After the hour passed, he was ready. He shrugged on his backpack and headed out, determined to convince a total stranger to let him use their car. It was the only hope he had. He opened the door and stepped outside, where he found a very cloudy day. It wasn’t hard to see, but it was unusually dark.

He walked down the road for a bit, ignoring the closest houses, when he saw a house in the distance that seemed different from the rest.

All his neighbors had similar houses for obvious reasons, but this house was smaller and…

Wait, that was his house. How did he get turned around? Oh well, he’d just need to go out again. He sighed and turned back to the road.

The sound of his quiet footsteps was all he could hear. They sounded strangely loud in the suffocating silence, and he barely resisted the urge to sing the loneliness away.

Wait, his neighbors can’t possibly hate him more. He can do literally whatever he wants. Of course, his dignity wasn’t going to stay for long, as his musical ability isn’t a skill to be envied, but when had he ever cared about that?

Never.

He sang loudly as he walked, paying attention to which direction he was walking. If he walked back to his house again, that would be embarrassing and waste time. He would try to avoid that, please and thank you!

Soon enough, he saw a house in the distance that stood out and immediately stopped singing. He ran towards it and… That was his house.

He had an excellent sense of direction! How was he being turned around? This was getting ridiculous, honestly. The car and now this? It was impossible, so he was determined to walk in a straight line and prove that he could leave.

He tried setting out again. And again. And again. He lost count after a while, but rest assured, he attempted too many times.

Hey, remind me. What’s the definition of insanity?

Eventually, he gave up. It wasn’t worth it. He even went to his neighbor’s houses, and none of them were home, despite all being there the day before.

Or three days before? Maybe they went on a collective vacation or something. That’d certainly be more likely than whatever was happening.

He went back inside to eat his lunch. It was better than sitting outside and being mad. He turned on one of the functioning lights in the kitchen and ate a sandwich defeatedly.