Fork

A fork in the road. A split in paths. If I go one way, I’ll always wonder what the other path held for me. What if I could go back? What if I could go a different route with my life? That’s what I did. I reversed time. I started from the beginning and I regret doing so because now I can’t fix it. The life I lived before is gone. At first everything was fine when I first went back. My family were together and my life was perfect.

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They sat side by side, coveted by darkness with only the lights from the screen shining on them. Their gazes were glued to the screen, to some rom-com I had no interest in seeing but went anyway. They were holding hands with a smile plastered on their faces. I couldn’t help but notice them. It was almost as if they were on a date and I was the third wheel. I quickly felt bad. I turned to the screen, trying to think of now and what the new future will hold. Yet I couldn’t shake the goose chills that seemed to form all on my arms and neck.

Something was wrong, something was wrong with the screen. Faces, their faces were distorted. Contorting into shapes before forming into a blur of what used to be eyes, noses, lips. They were formless, shapeless. No expressions on their faces. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. My breathe caught in my throat. The audience around me were also strange, yet frightening familiar. Their faces were also nothing more than a blur, a sick reminiscent of what used to be a human. They seemed to be staring at me, their faces shifted to my direction. I bolted from my seat, heading out into the lobby. Blank, Faceless people. The cashiers taking money from customers, the maintenance crew sweeping the persistently dirty floors, and the movie goers walking in and out of different auditoriums, all of them were the same. They, too , were staring at me. I was sure of it. I let out a small gasp before faintness overtook me.

(This short snippet caught me by surprise actually. I didn’t really expect the story to turn out like this. Please let me know what you think.)