Morning Distress: Blind eyes

Asleep in the comfort of his bed, the weight of his body caused him to be devoured. His eyes twitch as he starts to dream, the wetness of a muscle and pain of a hard ragged surface emitting pressure. He shivers as he feels a breeze of intense heat causing him to open his eyes in fright. He quickly sits up in a cold sweat, panting heavily as tears start to swell up in his eyes. He gets off the bed and stares at it intensely, not daring to blink. No teeth trying to crush him, no tongue trying to taste, and no feeling of trying to be swallowed. Just a simple king-sized bed, no harm to him. He sighed in relief, it was just a dream. But to him, it felt a little too real, as if it was a bad sign. 

The man paused as he looked at the bed one more time. Frozen in place yet it was obvious he was trembling. He wanted to move but he couldn't. So afraid that his fight or flight response was inactive. He hesitated before slightly opening his mouth and whispering “I don't own a king-size bed..” he spun his head quickly to look behind. This isn't my home he thought as he looked around. There were dozens of beds, all of different sizes, styles, and designs. Even the display rooms containing the beds were different compared to his. This place was empty and dimly lit, the design of the space matched that of an IKEA. There were no people in the store from what he saw, seemingly closed. But then how did he get there? He thought to himself as he looked around. He tried to recall his memories before sleeping but..nothing. How is that possible? It's not that he can't remember how he got there, he can't remember a single thing. The man’s age, looks, profession, hobbies, and even his name were unknown to him. 

The man looked down at his body, wearing a blue dress shirt with the words IKEA sewed into the right side. On his left side was a nametag, the name Gregory sounded familiar so he assumed that was his name. He took a second to gather the information given to him. My name is Gregory, I most likely work at IKEA and fell asleep on the job. But is it possible that no one noticed him during the closing time? Perhaps, this place is huge after all. There are arrows hanging from the ceiling, on the walls, on the floors, and on signs telling you how to get out and how to get to your next destination. With his uniform smelling of sweat he decided it was best if he took it off and tugged at the uniform. But it wasn't coming off, it hurt to tug too hard. He looked closely at the uniform, it was attached to his skin as if it was his skin. Too much was going on at one time, he sat on the bed to take a breather but not even the bed wanted to give him a chance to calm down. After a few seconds, the bed started to move, like a wave massage. Gregory tried to get up in response but he was now attached to the bed. He looked around for a button or a remote to turn off the massage but nothing. He couldn't take this anymore, he was confused and scared. He closed his eyes tightly and wished that things could stop being weird and go back to normal, whatever weird and normal meant to Gregory. For all, he knows this could be normal. This might be his home, his memory loss could have made him forget his life in this store. He opened his eyes and suddenly he was at a restaurant in another part of the store. Sitting on a comfortable seat by a window, he felt it was the best spot to be in, without any reasoning or question.  Looking past his own reflection he noticed the color of the sky seemed off. Maybe this was the way the sky always looked. A crimson red blending beautifully with a slightly unsaturated coral orange and what appears to be an almost pitch black sun. Despite the sun's purpose of shining light, it didn't seem to help at all yet everything outside was well lit. It's..unusually eerie to say the least. 

Gregory gets up and dusts himself off, having enough of the mystery and confusion. “I'll just go outside and ask someone for help” he says to himself proudly, the loneliness obviously getting to him. As if the store heard him, the walls and floors started to deform. Moving in and out as if the walls were breathing. Small groans and sighs could be heard, coming from every direction yet Gregory felt there wasn't any noise at all like sound waves were being transmitted into his mind. Gregory fell back in shock and frantically shook, positioning himself in a defensive pose. “STOP! PLEASE JUST STOP!” Gregory yelled in a panic while covering his ears and closing his eyes. A minute later he felt the movement of the building and its noises stop. He opened his eyes once more and found himself this time in the Swedish food market. The only difference now was that there were people there. All of them were staring at Gregory with dead fish eyes, every single one of them. Gregory bit his lip, afraid that any sudden movement or sound would make them aggressive. The people started to whisper among themselves, getting louder and louder every sentence until Gregory could make out what they were saying. Hearing them brought a shiver up Gregory's spine, he felt like he needed to get out there. “Can he help find the plant section? I can't find my baby. I wonder if they have any more of this brand”, this would be pretty normal of an employee working at a store if it wasn't for the fact that there were no items on the shelves or in the fridges. The people had no carts, no baskets, and no items in their hands. It's difficult to even consider them people, with no individuality among them. Everyone had the same height, same voice,  same posture, and they all were undefined, blurry even. Whatever they actually want from me can't be good, Gregory thought as he slowly got up. He didn't want to risk any sudden moves startling these obscure individuals. He slowly backed away until “CLACK!” the sound of an empty can being pushed by Gregory’s feet, the small sound amplifying through the open space and echoing. The figure's eyes dilated and ran towards Gregory in an aggressive fashion. 

Gregory sprinted away, running for his dear life he tried to follow the signs towards the exit. After a while of running, he realized he was running in circles. Hopelessness was the only feeling Gregory felt right now. The figures did not show any signs of exhaustion but he was and there were no signs of him ever getting out of this place. Right when the figures were about to catch up, Gregory saw a glass door with a big sign above in red saying EXIT. Tears filled Gregory’s eyes as he used his last bit of energy to get to the door, pushing it open. Gregory cried and smiled as he step through, feeling the light and heat touch his body. The fresh air, the sunlight, the feeling of freedom, the burning sensation….Wait for what? Gregory, without even a chance to think, turned to ash. No warning, no explanation, no hesitation. His ashes lifted by the wind headed straight for the sky as if the sky was collecting its reward. His ashes joined the dark grey clouds in the sky, something Gregory failed to see before. 

( Another loss to the open world. Running away from the help and safety of darkness, from the obliviousness that was given for one's survival. The constant feeling of being lazy when trying to relax. The feeling of loneliness but fright of company. The change you try to make only to feel the pain of your spoils. The fright of the unknown and what you don’t understand. That is our world in my eyes, the reality is my illusion and this is what I see. )