Samantha didn’t know how she had arrived at the town. She remembered walking through her bedroom door and moving into the bathroom to brush her teeth before heading to class. Then as she exited her house she moved into unfamiliar territory. Instead of the cold, windy Ohio, she stepped into a bright old school down town. The streets empty of any cars and the store fronts spic and span. Colored awnings and large olde windows beckoning her to come in. People walked and talked to each other each side of the street. Past the downtown area were rows and rows of white houses, each the same and spaced evenly from each other. The sun was high in the sky which was a crisp blue with two clouds hanging in the air. At first she had wondered the streets, alone, with eyes of the townsfolk watching her. Then eventually she came face to face with a women. Diana. Her face and mannerism was familiar, almost like she knew her, but the way she spoke was off, her movements were strange and behind her eyes seemed empty.
Samantha past the general store when Diana approached her.
“Welcome to our little town!” Diana spoke in an upward sharp tone. She held her hand out and Samantha took it unconsciously. Soft, and yet rough at the same time, something moving underneath the skin. She retracted immediately.
“What is this place? How did I get here?” She stopped and looked around “And how do I leave?”
Diana stepped closer and Samantha took a small step back “This is Barnesville, don’t you remember? Everyone knows you here” Diana spread out her arms “And you know everyone here. Yes?”
“No” Samantha shook her head, but as she looked around at each person that feeling came back. Like each face was one feature away from being someone she knew for sure. As if her memory was a bit fuzzy, the name at the tip of the tongue. She didn’t know them. Or did she?
“Follow me, we have something for you” Diana motioned. Samantha followed in a trance. She squinted away from the sun as they moved towards the rows and rows of houses. Each one white, simple, a small deck on the front and one door with a window on each side of it. The grass by each house was cut and manicured to the ground where it looked like it was a golf course. They reached a house that looked no different from the others besides the small mailbox. Which said Samantha in big white letters.
“Your house.” Diana said with confidence pointing towards the door.
Samantha stepped onto the deck and looked down the street which dipped into town. She could see the townsfolk gathered near the edge of town. Standing in a group watching her from afar. She looked back at Diana who stood like a statue with her arm pointing at the house.
She entered.
It was simple like the outside. A couch, chair in front of a fireplace, small half-kitchen with a 1950’s style fridge. The stairs led to a small room that held a bed, dresser, and a small bathroom. That was it. The house creaked and moaned under the new pressure of having a guest. When she came back down the stairs, she noticed a photo framed sitting on the kitchen counter. It was black and white, the townsfolk standing in a group of three rows. She focused and gasped, dropping the photo back to the countertop. In the middle of the first row, smiling like the rest of the town, was her. In the same outfit she had on.
Samantha burst from the door out into the blazing sun and took off down the street in the opposite direction of the town. The houses disappeared and she moved into empty grass hills that sloped and dipped in all directions. She moved to the top of one and looked for something, anything. Then she spotted something in the distance; she couldn’t tell what it was, but it was better than where she came. She took off down the grassy hill and ran as fast as she could. Up and down she sprinted, ran, jogged, walked, and finally crawled to what she had seen.
She reached it.
The it, was the drugstore, which sat on the corner of town, facing the fields. She slopped against the brick wall and sobbed. Soon a shadow blocked the sun from her, then another and another. She uncovered her eyes looking up in horror.
The town had surrounded her, smiling down, their faces fuzzy memories, scratched familiarity.
Welcoming her to town.
Welcoming her to a place she had always known and belonged to.
A place she had never left.
I heard the story of the backrooms level 200 and thought it would make an interesting story. I want to expand a bit and get to the decaying part of the town. I had a vision when reading abouxt it. Seeing things as they appear , but when actually looking at them you see the rot, the decay, like the town is constantly trying to distract you so that you never really see what it really is. Almost like a living creature. A defense mechanism where it feeds off your life force while trapping you in an illusion, until you wake up and become aware of what it really is. A bit like real life. Wake up, see the illusion.