A/N: Posted 1/10/2017, edited 1/11/2017 3:06 AM

~ * ~

"Miss? Hello? Are you okay?" I felt warm air on my skin and cautiously uncovered my face.

I was back in my own reality, and there was an elderly woman bending down next to me with a concerned expression. "You were screaming, sweetie, what happened?"

"Um, nothing," I responded, "I was just... having a nightmare. I'm fine now." I picked myself up off the cement, still shaking from nerves.

"Are you sure? You're covered in blood." I realized the lady was right: there was blood all over my hands, knees, and back.

"It's prop blood," I said hastily, "I just had theater practice. Thanks for the help, I have to go now." I took off in the other direction before she could say another word.

Dawn was breaking on the horizon, and I realized my parents would have some questions about why I was getting home so late. I was too tired to come up with a good excuse at the moment, so I just hoped I could get home before they woke up.

I crept through the back door around 5:30 AM, having practically dragged myself for the last half a mile. I collapsed into bed with a grateful sigh and fell asleep instantly.

~ * ~

The first thing I noticed when I awoke was the smell. I was filthy, covered in dirt and blood and sweat. When I took a shower, it felt as if I was washing away layers of negativity from my soul. I was still scared and concerned, but I no longer felt unfocused and bored with life.

It was 3:00 PM when I came downstairs, and the house was silent. I suspected my parents were out visiting friends or going grocery shopping. I walked into the living room to turn on the television and let out a loud scream.

The cup of coffee I had been holding shattered on the ground as I sank to my knees. Hanging from nooses on the ceiling were both of my parents, their dead skin pale with a blueish tint. They were hanging in the middle of the room, side by side, and it looked as though they had been interrupted during their daily activities. Their eye sockets were empty, someone clearly having carved their eyes out of their heads.

I was crying, trying to shake myself out of it so I could get some help. I had never been so shocked or horrified, and a million thoughts were running through my mind. Who did this? It couldn't have been a suicide, not with their eyes missing like that. I couldn't imagine who would want to hurt my parents or why, but then again parents always kept some secrets from their children. I grabbed my cell phone, fumbling with it and shakily punching in the numbers 9-1-1.

A recorded message played, telling me the number I had dialed was unavailable. That's when I had a realization: I had to be in the other reality, the one where the streets were abandoned, cell phone towers no longer in operation, and dispatchers almost definitely no longer around to help.

I sat down at the dirty kitchen table, still scared and shaking, and rested my head in my hands. I kept telling myself that those weren't really my parents, and that my own parents were still alive. It was going to be okay, I said to myself, everything in my own reality was fine.

I remembered seeing the eyeball in the shower the other day and realized that I now knew where it had come from. I was starting to piece together a picture of this new reality, but I still didn't understand what it was or what had happened. It looked almost like a post-apocalyptic nightmare on the streets, but the fresh bodies everywhere and gruesome murders like the ones in my own home were indication that there were still people around -- people with some very malicious intentions.

I was still shaking and trying to decide what to do when I heard the front door open. My parents walked into the kitchen, very much alive, talking and laughing. "Anita!" my father greeted me cheerfully, "We weren't sure if you were ever waking up."

I peered into the living room just to make sure the bodies were really gone -- and they were. I was back in my own world. The nightmare was over, for now.

"Very funny," I said, "I was out late at that concert last night."

"We figured," replied my mother, "Well, welcome back to reality."

~ * ~

The next day was gloomy, exhaustion hanging in the air like a blanket. The campus was mostly quiet, not that there was ever anything exciting happening on Mondays. I had had so many breaks from my usual reality that weekend, I was constantly on edge, waiting for something bad to happen.

Theresa found me around 10:00 AM, sitting outside on a stone wall and staring into the distance. She wore a white dress and her blond hair curled around her face like a halo. "You okay?" she asked, taking a seat next to me.

I shook my head. "I don't know. This semester has been hard for me, and I can't really put my finger on why."

"I noticed you've been acting different," she replied. "How do you feel today?"

I paused, biting my lip. "Weird. Tired, but also anxious. Lately it just feels like... I have no motivation, no real reason to do anything. I went on this date the other night, and he was so nice, but I just can't bring myself to care all that much about him. I don't know what to do."

"Have you considered seeing a therapist?" Theresa suggested.

I stared at her. "Seriously?"

"Damn, girl, don't act so surprised. 90% of American adults see a therapist at some point in their lives. It's totally normal. You just talk about how you're feeling and maybe they can help you." She hopped down gracefully from her perch. "The school offers counseling services for free. Just consider giving them a call."

~ * ~

Around noon, I was on my way to my second class of the day, passing through the massive auditorium in the center of campus. A glass ceiling arched above me, sunlight glinting off the polished linoleum floor.

I thought I saw vines creeping up the wall next to me, but when I turned my head they disappeared. Another figment of my imagination, that's all it was.

I made my way down a narrow hallway, lined with classroom doors on either side. I walked through the door to my class, open as always, and sat down as my usual table. It was routine at this point.

That was when I noticed there was no one else in the classroom. No professor, no students. A robin flitted through a broken window and landed on a table nearby. I suddenly grew concerned. Did the fire alarm go off without me noticing? Was the class cancelled and I just didn't get the memo?

I noticed a sheen of dust on the tables around me and alarm rose in my throat. This day had been going perfectly fine until now.

I swung my backpack over my shoulders and walked briskly back into the hallway. I suddenly became acutely aware of how sweltering it was inside the building, humidity making the air around me feel heavy on my skin.

Mist hung in the air around me, warm and wet to the touch. I could dimly see light on the other side, back out in the auditorium. Vines climbed up the walls on either side of me, adorned with deep pink flowers laced with yellow veins.

I emerged back into the familiar open space, and realized it had been turned into a greenhouse. Vines and trees sprouted at the far edges of the room, and countless flower pots lined the floor and draped from the walls and ceiling. Plants of every variety made the auditorium burst with color and life, so different from the rest of this world that I had seen.

"Hello?" called a voice, making me jump. I hadn't seen any living people since I had been here.

"Who's there?" I asked, unable to see much through the heavy mist.

A middle-aged woman emerged from the fog. She was tall and elegant, with long, greying hair tied up in a bun and a somber outfit. "I take care of these plants. Who are you?"

"Um." I wasn't sure how to respond. "I used to attend school here. What happened?"

The woman looked confused. "You don't know?"

"I've... been away," I said hastily.

"Hell of a time to come back," she stated. "It's all dead."

"What is?" I asked, part of me not really wanting to know the answer.

"All of it," she said absentmindedly, picking up a nearby watering can and tending to some of the plants around us. "The city, it died."

"Could you... maybe elaborate? I've been kind of out of the loop."

She looked up at me slowly, with a sad and distant expression. I got the impression her mind was somewhere else. "The government was trying to fight... something. They wouldn't tell us what, but they tried to use some new technology to strengthen the city, and..." She paused, not really wanting to continue.

"It went horribly wrong. They experimented on their own people, fifty cities across the country, exterminated."

"The government killed them?" I asked in a hushed whisper.

"Oh, no dear. They killed each other," she replied, stepping closer to me. "The people tore each other apart. Some of them mutated into giant, carnivorous beasts." I recalled the creatures I had seen in the city on Saturday night.

"So why are you still here?" I queried.

She shrugged. "Some of us were immune. Of course, most of them were torn apart by the ones who were susceptible." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Nobody knows I'm here. My codename is Delta, I keep the secrets."

"The... secrets?" I whispered back.

Delta nodded firmly. "Someone has to."

Before I could ask what secrets she might be keeping or if anyone else was left alive, I found myself back in the crowded auditorium I knew. I wasn't sure how much more of this I could take.