Chapter 2 An Unsettling Reality
286 Words
Two weeks had slipped by since my unexpected arrival in this odd realm.
Lily, with her unyielding determination, would pester me thrice daily until I obligingly returned her eyeballs to their rightful place. Only then would she relent.
I remembered how, on agreeing to return home with her the first time, she had casually taken me apart.
Yet, it seemed I was cursed, or blessed, with the ability to resurrect endlessly. Each demise was followed by awakening in familiar surroundings, though the agony and dread felt all too real.
In this peculiar land, everyone functioned like programmed characters, eternally stuck in a loop of mundane routines.
My arrival here was a mystery. One morning, I simply awoke, rooted in the inexplicable.
It defied any of the intricate mystery novels with their labyrinthine rules that I had known.
Upon first landing here, I scoured every inch of the house but unearthed no answers.
On the second day, a curious find appeared: a note tucked within my school desk.
Uncover the truth!
The bizarre twist?
The handwriting matched my own!
Yet, no trace of memory lingered of ever scribbling it.
Days of watching and waiting yielded nothing.
I exhaled, surrendering to the darkness behind my eyelids.
A young voice broke through the silence.
"Lena, Daddy's calling you for dinner."
I peeled my eyes open to see Emily, clutching her tattered doll, at my bed's end.
Emily was, arguably, the anchor of normalcy in this family. We shared our nightly rest in the same room.
She had recently turned six.
Within these walls, Dad assumed the role of in-home caregiver.
I had never glimpsed Mom. Dad claimed she was away, tied up on a business trip that seemed endless.
- Writer
