The Backwards Town

I have no idea how I got here. This place looks like my hometown, but something seems off. The weather is colder, the people act different, but it all looks the same, almost like an exact replica. Everything is in the same place, every street sign bears the same name. I make my way through the town, watching as people I know do things they wouldn’t normally do.

People who are usually nice are now hateful, deceitful shells of themselves that I once knew. There is nothing correct in this place, though it looks the same as it always has. The further I wonder through this seemingly alternate reality, the more I recognize things as different. Small things at first like buildings and houses with different paint, then, the differences grow larger, and stranger.

People whom I could have sworn had died are now up and walking around like nothing happened. Shops I thought were shut down are now open and ready for business. I finally make my way to my own street and proceed down it. The changes are somehow even more drastic here. Some of the neighboring houses are completely gone, but my house is still there.

Sure I don’t want to stick around, but I do want to know what the alternate me is like. I’m fairly nice and likeable in my own world so he can’t be that bad. I peer through the window only to find the house deserted. “Might as well make my way in. It’s technically my house anyway,” I thought. As I proceeded to make my way through the living room, I noticed that the usual pleasant vibe my house put off was replaced with a much colder, sinister one. I looked in all of the rooms, finding nothing of particular interest, except for the pots on the stove being left on, cooking some sort of stew.

It’s when I decided to look in the basement that things quickly took a turn. The first thing I noticed was a very rancid odor filling the air. It was dark so I turned on the light, a decision I’d soon regret. What I saw upon flipping the switch cannot be described. Bodies of animals and people chained to the water pipes above, each one skinned and gutted like wild animals. There were parts of all of them strewn about the room, and a large tub contained even more. That’s when it hit me, that was no normal stew, the me in this universe was cooking humans.

No sooner had I realized this, than did I hear somebody walk through the front door.