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i've been alone in this town for a month
At first I didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary. I live alone in a small guest house of a family friend of my late mother’s. Elaine is a nurse and her son Eddie just started college so neither of them are there when I get leave to go to work.
Three weeks ago it was no different. I groaned at the familiar sound of my 8:15 alarm, desperately wanting to hit snooze but knowing I wouldn’t get up if I did. I went through my usual morning routine on autopilot, showering, brushing my teeth, and getting dressed in my work uniform.
I grabbed a banana as I headed out the door, noticing that Elaine’s car was still parked in the driveway. I didn’t think anything of it, I knew Elaine would sometimes take the train into the city if she didn’t feel like driving for the day. What I failed to realize on my walk into town was that everyone else’s car was also still in their driveway.
I had my headphones on and was scrolling through Instagram, and with my head buried in my phone I failed to notice that I was the only one walking through the quaint and quiet town of Bakersfield. It wasn’t until I yanked on the door handle of Levi’s Corner that my head snapped up and I noticed that my favorite coffee shop was pitch black inside. I began to look around me, noticing that every store was also closed, including Flash’s Market.
I crossed the street to my workplace, peering in and expecting to see any member of the Flash family, but yet again seeing an empty store blanketed in darkness. I checked the time again. 8:50. I wasn’t an opener this morning, Reggie was supposed to be here to open up shop at 7 and I was coming in at 9. I unlocked my phone, hoping to see a text from my boss or coworkers about a possible day off, but I had no messages.
Luckily I had my own key to the store, so seeing nothing better to do I unlocked the door and headed into work, the familiar DING of the bell accompanying the opening of the door. I usually opened in the summertime so I made sure to turn on the lights and open the register, but I was still jarred at the fact that not only was there no one working here, but there were no customers either.
We usually had our morning rush at about 8:30, people coming in to get the paper on their way to work or buying a pack of Marlboro's to get them through the day. I stood behind the counter and peered through the windows to the empty street, no cars or people in sight. I took out my phone and dialed Reggie, but to no avail. I wasn’t able to reach any other coworkers, even those outside the Flashes, who I had thought to be having some sort of family emergency at the time.
I then had a thought that I shook away, but at the time I didn’t realize how close to the truth I was. Out loud, in the empty market, I asked myself, “Am I the only one out right now?” My words hung in the air in the empty store, and after a bit of hesitation I made my way over to the door.
The bell dinged as I met the cool morning air, and I cautiously looked at the street around me to see if there was any kind of human life approaching the store.
If it was any other day I wouldn’t even think of leaving the market unlocked and unattended, but whatever world I had woken up to today was different than anything I could have imagined.
I began to walk down the street, slowly at first, but as I peered into each empty store I began to run faster.
Empty. Empty. Empty. Empty. Every place was empty. Every street was empty. Blocks and blocks of empty sidewalks. It was all empty.
“What the fuck?!” I shouted. No response. No head turns to my outburst. There was no one to hear it.
I stopped running, stopping just in front of the preschool about a quarter of a mile from Flash’s. There were usually tons of kids outside at the playground next to the school with their teachers. A ton of angry parents who didn’t know how to drive were screaming at each other trying to get into the parking lot to pick up their kids. It was always bustling.
But not today. Today it was empty.
My eyes began to well up with tears. I instinctively took my phone out and went to my favorite contacts. I looked at the “Mom <3” contact and sighed, then clicked on “Michael”. I hadn’t talked to my brother in almost a year since our fight, but I thought hearing his voice would be able to restore some hope in me.
He didn’t pick up. Usually I’ll only hear one ring before he forcibly declines the call, but this time he just let it ring. Because he wasn’t there.
No one is here.
I called everyone in my contacts that day. I called my favorite pizza place. I called my old high school. No one picked up. It took me a few days to come to the realization, but that day I became the only person in the world.
Or so I thought.
After a few days of sulking and not leaving my house, I thought it would be best for my mental health if I did what I was used to doing. I went back to work, I started exercising again, and I began to commit a few light crimes. I didn’t burn a building down or anything, just broke into a few stores and stole some food. I didn’t feel bad, it’s not like there was anyone to stop me.
Yesterday, or at least what I perceived as yesterday, I was sitting in Flash’s making a pyramid with the Cheez-Its boxes. I couldn’t make myself steal food from Flash’s even though I desperately wanted to, so I mostly spent my days there arranging and rearranging all the products.
I was placing the final box on top of the pyramid when I could have sworn I heard the sound of a small insect buzzing in my ear. I looked around, not a bug in sight, but continued to hear the noise. As it got louder, it slowly started to transform into a ringing in my ears, so I went to check the store’s speakers to see if any frequency issues were the cause.
As I made my way to the back room the noise got more intense and my vision began to blur. I braced myself on one of the shelves as the noise transformed yet again, and as my eyelids began to droop I couldn’t help but notice how similar the noise was to a raw, intense, guttural scream.
I shot awake in my bed. I was screaming, but I wasn’t sure why. Did I just dream that whole scenario? I reached across my nightstand to check my phone, hoping that it was early in the morning and I just had a nightmare.
My phone clattered to the floor as I sat there with my jaw agape. It was 7:37 in the morning, but the date read October 31st. That was impossible. Today should have been the 26th, yesterday was the 25th. Today couldn’t be the 31st.
I began to spiral. I checked my computer. I turned my phone on and off. The date remained unchanged. 6 full days had gone by and I didn’t remember a thing. The last thing I remembered was being at Flash’s on the 25th. I tried to go back to bed, but for the first time in a while I didn’t like being alone with my thoughts.
I quickly turned on an old episode of my favorite podcast and got dressed, deciding that I needed to busy myself in order to make sense of an already creepy situation.
Once I got ready, I decided to take a walk to the 7/11 in town to get some ramen. The convenience store closest to me didn’t have the brand I liked, so I had to walk a little further down the main stretch to get to the 7/11 that did.
As I got into town, the strange vibe that I had been feeling for the past month was…different. I couldn’t tell if it was better or worse, just different. The first thing I noticed was a trail of some dark substance scattered across the sidewalk.
I bent down and squinted to see if I could recognize it, then dabbed my pointer finger in it and held it to the light. Immediately I regretted my decision, as I let out a squeal and furiously shook my hand to get the substance off.
It was blood. I gazed upon the sidewalk ahead of me, noticing the trail of blood leading down the street. With nothing waiting for me besides a two pack of Buldak Spicy Ramen, I decided to follow it. The fresh blood was splattered in small splotches at first, but the stains got bigger as I neared the supposed sight of the accident.
I looked up in shock, coming face to face with the door of Flash’s. I was met with my own reflection, but the surface of the door was cracked and covered top to bottom with blood. It looked like someone had tried to break into the store, but the blood was confusing me immensely.
Had someone used their body as a battering ram and started bleeding in the process. Were they already bloody? Was someone covered in blood thrown against the door by someone else?
I shook these thoughts away, as they all relied on one thing: people. As far as I knew it, I was the only person in the world right now.
As I stared at my own reflection in the door, an extremely disturbing thought began to dawn on me.
Did I do this?
If 6 days had really gone by, I surely wasn’t lying in bed the whole time, was I?
I looked down at my hands and the rest of my body. I had no visible bruises or cuts, I did have a raging headache but I had felt that for about a week. Looking back up at the bloodied door, I slowly took out my key to the shop and opened it up.
DING
As I opened the door, I did my best to not let any shards of glass come loose and I stepped inside. Everything was just the way I had left it, but my pyramid of Cheez it boxes had toppled over. I made my way over to the cash register and popped it open, but no cash had been taken out.
I gazed out towards the empty store, then turned my attention towards the red stained windows and doors.
Why is this happening to me? Am I the cause of everything? Everyone disappearing, my memory lapse, Flash’s destruction. What could I have done to have this all forced upon me?
One by one, I grabbed the boxes from my failed attempt at an art project and headed to the snack aisle to return them.
Once I was back there, an all too familiar buzzing sound started to make its way around my head. Assuming I was going to black out again, I dropped the boxes and rushed to the break room. My head started pounding as the buzzing shifted to ringing and I sat myself down in the one lounge chair we had, gripping the arms so hard my knuckles turned white.
My vision began to blur and I attempted to take deep breaths, but I could only focus on the disturbing and intense noise that filled my ears.
I closed my eyes, and as soon as I thought I was going to pass out, the noise culminated in a single:
DING
I opened my eyes. I was still in Flash’s. But so was someone else.
I slowly got up from the chair, and before I even had a second to think I could hear footsteps making their way towards the break room.
Quickly snatching my phone I flung open the back door and started booking it through the back lot behind Flash’s. Whoever was inside the store obviously knew I was in there, they knew where I was.
I didn’t know where I was running, but I didn’t dare look back to see if they were following me. Did they cause the destruction to the front of the store? Do they know I caused it?
Despite the fact that there were no people in sight, as it had been for the past few weeks, I felt tons of eyes on me. I felt like I was being watched by thousands of people, they were just watching me unravel in real time.
I glanced to my left up ahead of me, noticing a playground with one of those colorful castle-like structures next to a bright green swing set. For whatever reason I thought that was my safest option, so I made a break for the wooden ladder that led up to the top of the structure.
I huddled in a corner and closed my eyes, expecting to hear the pounding of footsteps behind me and a clawed hand to grab my shoulder and toss me to the ground.
Nothing.
I don’t know where to go. I think two hours have passed, I’m still inside this play structure. It seems to have saved me from whatever came to get me in Flash’s, but my headache has returned stronger than ever.
When I close my eyes and focus on the pounding in my temples, I see myself staring at my reflection in the Flash’s door. It’s not shattered yet. But every time my head pounds, I bang my head into the door. I’m all bloody. Everything hurts. But I just keep banging.
In case I pass out again, I wanted to leave this all here, I wanted to make this post in the hopes that someone would see it.
Am I still alone? Am I just writing this all to post into a void of nothingness?
If the person who came into Flash’s sees this, come find me. I was scared of you at first, but at this point I’m even more frightened of myself.
#entertainment
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At first I didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary. I live alone in a small guest house of a family friend of my late mother’s. Elaine is a nurse and her son Eddie just started college so neither of them are there when I get leave to go to work.
Three weeks ago it was no different. I groaned at the familiar sound of my 8:15 alarm, desperately wanting to hit snooze but knowing I wouldn’t get up if I did. I went through my usual morning routine on autopilot, showering, brushing my teeth, and getting dressed in my work uniform.
I grabbed a banana as I headed out the door, noticing that Elaine’s car was still parked in the driveway. I didn’t think anything of it, I knew Elaine would sometimes take the train into the city if she didn’t feel like driving for the day. What I failed to realize on my walk into town was that everyone else’s car was also still in their driveway.
I had my headphones on and was scrolling through Instagram, and with my head buried in my phone I failed to notice that I was the only one walking through the quaint and quiet town of Bakersfield. It wasn’t until I yanked on the door handle of Levi’s Corner that my head snapped up and I noticed that my favorite coffee shop was pitch black inside. I began to look around me, noticing that every store was also closed, including Flash’s Market.
I crossed the street to my workplace, peering in and expecting to see any member of the Flash family, but yet again seeing an empty store blanketed in darkness. I checked the time again. 8:50. I wasn’t an opener this morning, Reggie was supposed to be here to open up shop at 7 and I was coming in at 9. I unlocked my phone, hoping to see a text from my boss or coworkers about a possible day off, but I had no messages.
Luckily I had my own key to the store, so seeing nothing better to do I unlocked the door and headed into work, the familiar DING of the bell accompanying the opening of the door. I usually opened in the summertime so I made sure to turn on the lights and open the register, but I was still jarred at the fact that not only was there no one working here, but there were no customers either.
We usually had our morning rush at about 8:30, people coming in to get the paper on their way to work or buying a pack of Marlboro's to get them through the day. I stood behind the counter and peered through the windows to the empty street, no cars or people in sight. I took out my phone and dialed Reggie, but to no avail. I wasn’t able to reach any other coworkers, even those outside the Flashes, who I had thought to be having some sort of family emergency at the time.
I then had a thought that I shook away, but at the time I didn’t realize how close to the truth I was. Out loud, in the empty market, I asked myself, “Am I the only one out right now?” My words hung in the air in the empty store, and after a bit of hesitation I made my way over to the door.
The bell dinged as I met the cool morning air, and I cautiously looked at the street around me to see if there was any kind of human life approaching the store.
If it was any other day I wouldn’t even think of leaving the market unlocked and unattended, but whatever world I had woken up to today was different than anything I could have imagined.
I began to walk down the street, slowly at first, but as I peered into each empty store I began to run faster.
Empty. Empty. Empty. Empty. Every place was empty. Every street was empty. Blocks and blocks of empty sidewalks. It was all empty.
“What the fuck?!” I shouted. No response. No head turns to my outburst. There was no one to hear it.
I stopped running, stopping just in front of the preschool about a quarter of a mile from Flash’s. There were usually tons of kids outside at the playground next to the school with their teachers. A ton of angry parents who didn’t know how to drive were screaming at each other trying to get into the parking lot to pick up their kids. It was always bustling.
But not today. Today it was empty.
My eyes began to well up with tears. I instinctively took my phone out and went to my favorite contacts. I looked at the “Mom <3” contact and sighed, then clicked on “Michael”. I hadn’t talked to my brother in almost a year since our fight, but I thought hearing his voice would be able to restore some hope in me.
He didn’t pick up. Usually I’ll only hear one ring before he forcibly declines the call, but this time he just let it ring. Because he wasn’t there.
No one is here.
I called everyone in my contacts that day. I called my favorite pizza place. I called my old high school. No one picked up. It took me a few days to come to the realization, but that day I became the only person in the world.
Or so I thought.
After a few days of sulking and not leaving my house, I thought it would be best for my mental health if I did what I was used to doing. I went back to work, I started exercising again, and I began to commit a few light crimes. I didn’t burn a building down or anything, just broke into a few stores and stole some food. I didn’t feel bad, it’s not like there was anyone to stop me.
Yesterday, or at least what I perceived as yesterday, I was sitting in Flash’s making a pyramid with the Cheez-Its boxes. I couldn’t make myself steal food from Flash’s even though I desperately wanted to, so I mostly spent my days there arranging and rearranging all the products.
I was placing the final box on top of the pyramid when I could have sworn I heard the sound of a small insect buzzing in my ear. I looked around, not a bug in sight, but continued to hear the noise. As it got louder, it slowly started to transform into a ringing in my ears, so I went to check the store’s speakers to see if any frequency issues were the cause.
As I made my way to the back room the noise got more intense and my vision began to blur. I braced myself on one of the shelves as the noise transformed yet again, and as my eyelids began to droop I couldn’t help but notice how similar the noise was to a raw, intense, guttural scream.
I shot awake in my bed. I was screaming, but I wasn’t sure why. Did I just dream that whole scenario? I reached across my nightstand to check my phone, hoping that it was early in the morning and I just had a nightmare.
My phone clattered to the floor as I sat there with my jaw agape. It was 7:37 in the morning, but the date read October 31st. That was impossible. Today should have been the 26th, yesterday was the 25th. Today couldn’t be the 31st.
I began to spiral. I checked my computer. I turned my phone on and off. The date remained unchanged. 6 full days had gone by and I didn’t remember a thing. The last thing I remembered was being at Flash’s on the 25th. I tried to go back to bed, but for the first time in a while I didn’t like being alone with my thoughts.
I quickly turned on an old episode of my favorite podcast and got dressed, deciding that I needed to busy myself in order to make sense of an already creepy situation.
Once I got ready, I decided to take a walk to the 7/11 in town to get some ramen. The convenience store closest to me didn’t have the brand I liked, so I had to walk a little further down the main stretch to get to the 7/11 that did.
As I got into town, the strange vibe that I had been feeling for the past month was…different. I couldn’t tell if it was better or worse, just different. The first thing I noticed was a trail of some dark substance scattered across the sidewalk.
I bent down and squinted to see if I could recognize it, then dabbed my pointer finger in it and held it to the light. Immediately I regretted my decision, as I let out a squeal and furiously shook my hand to get the substance off.
It was blood. I gazed upon the sidewalk ahead of me, noticing the trail of blood leading down the street. With nothing waiting for me besides a two pack of Buldak Spicy Ramen, I decided to follow it. The fresh blood was splattered in small splotches at first, but the stains got bigger as I neared the supposed sight of the accident.
I looked up in shock, coming face to face with the door of Flash’s. I was met with my own reflection, but the surface of the door was cracked and covered top to bottom with blood. It looked like someone had tried to break into the store, but the blood was confusing me immensely.
Had someone used their body as a battering ram and started bleeding in the process. Were they already bloody? Was someone covered in blood thrown against the door by someone else?
I shook these thoughts away, as they all relied on one thing: people. As far as I knew it, I was the only person in the world right now.
As I stared at my own reflection in the door, an extremely disturbing thought began to dawn on me.
Did I do this?
If 6 days had really gone by, I surely wasn’t lying in bed the whole time, was I?
I looked down at my hands and the rest of my body. I had no visible bruises or cuts, I did have a raging headache but I had felt that for about a week. Looking back up at the bloodied door, I slowly took out my key to the shop and opened it up.
DING
As I opened the door, I did my best to not let any shards of glass come loose and I stepped inside. Everything was just the way I had left it, but my pyramid of Cheez it boxes had toppled over. I made my way over to the cash register and popped it open, but no cash had been taken out.
I gazed out towards the empty store, then turned my attention towards the red stained windows and doors.
Why is this happening to me? Am I the cause of everything? Everyone disappearing, my memory lapse, Flash’s destruction. What could I have done to have this all forced upon me?
One by one, I grabbed the boxes from my failed attempt at an art project and headed to the snack aisle to return them.
Once I was back there, an all too familiar buzzing sound started to make its way around my head. Assuming I was going to black out again, I dropped the boxes and rushed to the break room. My head started pounding as the buzzing shifted to ringing and I sat myself down in the one lounge chair we had, gripping the arms so hard my knuckles turned white.
My vision began to blur and I attempted to take deep breaths, but I could only focus on the disturbing and intense noise that filled my ears.
I closed my eyes, and as soon as I thought I was going to pass out, the noise culminated in a single:
DING
I opened my eyes. I was still in Flash’s. But so was someone else.
I slowly got up from the chair, and before I even had a second to think I could hear footsteps making their way towards the break room.
Quickly snatching my phone I flung open the back door and started booking it through the back lot behind Flash’s. Whoever was inside the store obviously knew I was in there, they knew where I was.
I didn’t know where I was running, but I didn’t dare look back to see if they were following me. Did they cause the destruction to the front of the store? Do they know I caused it?
Despite the fact that there were no people in sight, as it had been for the past few weeks, I felt tons of eyes on me. I felt like I was being watched by thousands of people, they were just watching me unravel in real time.
I glanced to my left up ahead of me, noticing a playground with one of those colorful castle-like structures next to a bright green swing set. For whatever reason I thought that was my safest option, so I made a break for the wooden ladder that led up to the top of the structure.
I huddled in a corner and closed my eyes, expecting to hear the pounding of footsteps behind me and a clawed hand to grab my shoulder and toss me to the ground.
Nothing.
I don’t know where to go. I think two hours have passed, I’m still inside this play structure. It seems to have saved me from whatever came to get me in Flash’s, but my headache has returned stronger than ever.
When I close my eyes and focus on the pounding in my temples, I see myself staring at my reflection in the Flash’s door. It’s not shattered yet. But every time my head pounds, I bang my head into the door. I’m all bloody. Everything hurts. But I just keep banging.
In case I pass out again, I wanted to leave this all here, I wanted to make this post in the hopes that someone would see it.
Am I still alone? Am I just writing this all to post into a void of nothingness?
If the person who came into Flash’s sees this, come find me. I was scared of you at first, but at this point I’m even more frightened of myself.
#entertainment
source
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