Reset

When he reached the top of the small grade, something wasn’t right. Was he hallucinating again?

The entire yard around his house had been made into some sort of farm. It wasn’t overgrown at all. The fields of green were organized and there was a new barn erected off in the distance.

Either he was imagining it or someone had purchased his home after they told his wife he had died.

The house was in remarkable shape. Clean and not worn. When he saw it, he knew, he had slipped from lucidity into his own world, because his home was nothing like he had seen.

Even the city of Denver was barren and in some places burnt.

Not his home and not his property. They were blessed and unscathed. Malcolm stopped the buggy and with wobbling legs stepped out.

Immediately, he cried and dropped to his knees.

He made it.

After taking an emotional moment, he stammered to a stand, walked up the three steps to the porch and opened the screen door.

He expected his wife to run to him. After all, he was in a dream.

The inside of the house, though clean, was different. There was very little furniture and it had a burning smell to it. He walked through the ranch home’s entry hall and into the family room.

The old green couch was still there. That and a sofa table were the only furnishings. Pictures in frames spread out on the table.

Malcolm took a single step toward them.

“Can I help you?” The male voice called out.

“I’m sorry,” Malcolm said weakly and turned around.

A man stood there. He wore a tee shirt and jeans, was sweaty and had a glaze of dirt on him as if he had been outside working. His hair was thick and wavy. He was older than Malcolm, maybe pushing fifty. He held a bat, almost as if he was prepared to use it as a weapon against the intruder.

“I didn’t mean to intrude,” Malcolm said. “I used to live here and…”

“Oh my God,” he dropped the bat and ran to Malcolm. “Dad.”

THIRTY – Answers

Jason didn’t need the time he claimed he did. In fact as soon as the battery showed enough charge, they left and headed to Cleveland.

They talked about returning to his home. It was a good option to settle. It was already prepared for a non-electrical world and it did have the well water.

Cleveland was closed. Just the same as nearly every city they passed. Borders set up, barricades keeping people out and in. While it wasn’t fenced in, Cleveland resembled Nashville. A city submerged in a new forest. The big difference was there weren’t any cars. No sea of traffic at the city’s exit ramps.

To Nora, it looked abandoned.

One thing was for sure, they couldn’t drive through. Nora took them, as close as she could to her home, and after hiding the buggy, they walked.

It was hard to find a point of direction, a recognizable landmark to follow. The moisture and humidity from the lake caused everything to be covered in moss.

After making it to her neighborhood, Nora was able to gauge where to go. Some of the small buildings and shops had crumbled. Some had trees that had taken over and grown straight through them.

She found it hard to breathe. Even though Nora convinced herself that she wouldn’t find her family, it still crushed her when she arrived at her home.

It, like the others, looked like an old shed abandoned in the woods. The roof had partially collapsed, the windows broken.

Her shoulders dropped and she looked at Jason. “Told you they wouldn’t be home.”

“We need to go inside,” he said. “We need to see.”

“They aren’t there.”

“Maybe there’s a clue. Nora, we have to. You have to.”

She wanted to say, ‘No, I have seen enough.’ But she didn’t. She took a few steps toward the house and stopped. “Can you go in first? I don’t want to see remains.”

“Absolutely.” Jason grabbed his flashlight. Even though it was day, the wooded area was dim as he walked to the house.

He couldn’t get the door open and he climbed through the first floor window. After a few moments, he emerged from the side. “Come around back. It’s fine.”

Nora thought there was no way it was fine. What possibly could remain at the house?

Apprehensively and with some fear, she went inside. As soon as she stepped through the side door, she knew, her husband hadn’t sold the home; in fact, the house was empty not long after she had presumably died.

The furniture was the same. Every piece was moss covered. The light green substance grew on the walls and every surface. Going upstairs wasn’t an option, it just wasn’t safe with the roof collapsing.

When she walked into the living room, a mouse scurried across the floor and ran into the couch which was full of holes.

“If I knew you were coming, I would have cleaned up,” she joked halfheartedly.

Jason gave her a closed mouth smile. “Where did you keep things? Pictures? Papers? Anything that could possibly tell us what happened to your family.”

“In the kitchen, the junk drawer. Upstairs in my room. The pictures…” She looked around. “The pictures are gone.”

“Are you sure?” Jason asked.