Natasha Branch and the Cursed factory

Chapter 5: When oddity ensues

Natasha woke up that Monday morning feeling typical. Yesterday was resurrection Sunday and although it was a little odd and bizarre at certain points she was at least alive and well(whatever that meant). She didn't put any of the face cream on the night before and yet she still woke up remembering those experiences. The time she spent with her grandmother and the children were as familiar to her as a Christmas party memory. There was no special "dream" or experience though that she'd had last night. Nevertheless she woke up and prepared to go to work in typical fashion. Natasha worked at a call center for an online bank and and she often dealt with arrogant customers. She didn't like having to repeat herself to people of bad moral character but in truth her mind was on the bill she owed to the State revenue service. She was going to be doing some research on her work computer as well while she was at work to see how she could get that settled. After eating her breakfast that morning(Eggs with shredded cheese and toast) she brushed her teeth and she was ready to go. All there was left to do was grab her keys once more and head out. While walking past the door she got a text from her best friend Tomiko telling her to have a wonderful day and to stay safe. However in her effort to respond back to Tomiko she wasn't paying attention as she walked forward towards the front door of her house and before she knew it she crashed into..... she was outside the house walking down the path that led to the front of her house. After a few seconds she looked up and realized she was outside the house and hadn't locked the door. "Oh no" she thought. She went back to lock the door, but come to think of it, she didn't even remember opening the door. How did she wind up outside? She probably just forgot that she did but she really did not remember opening that door. Oh well, human memory can be so unreliable sometimes despite how intricate the brain is. So she went back to lock the door but once she got to the door and took out the keys her fingers started fumbling and she dropped them. After letting out an "I'm annoyed by this" type of sigh she bent down to pick them up and her eyes began to play tricks on her because when she reached down to pick them up the first time it's almost like her hands went straight through the keys she was trying to pick up and the brick her porch was made of. Wow, she must've not gotten enough sleep somehow because that's insane. She reached for them again and picked them up the second time but despite her firm grip, somehow it's like they went straight through her hands and fell on the ground again as she was walking to her car. "Are you serious? How did I drop them again?" she said. She quickly reached down to pick up the keys and got them on the first try this time and got into her car. Before driving off to work she said a quick prayer to the Lord asking for safety and protection and drove onward to her destination. Once she got to work and clocked in it seemed like all was well. However, on her last 20 minute break of the day, she saw a work associate that she had pretty good relations with called Sharita. They weren't close friends but they had good acquaintance at work and had held a conversation with each other for more than seven minutes so that counted for something. At this point they were both in the break room and Natasha was already sitting down at one of the tables. Sharita interestingly enough sat only a few feet from Natasha. Sharita was doing something on her phone and Natasha was eating some fruit from her leftover lunch. Natasha didn't bother to say anything at first because Sharita seemed really focused on what she was doing on her phone, but when Sharita was done doing whatever she was doing on her phone she looked around and her eyes met with Natasha's but in strange way like she was looking at something else and as though she didn't see Natasha. At this point, Natasha wondered why Sharita was acting so funny, but wanting to be a good Christian she didn't refuse to speak just because Sharita was ignoring her and decided to send out a friendly "Hello". When Sharita heard her speak her body jumped with the surprise of a woman or man caught cheating by their spouse. "Oh my God! How long have you been sitting there?!" Sharita exclaimed. Natasha responded "I was sitting here when you sat down." Sharita then had a confused look on her face as she touched her head with her left hand while looking down for a few seconds and then looking back at Natasha's now worried face and saying "Are you sure you were here the whole time? Because I just know I was the only one sitting here right now." Natasha then let out a chuckle as she said "Yes, I was definitely here the whole time". Sharita then responded by saying "I'm sorry, I guess my head was just somewhere else and my eyes were playing tricks on me". After this odd and brief moment they had a short 10 minute conversation about their day thus far before Natasha had to go clock back in. As she finished out the remainder of her day answering phone calls and reading over documents she couldn't help but think back to that odd moment during resurrection Sunday when Tomiko didn't see her sitting right behind her. What was going on? This is the question continued to ask herself for the last few hours she was at work that day. She was so focused on the oddity of recent events that she almost missed her time to clock out for the day. It was 5 o'clock before she knew it and because the schedule team kept a close watch on the employees time she would've gotten a call at 5:01 on the dot unless she was on a call. As such she got off the clock and gathered her belongings(her purse and jacket) and left for the day. Thankfully, she didn't drop her keys and the drive home was uneventful. When she got home that day she felt tired even though she really hadn't exhorted herself at all which was very odd. Regardless, she decided to take a nap in order to recover her strength and dexterity. Before she went to bed she had to go to the bathroom and she preferred this as previously stated because she didn't like having to get up after falling asleep to use the bathroom. After she did this and cleansed her hands with soap she went directly to her bed and plopped down into it like it was a trampoline as she let out a loud sigh of relief. Before she fell asleep however, she noticed that the bottle of face cream she'd used the evening before was on her bed side counter. She didn't remember leaving it there, but she moved stuff all the time and would forget where she'd put it later so this was probably what happened with this face cream as well. After looking at it for but a brief moment she picked it up and decided to put some on before she took a nap applying it to her face and around her eyes before closing her eyes to go to sleep. For a moment it seemed like it would be another usual night of sleep until she heard a voice that she'd never heard before that woke her up. The strange thing is that she didn't wake up in her apartment bedroom but instead awoke in the softest most plush bed she'd ever felt in her life. The carpet in the room was so white that it's almost as if it reflected the lights from the ceiling. All the walls of the room were exquisitely painted on with the most impressive of designs. As Natasha got out of bed she noticed that she was dressed very formally rather than comfortably like someone who was actually going to sleep. The house she awoke in was not really even that big but it felt like a mansion. When she reached the the front door of the house she opened it and saw a breath taking view. In front of her stood a flat plain of green grass and though they were miles a way a long range of mountains stretched from side to side as far as she could see and because of their size they seemed much closer than they actually were. It was a majestic and incredible place and there seemed to be no one else in sight. Then she heard a voice as she so often did in such dreams. Was she really dreaming though? Was this a different reality? What was going on in her mind? She heard a voice again and this time she turned her head to see who it was. It was a man she knew little about in real life but in this reality or state of mind she seemed to know him very well. It was her father calling out to her and he was walking towards her holding something.