img url
You are unsure if you are alive or dead, but you call out anyways and then receive no response. Your fingers sink into the dirt and your voice is weak, but you call and call, and not hearing a response, you resign to the possibility of your death and are about to give up when you hear a noise from behind you, your assailant said something. You are unable to make out the words, but you whirl around just in time to catch the wood board with your face and you fall back, stunned.
You start to drift but the angle you fall back into the ground is awkward, and you are awakened by the pain of your back into consciousness, and when you open your eyes, you see a man, kneeling over you. His face is distorted and his teeth are sharp, but he smiles a warm smile, and then he whispers in your ear. ''Hello… big brother."
He shakes you, and when you regain your bearings, you are lying on a grassy hillside. You survey your surroundings and take in a sigh of relief as you recognize your home. The ocean is behind you, you are on a hillside, and you observe the town below, lit up by the sunset as though you were watching an overnight movie.
A police officer walks up to you and says, ''You are fine, you were discovered well after everyone else by a passerby. No one else is hurt, the building was otherwise empty, just a small office. No one died and your assailant was taken into custody.
He stands up and stretches, then turns to you. "The building was abandoned and had been for some time. The office was completely empty. It had been purchased by the government just a few years ago and was to be used as a relatable safe place for people to gather, provide food and information. It was also supposed to be a gathering spot for other hypothetical situations such as these. There were supposed to be cameras watching the building because of theft. It had good organization, but no one was watching it in the months before, and this is the first moment anyone has ever arrived here.
You know your assailant. He is a homeless man, but the man you know does not look the same. This man looks like the man you know. It is overwhelming, but you try to stay strong.
He asks you if you were able to get what you needed. You tell him you'd like some privacy and to not tell others about what happened to you, then walk inside the building.
You begin to rock back and forth and begin to cry, and you misplace the keys to the office lock, keys you need to be able to access your possessions in the safe inside.
You unpack your things and open the safe, and you get into your chair. You collapse into it and begin to tell yourself stories of your family's death, asking if they are okay, and they don't answer, they don't come. No one comes to comfort you and help you. You shut the safe, and you leave the office.
You begin to explore the town and walk along the streets, and you ask and ask, but surely you are going mad, and no one seems able to or willing to understand or help you. You tuck your childhood toys away and collapse because you are too weak and tired to continue. You curl up in the middle of the sidewalk and tell yourself how lost you are.
You wake up snug in your bed in a picture perfect house, but you are alone again, and you go back to sleep.
You wake up in a room. It seems like some sort of medical room. There are other people in it and they seem to recognize you, and they, like everyone before them have no idea who you are. They suggest you haven't lived here in a while. It seems they do.
It feels like you've experienced this before and you stop the conversation and ask 'where am I?' and they tell you it's a psychiatric ward.
They feel sorry for you, but you want to leave and ask for your possessions.
You ask for your packets and say a goodbye you don't follow through with. You begin to head out, hoping to be transported, but nothing happens.
You take a long walk, knowing you need to go back and continue the discussion, and you return. You are told some things, but nothing you could have not known. You are told that your items are stored what feels like a long time ago and you begin to pick up the pace out of frustration.
You talk about what happened for weeks, as you wait for your illness to get better. Now, you have a dry cough and sore throat, but you have a vague understanding of what your depression was like prior to the incident, which is what you were told you had.