I can't think straight anymore. My head is throbbing where I was hit, a deep, nauseating ache that seems to spread behind my eyes every time I take a step. There's a warm pressure near the side of my skull, and I don't want to touch it. I don't want to know how bad it is. Knowing would only give me one more thing to worry about. I just need to keep moving. Every time I try to concentrate, my thoughts break apart before I can hold onto them. Memories surface for a second and then disappear. Faces. Voices. The impact. Someone shouting. Then nothing. Just nothing. The sirens haven't stopped. They've been screaming somewhere in the distance for what feels like hours, rising and falling between the buildings. Sometimes they sound close enough that I instinctively turn around, expecting to see flashing lights at the end of the street. But there is never anyone there. No police. No ambulances. No firefighters. Just the sound. A warning with no one left to answer it. Something is wrong. Not wrong in the ordinary sense. Not a power outage, not a riot, not some accident that will eventually make sense once someone explains what happened. This is different. The entire city feels like it has been emptied out from the inside. The streets should be crowded at this time of day. There should be people arguing over nothing, cars clogging intersections, shops filled with noise, music leaking through open doors and creator's collabing. Instead, there are long stretches where I don't see anyone at all. And when I finally do... I wish I hadn't. They're smiling. That's the first thing I notice. They're smiling like they're having the best day of their lives even if there is black crud on them. Some of them are laughing. Some are standing in groups, talking quietly among themselves. Others are walking down the street with this strange, almost peaceful expression on their faces. None of them look frightened while their voice's glitch. None of them look confused. None of them seem to notice the sirens. some of people were smiling odd- Not a normal smile. Not the kind someone gives you when they're trying to be polite. It was too calm. Too deliberate. Like they forgotten what a real smile was supposed to look like and was copying one from memory. Then they said something about joy. I don't remember their exact words. Maybe I don't want to. they talked about it like it was something sacred. Something beautiful that had finally been given back to the world. they said everyone would understand soon. Then they laughed. I couldn't move. There was something horribly empty behind their eyes. It wasn't happiness. It was the absence of everything else. No fear. No anger. No grief. Nothing. Just that smile. I've seen people happy before. I've seen people laugh when they're scared, smile when they're trying not to cry, pretend everything is fine when it isn't. This wasn't that. This was different. It was as though whatever makes a person themselves had been scraped away, leaving only the pleasant parts behind. A face. A voice. A smile. And something else wearing all three. I don't understand it. I don't understand any of this. I don't even know how long I've been awake. Maybe minutes. Maybe hours. My sense of time has become meaningless. The sky looks wrong. The streets look wrong. Even the buildings feel unfamiliar, despite the fact that I know I've walked these streets hundreds of times. Everything feels slightly displaced. Like the world has been moved a few inches to the left while I wasn't looking. I keep trying to remember what happened before I was hit. There's something there. Something important. I know there is. But every time I reach for it, all I get is static. A flash of movement. A voice. Red. Tech. Then pain. Then darkness. That's all I have. I keep telling myself they'll be waiting at home. They have to be. Red will know what to do. I've even managed to put two thoughts together. At least, that's what I want to believe. Because if they're gone... I don't know what I'll do. I stop walking for a moment and look down the street. Nothing. A few abandoned cars sit crookedly along the road, doors hanging open. One has its headlights on, illuminating an empty patch of pavement. Another has been left in the middle of the intersection with the driver's door wide open. There are no bodies. Somehow, that makes it worse. If there were bodies, at least I'd understand.
Death has rules. This doesn't. I start walking again. Faster this time. My head protests with every step, but I force myself onward. The pain is almost useful. It reminds me that I'm still here. That I'm still capable of feeling something. I pass another group of people. They're laughing. One of them notices me. For a second, our eyes meet. The smile spreads across their face. I look away. I don't want them to speak to me. and i run. I don't want to hear about joy. Because that's the thought I can't get rid of. What if it happened to Red? What if it happened to Tech? What if I get home and they're standing there, waiting for me, smiling like everyone else? What if they look at me and tell me everything is fine? What if they say I've finally found joy? I don't know why, but that thought scares me more than anything else. I keep walking. The sirens continue behind me. Closer now. Or maybe I'm just imagining that. My breathing is getting heavier, and I can feel the pounding in my head with every heartbeat. I wipe my hand across my forehead and stare at the blood on my fingers. For some reason, I find myself relieved. Blood is real. Pain is real. Fear is real. Those things make sense. I would rather be terrified than feel whatever those people are feeling. At least fear means something is still inside me. I finally reach the road that leads home. I should feel relieved. I don't. If anything, the fear gets worse. The house is somewhere ahead. Red and Tech are somewhere ahead. And whatever has happened to this place might already be waiting for me there. I don't know who I can trust anymore. Not strangers. Not friends. Maybe not even myself. Every familiar face feels like a stranger wearing the right expression. Every laugh sounds rehearsed. Every smile feels like a warning. And the longer I walk, the harder it becomes to tell whether I'm actually seeing something wrong... Or whether my injured mind is simply trying to make sense of a world that has already stopped making sense. Maybe I'm the one who hasn't understood yet. Maybe everyone else knows something I don't. Maybe I'm the only one who hasn't changed. The thought makes my blood run cold. I don't know which possibility frightens me more. I reach the front of the house and stop. For a moment, I just stand there. The sirens are still screaming somewhere in the distance. The entire street is silent. Too silent. I stare at the door. I want to open it. I don't want to open it. But there's nowhere else left to go. So I take a breath, steady myself against the wall, and reach for the handle. I have to get inside. I have to find Red. I have to find Tech. And whatever is happening to everyone else... I need to know if it has happened to them. Because if it has... I don't think I'm ready to find out what they look like when they smile.
