He woke... The cold air scratching at his lifeless face, his tears, frozen. His eyes were bloodshot and he struggled to see past the roaring wind forcing them to squint, his algid skin, insensate with a blue complexion made him wince at every gust. Attentively, he glanced at the area... He sat on an elegantly laid brick floor, supported by a rigid boulder and surrounded by dead trees, he felt like they were leering at him as they eerily stirred at the whistling chill. The fog encircled him, it made the sky barely visible and had a ghostly appearance. Then a panic alights within him, he stood where is she? His wife? "Janet!" He shouted. The voice echoed and diminished to nothing... "Janet!" He shouted louder. He put his cold hands on his arms and rubbed himself, cupped his breath in his hands and rubbed them in attempt to warm up. The jumper and torn jeans weren't at all keeping him warm. In icy anguish he rushed forward, he had no idea where he was but he sure as hell didn't want to stay. He noticed a clearing in the trees, with a brick-laid path. He decided to follow it, maybe Janet had gone up there.
The farther he got into the wood the more the trees intertwined and blocked out the light, but not the cold... The jagged branches reached out towards him, the wood seemed to swallow him up more as he got further through. Eventually he spotted the end of the trail, a heavy looking door with a burning torch set in a dour, scraggy stone wall. Painfully he raised the turgid lock and pushed the door in, looking back he upraised the torch from it's stand and took it with him. The door lead to a village, worn and erstwhile in appearance, it seemed somewhat abandoned, there was nothing but silence. No speech, no expressions or laughter which he desperately wanted to hear. "Janet!" He shouted again. "Janet!!" .... "Where the hell are ya woman?"
'Snap...' Back behind the door a twig snapped, he gasped and leant into it to listen. But there was nothing. 'Just the wind.' He thought. And ventured into the village. Each one if his footsteps was clear in the wind, the flame warmed him. There was no one here in the ghost town. No one. Not even an animal; no cats, no wild dogs, no bugs, no furry friends and not even a flock of birds. Ominously, the dark, aged thatched houses towered him, they were all uneven, no roof was the same height, no house was the same width or had the same amount of windows, some seemingly were without a door. Where the hell was he? "Janet!" He shouted again. His voice echoed off into the distance, each repetition sounding more desperate than the last. He glanced hopefully up at the windows, seeing nothing but empty-bellied past. Then in one window he noticed a dark figure, a human silhouette which sped away as he spotted it. His heart raced. Excitedly he sprinted to the house, making sure the flame of the torch wasn't extinguished. He found himself in a tight intertwined alley, surrounded by about ten doors. His vision darted from door to door, anticipating which one hid the person in the house? He picked one... Slowly, he edged closer, scared of what was behind. The intricately crafted handle was cold to the touch, he pressed down the lock and the door seemed to open itself. The hall was dim and grey, a grey mush etched its way along the hall. It was only occupied by one door with a cracked frame which stood a metre in front a flight if widely set stairs. The floor board creaked with every anxious step that took him further inside. The door handle beside him rattled as he tried to open it, but it didn't give way. He sighed with regret and made his way up the stairs, the walls stood tall with what seemed like an hour long travel, with the roaring flame barely lighting his way. The upstairs hall matched the downstairs, but it seemed brighter and cleaner, maybe the rot hadn't quite reached the floor... Or maybe someone kept it in good condition. But who? The figure?
He tried one of the doors and without effort, it opened. It revealed a bleak room, off set and dingy white walls and a sanded plank floor, the wide window didn't seem to let in much of the cold which made him a little happier. More confidently him stepped into the room, but tripped on something. He looked back down at the ground and noticed a stand with four legs and a opening, he retrieved the metal object and sat down with it and placed to torch inside which seemed to fit perfectly. "How convenient..." He thought. Softly he laid up against the wall, coddled by the torches warmth and tried to figure out how he ended up in such desolation.
