as soon as it's head moves to face yours, you freeze. This isn't a normal, cute happy dog. This is an angry one, and probably a hungry one at that. With its sharp teeth bared and muscular body coming towards you, you start to feel chilled to the bone, sweating excessively.

You worry about how you're going to get out of this. You look around the room desperately, rapidly blinking your eyes, trying to find a good solution to escape as the burly dog approaches you. Not seeing on, you sprint towards the door as fast as you can. You pump your arms and legs with as much power as you can as the rabid dog snapped its mouth ready to bite. You quickly slam the door shut in front of the dog's face. Sighing with slight relief, you continue on your way. You're desperate to find this picture.

You just want to get out of this building, out of this city and back to your house so you can finally relax.

You find another large door that leads into a wider hallway. This area you remember the most. You have a strong feeling that the photo is somewhere around here. There is just one problem. Further ahead, the hallway is blocked by multiple pipes that have fallen. The pipes seem to be what is holding up the near collapsed ceiling, so you can't move them around.

You try to think of another way to get on the other side when you remember that there is another hallway that leads into the one you want to be in. You stand there thinking where the other hallways when you recall it being near the first floor exit. You sigh, knowing that you're going to have to go past the dog and the woman again but you swallow your fear and start walking back.

This time quietly passing by the room with the dog and tiptoeing down the stairs. Once you hit the bottom, you peek  from behind the wall to see if the woman is still there. She seems to have moved to one of the other rooms. You finally make your way to the stairs, venturing up to the other hallway. You make a few turns and make it to the hallway that is so familiar to you. Shaking off your nerves, you take a deep breath before walking to the farthest door on the right.

This door is rotting a lot so you can see bits of the room through it, Grabbing the handle, and hesitating to open it, you close your eyes and hope that you'll finally find the photo. Finally opening the door, you walk in. You start to sob as you walk in, recognizing this is your father's office based on the markings on the wall. Everytime you came into his office, he'd measure you against the wall to see how tall you've gotten. Pipes from the broken ceiling poke out and are dripping water onto the marks, obscuring them. Whole parts of the floor are missing, making the inner frame exposed.

At the far right of the room is a badly damaged desk and chair. Despite your sadness, you smile as all the memories come flooding into your head. You make your way towards the desk.  You go behind it and open the large, lonely drawer on the left. You shuffle through the papers and at the bottom of the drawer, you see the thing you have been searching for so long. Your eyes start to sting as tears roll down your cheeks. Your shaking hands pick up the precious treasure and wipe off the dust from the wooden frame. You found it; the last picture that was ever taken of you and your family. You hug the photo close to your chest as you leave the room behind.

"I love you guys. Let's go home."