r/shortscarystories
13 hr. ago
S_G_Woodhouse
I think I'm losing my head
I was driving home after a long day at work.
I blinked, and the next thing I knew, I was at home having dinner with my wife and 2 daughters.
"What's wrong honey" she asked me.
"I don't know. I just feel like I've forgotten something" I replied, confused.
Forgot something? It was much worse than that, I had no memory of going home.
I reassured her and spent the rest of the evening as normal, re-watching one of my favorite movies.
Eventually, I dozed off.
I dreamt strange things.
I saw myself, having a picnic with my parents. Except they weren't smiling and happy like I remembered them.
Instead, they were sitting on the picnic blanket, staring into space, their faces closed and expressionless.
No matter how much I shouted at them in my daze, I couldn't see any life left in them; it was as if they were there, without being there. Detached.
I woke up in my bed, alone.
I looked all over the house, but not only was my wife gone, so were my children.
My cell phone line was dead, no service.
I went outside to get my car and drive to work, thinking I'd try to call my wife a little later.
There was no one on the road but me.
It was as if the whole Earth had emptied out.
I'd dismissed my detachment last night, but I was seriously beginning to wonder if I was losing my mind.
I was lost.
I decided to go to my work to see if anyone was still in town, if a national evacuation drill was underway and could explain everything.
Once there, I rushed back into the building, hoping to find someone who could explain what was going on.
And when I opened the door, I was relieved to see that all my colleagues were there.
At last, I could find out what was going on.
I walked over to a colleague who over the years had become my best friend.
"Hey, what's going on? My family's disappeared and there's nobody left in town," I asked him.
He didn't answer.
I stepped forward to face him, and discovered to my horror that his face and expression were detached exactly the same as my parents' in my dream.
It couldn't be, was I trapped in a nightmare?
I tried to talk to everyone, but they were all in the same state.
My head hurt, my eyes hurt.
I saw lights, and sounds filled my ears even though there was nothing here.
Nothing alive.
My vision began to narrow.
Sounds began to blend together.
Blackness.
Emptiness.
And finally, words I didn't have time to understand came to me for the last time.
"The driver is dead, his head was torn off by the impact."