Rabbit Holes

Everything was filled with life. The dogs barked and the joggers were running to the beat of their own music, it was bliss. I was sitting there alone in my favorite park as usual, just watching everyone’s daily lives connect through what seemed like invisible guide lines of destiny. Like a spider web of connected lives.

Then in a blink it all stopped.

The sky grew dark and red and everyone disappeared. Every Frisbee that was thrown was hanging in midair, everything was placid and still. I stood up from my bench and searched the area for any sign that there was human life. Two dark, hunched figures started running towards me. I realized they were two very old, very wrinkly, men with shotguns. They stopped and aimed for my head. My first instinct: run home. Except I couldn't find home. The street signs were all scratched out and it felt as though everything I saw was getting blurry. Nothing made sense anymore, this must be a dream, it has to be! The maniacs that were chasing me were nowhere to be found. I woke up in what seemed to be my grandmothers kitchen. Now I knew this was a dream, my grandmothers house was foreclosed and left to decay. But here I was as if I was ten years old again facing the kitchen sink. I felt something hard and heavy in my hand: a gun, revolver something I think. My ears were pierced with a loud and booming sound that made me deaf for a few seconds. I realized someone shot at me and turned around. The two old crazies were there aiming their shotguns at me. I knew what I had to do then. Shoot them already I thought. So I did, I ended not one, but two people’s lives. I ran out the red stained door and hopped the wooden fence. I finally found my house. But it wasn't my house, it was different. I recognized it but it was as if I was seeing an old friend whose name I couldn't remember. I turned the knob and went inside this stranger. My father was sitting in a solitary red bean bag chair. He looked old and weathered, what had happened to him? It was as if twenty years had passed in his body but I still recognized that old smile. He had one of those smiles that reassured you that there wasn't any evil in the world, even if it was nothing but evil. He stood up and for a minute I wanted to help him, but he was too proud for that. He ushered me to sit in the lumpy chair. I slumped down to ground level and looked at him with weary eyes. “Everything will be alright” he said with a gruff voice.

I woke up.