The Hollow Street

At first, I thought something was off when my two next-door neighbours, Sarah and Bill McHon, an old married couple, were not bickering about nonsense as usual.  They normally wake me up with their arguing, but today, they were silent.  My first thought was that something terrible had happened, but when I walked out of my house; to my astonishment; I saw them sitting on their porch.  The weird thing that tickled me the most, was that they were both just sitting there and smiling.  I mean like sitting dead still!  They made no movements, not even when they breathed. I wanted to go closer and check on them, but I was already late for work and anyway, I didn't care much about them.  On my way I saw the rest of my neighbours also sitting on their porches smiling, just like the McHon's.  At that stage I didn't give it much thought, it was a nice day out, so I just guessed that they all just wanted to get some fresh air. 

To give some context, my workplace is an hour’s drive from my neighbourhood.  Normally I drive the shortest route which is full of weird turns and narrow streets; which takes me about 45 minutes; so, imagine my surprise when I drove for 2 hours and still didn't reach my workplace.  I tried to retrace my steps, but when I drove back, all the streets were different.  Everything had changed.  The sidewalks were filled with people smiling exaggeratingly wide, it was as if their mouths would tear if they smiled any wider. I really started to get creeped out at this point, not realizing that this was just the beginning of a long tormenting day.  The shops all had generic names, like "Washing store" and "Grocery Market".  They were also painted in the weirdest colours, for example the Grocery Market was painted a bright pink and the Washing Store in a shocking yellow colour.  It gave me the impression that a child had coloured it in.  Maby I was dreaming and would wake up with everything being as it should.  I even pinched myself to be sure, but nope, this was all real.  I thought all these weird occurrences would stop when I entered back into the suburbia, but what awaited me was worse than what I experienced in the city 

In the neighbourhood, everyone was lined up doing their gardens.  Methodically, each one of them reached down and picked up some weeds, watered their plants and lastly, they all picked one flower.  And if I say there were a lot of houses, believe me, there were a lot. As far as my eyes could see I saw only these pink, green, heck even light blue houses with people in their gardens.  In the distance my house stood out like a safe outpost in a warzone.  It looked as it should.  I drove to my house as fast as I could, rushed inside and dove into my bed.  There is an explanation, I kept telling myself, I just need to sleep, and it will all go away.  Well, come the next day and everything was still the same weird as the day before, I decided to carefully step outside to see what else had changed. When I went outside, all my "neighbours" sat on their porches silently smiling while not making any movements, just like the McHons the day before. When the ones right across from my house saw me, they only looked at me with a smile plastered on their face and eyes that never seemed to close and say, "Hiya neighbour!  Hope you have a spectacular day!"  Every word they said sounded mechanical, almost like it's a prompt that they are forced to read with no emotions. Of course, I didn't respond. 

I decided to spy on them all day from the safety of my own house, and here are the things I have noticed so far: They first do their gardens in the mornings like I witnessed yesterday, then they go inside with the flower they took from their garden.  For about 3 or so hours they stay inside their houses, doing heavens know what and at noon they come outside and sit on their porches.  Around three they go to their other "neighbours" and talk to them in a type of murmur, and finally they go inside at 4 in the afternoon and stay inside until the next day.  I struggled to sleep that night, as my mind raced with questions like 'will I ever escape' and 'who or what those things are that live across from me?' 

When morning finally came, I decided to investigate one of their houses.  I chose a purple house 5 houses down from mine.  Every house I passed had someone in their garden there waving at me and saying the famous line that is by now seared into my brain, "Hiya neighbour!  Hope you have a spectacular day!"  And no matter what I respond with, a thank you or obscene profanities, they always respond with: "Goodbye!"   Anyways, when I reached the purple house (and yes, the entire house is purple, from the roof to the door) I entered, because I didn't see the thing that lived here close by.  The moment I entered the house I smelled something l that can only be described as a smell of moist carpet that had been miffing for ages.  I almost gagged from the smell but decided to go further inside.  The house looked like one you would find in a child's doll house.  A small kitchen, lounge and a nice table were all on the first floor. When I stepped forward and touched the one couch in the lounge, it felt like a clay-type substance.  I squished the couch, and a piece broke off just like clay.  As I was still processing this discovery, I forgot to keep track of time and one of the entities walked into the lounge.  I leaped behind the couch in the corner of the room, hoping it wouldn't see me. I stayed there for what seemed an eternity as the thing went and sat on the clay couch.  It never blinked, breathed or moved.  It just sat and stared ahead.   Out of the corner of my eye I saw a bundle of dead decrepit flowers, at the very least 20.  I was so afraid that at first, I wished that I wouldn't die and after a while I wished that I would.  Outside I heard a sound that startled me, a murmur of sorts.  I jumped from the fright, thinking that this was my end, but the entity sitting on the couch didn't even react.  Scared but determined to get out of this hellhole, I slowly stood up, with the entity in front of me just sitting and smiling. Slowly but surely, I made my way out of the house as I heard a familiar sounding goodbye echoing from inside the house.

After rushing home and climbing into my safe haven - my bed - I decided to type and post this in the hope that someone else who hasn't disappeared yet can read this and help me. If you are reading this, please help. I live at 22 Artmund street in Staten Island. I don't know what happened, if it is a virus, aliens taking over or a crazed god playing a sadistic trick with me. But please, if you see your neighbours being more cheerful than usual, run and never look back, because it may just save your life.                                                       

                                         This is an image of how my neighborhood now looks.