I was eating a large burger at a park bench, because I couldn’t find it in myself to fix some other food at home. Nobody was out today, leaving me in an unusual quiet peace. But I guess I could only enjoy myself for so long, since an aggravating stomach cramp decided to thrust itself on me, making me have to stop when I was barely even done. All I could do was groan and decide to go for a small walk in hopes of my stomach ache slowing down or maybe even going away. I really didn’t want to pack up and head home already. I wrapped my half-eaten burger back in the package, and was ready to dispose of it as I passed a trash can, but I decided to just save it for later. Maybe I’d find somewhere else to finish it.

Today was more still than usual for some reason, no cars flying down the road, no strong winds, and not many people, as before. Grey clusters of clouds moved slowly behind me as I walked down the choppy sidewalk, like they were following behind to accompany me. I brushed some strands of hair away so I could actually see in front of me, then slipped my hands into my pockets. One hand found a loose thread to twirl around, and the other held my phone to make sure it didn’t fall. The blisters on my fingertips fired a thin sting from each spin of the thread while I watched my red sneakers’ steps. There wasn’t much to look at that was more interesting than the concrete, unless you consider lamp posts particularly exciting.

I was about to turn around after walking for a short amount of time, since it didn’t seem that my stomach felt any better from doing this, but a small stream flowing aside a mossy sidewalk came up at my final few steps. It made me stop from how random it was, not before I stepped in a puddle and soaked the bottom of my shoes.  The water turned around the curve of the sidewalk, progressing to its next destination down the horizontal street, however far ahead it was. A small toad bounced across the stream, stopping on a brown mushroom.

The walk had been entirely barren, for the most part, so the sight persuaded me to lift my head. I had stopped in front of some sort of abandoned town. There wasn’t much noise here either, besides the ambient crying of frogs, cicadas or other bugs. A small blue butterfly spun around me a few times and then away to a small house across from me. Some of the brick buildings that appeared to be from years upon years ago had deteriorated to futility and were overrun by nature, the interior of a lot of them being easily visible. Being able to see inside some of these forgotten houses and shops was strange, and it was like the foliage growing all over it was trying to stop you from stealing a look. Colorful green mosses, ferns and vines of various kinds decorated the town. Despite the fact that it was a cold winter month, the trees bore thousands of leaves over here. Yellow and orange daffodils or lilies veiled the road, sidewalk and forest. Instead of tired, grey clouds filling a monotonous sky and casting shadows all across the scenery, the sun illuminated the skies as far as I could see, painting the small rivers and greenery in vibrant, golden cascades of sunlight. The clouds were teeming to the brim from the radiance, like cotton blazing from an airy fire. Even the greyest forms of rocks and stones looked delighted to be in the sun. 

What stuck out to me the most, though, was the abundance of lively, crystal-clear streams, spilling throughout the entire area. Water pooled into some small ponds, flowed down each of the roads and throughout houses, or continued into the deep woods. It was like that was what was holding the plants and man made civilization close together. It wasn’t possible to see where some of them started and ended, as they continued as far as they wanted to go. The streams were so transparent and pure, completely unaffected by any dirt or muck that should’ve built up over time.

But after I had stood there long enough that the vines snaking all around the area might as well have grown around my legs, the brilliant shock of the scene trailed off into the back of my mind, degrading back to receding colors of grey and brown. While I decided what should be my next move, I stared down at the immaculate water for answers. I kind of wanted to see what would happen if I chugged it.

I kneeled down to observe the peculiar quality of it, waiting to see if my brain wasn’t fucking with me. As I cupped the cool water in my hands to taste it, I almost reeled away as I saw the tears and injuries on my hands- but that didn’t stop me for long, and I tipped it into my mouth. A light chill spread through me, like a rushing waterfall, leaving a crisp, refreshing feeling throughout my fucked-up system. It tasted just as crystalline as it seemed, really, but I was a bit bummed that it didn’t have some sort of epic magical healing properties. Or result in something interesting, at least. Perhaps I’d just ingested an unhealthy amount of lead. I guess there’s no way to figure it out without waiting.

I figured I’d been drinking mysterious substances long enough when the kneeling position I’d forced myself into started to leave a really nice pull in my knees. I rose back up on shaky legs, not without almost stumbling backwards. Deciding to undo whatever the water just did by finishing the garbage I was eating earlier, I scanned the lush area for somewhere to relax. There were a lot of places that seemed fine, but I saw a giant oak tree that loomed over the inside of a certain house, protecting it from the outside world. I walked my way over to it against the path of one of the currents, trying to ignore the fact that my socks and shoes were becoming soggy, and peeked inside the house on the cracked steps. There was a small hill holding the tree in the corner, the leaves of the tree breaking and scattering light into fragments that brightened the flowers and long, waving grass. There was water pooling inside of here, but it didn’t even reach my knees as I waded through it.

I plopped down right under the tree, and leaned my head back against it. The wrapper of my sandwich crinkled as I pulled it out of my pocket and took a big bite from my burger. It tasted just like chewy plastic. Or at least what I imagined that to taste like.

It was pretty awkward to sit in such a dramatic scene while I littered crumbs all over myself with my poor eating etiquette. I hoped some innocent animal didn't decide to take a bite of the crumbs once I left, because that poor guy is long gone.

I licked the remaining flavor off of my fingers and gave a humble sigh, while brushing oily strands of hair away from my lips. I shoved the empty wrappers back into the bag, and traded it for my cigarette and lighter. A swift drag of my cigarette gave me enough relief that I wasn’t going to break out into a sweat once I got up to walk again… later. I slumped back further down the rough bark of the tree, holding the cigarette between my lips. I couldn’t think of anything that interesting, so I just stared at the assortment of leaves and branches above me with pretty much zero thoughts. 

A sudden boom from way above jabbed my ears, making my grip slip and letting the lighter flop straight to the ground. It was thunder, apparently. It came so suddenly, there was no way I could’ve expected it. Nor would I have expected it to be so damn loud either.

But instead of dark clouds grouping together over the space I sat, the shining sky stayed as open and inviting as before. Raindrops started to pour from above, casting hundreds upon hundreds of falling bits of light. Only a few drops fell on me, since the tree saved me from getting drenched by the sudden downpour. I was thankful to have gotten lucky enough to sit my ass down here instead of walking away earlier. The smoke of my cigarette was entirely extinguished somehow, even though it hadn’t even been touched. Guess whoever was up there really didn’t like me smoking.

Since I couldn’t just walk away now, I relaxed below the glistening leaves and closed my eyes to let all the parts of the environment soothe my senses. The scent of wet moss was thick in the air, and the clinking of the rain against the buildings was starting to sound… melodic, as if each drop were a different key on a piano. I wasn’t sure if I was just that exhausted or if there really was something up with the rain here. The sounds I was hearing made me think of a spring song- of the rainbows of sunshowers, the blossoming plants and flowers, the roaming, innocent animals coming out to play, of creeks and ponds melting to reveal shimmering ripples and reflections. I lifted my eyes to a pink blossom that sat beside me, its transparent petals giving off a pink luster in the light. The moist petals held a few drops on it, each undisturbed until another took its place by absorbing it. I touched one of the drops, letting it soak into my finger, and tore off one of the small, fragile petals to hold it up to the sun. Each vein and detailed color was pronounced, every little intricacy visible.

I held it to my chest and closed my eyes again, letting the rain play its tune for as long as I could lay. I didn’t have anywhere important to go, why interrupt it? I hadn’t really realized how tired I was, until now, when my eyes became much harder to pry open to gaze at the weirdly comforting spectacle going on around me. I let out a small yawn as I started to drift off for a quick nap. I’m not sure how long I fell asleep for, but it was the most peaceful I’d felt in a while.

The pianist soon ceased his song and the soothing ringing slowed to a stop, letting the rain hollow out to leave a few dim clouds. It took me a couple moments to adjust to the weather change. The shift was so sudden, like a slap to the face. While I tried to incur motivation to get up, I brushed my hand along some of the dripping grass and plucked a few blades off to mess with. I still didn’t want to get up, but it’s not like I could lay here forever. At least my stomach ache was gone. I wasn’t sure if the rain did something or I just wiped out for that long.

Letting out a small groan and dropping the grass from my hands, I finally sat up, tossing my hair back behind my shoulders. The heavenly gleam that once permeated through the air had dissipated. Everything was now replaced with a dejected grey skin. I blew out a disappointed breath of air and yanked myself up, a few leaves slipping off of me. The back of my hoodie was now drenched, which was awesome. I’d probably spent more than enough time getting high off the smell of wet grass. 

I wandered out of the once comforting house and got ready to get out of here, but another strange building caught my tired attention. I wasn’t sure how I hadn’t even noticed it before, but I guess I was too worried about drinking mysterious substances to care. It was definitely visible from the house, but it was obvious my brain had some awfully dumb priorities right now. The edifice was a bit threatening up close, looming over the whole region and ascending high into the clouds. 

It was like some sort of belltower combined with an office building that built the first 80% of it the way up, and was all the color of midnight. More vines and swaths of yellow or orange flowers spun around it, trying to saturate this black void of a structure. The glass windows merely trapped more darkness and refused to let in or reflect much light. At the top was a large bell, of course, but it was so high up that was all I could make out at the top. I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but it’s not like I had much to do if I went home, so the small flicker of curiosity got the better of me.

A bright green frog bounced across the stream alongside me as I walked, stopping on a leaf, or a mushroom, occasionally, but always returning to accompany me throughout. Sometimes a deer would turn its head for a curious look at what I was up to, but most of the animals that I could see just ignored me. At least it didn’t seem that I was bothering any wildlife. As soon as I made it to the long steps, the frog spun away from me and vanished, all in a couple leaps. I had to wonder why he ditched me here. Hopefully this place wasn’t… well, dangerous. To me, or frogs, in particular.

I yanked the rusty handle of the stiff doors to get them to budge, and with a few tugs, they finally jerked open, tearing some vines and stems from their resting place. I was a bit skeeved out considering that I might’ve been messing with the natural order of this place a little too much by tearing up some of the plants. I wouldn’t be surprised if I woke up tomorrow with some sort of curse. I’m not that superstitious or anything, but anything could happen, really. I was too lazy to turn around, though, so I dismissed any strange feelings I had. 

I creeped my way inside to the beginning level, which looked like an average office lobby that nature had overtaken the inside of. Some tables were turned over and some desks were stuck in awkward positions, but most of the office stuff didn’t seem to have been wrecked, just overtaken by plants.

A humid air weighed over me as I prodded around the room to find the steps, making the fact that I was wearing a black hoodie around an unfortunate decision. As I continued adjourning through, each level became incrementally more damaged and crowded with forest greenery. There were no noises of anything at all, only an eerie silence filling the musty, foggy rooms. Listening to my own breath and steps wasn’t enough to comfort me. Not that I wanted to hear anything else after going around here for a while, I might’ve just had a heart attack. A good gust of wind could already kill me, I didn’t need this in my life. I yearned for the light of the outside to give these rooms any sort of good illumination, but it insisted on only lingering in random, small areas.

The final level had lots of large windows of which the panes had shattered into millions of tiny pieces and scattered across the floor. One wrong move would result in a long fall to my death. Even more worrying, though, was the nature being so dense here that it swaddled chunks of the room in its grasp, leaving too many sections of the room in crawling, creeping darkness for comfort. Each leaf or fern that brushed against me made me worry more each second. For what, I didn’t know, but I sure didn’t want to get stuck or lost here. I was waiting to turn around the wrong way and see some guy’s corpse. I had to watch my every step to avoid getting entangled in any vines and getting stuck here for life. It took a good few minutes to locate the stairs to the final floor. Not sure how I could ever like the color green after this. Maybe that frog should’ve hung out with me, that would’ve made this all a little less disconcerting.