[h2][center]MASC #2: Fear[/center][/h2] [center][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/179343-masc-2-fear-prompt-and-discussion]Prompt Thread[/url] | [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/179649-masc-2-fear-voting-and-critique]Voting Thread[/url][/center] Winner: Alone by [@Calle] [hider=Alone]Alone The temperature was just right, the sun gave off a pleasant warmth and a gentle breeze gave just enough cooling. The lawn of the picnic area looked like a soft green blanket, adorned with white daisies and yellow buttercups, and a few butterflies and bumblebees flew from flower to flower. It seemed like a perfect day for a picnic. Why wasn’t anyone here? One of the slings on the playground creaked as it gently swung back and forth, as if someone had just jumped off. Mike stood on the sidewalk and looked at the deserted playground. Aside from the creaking there wasn’t any sound. No cars driving, no birds singing. Nothing. He turned his back to the empty place and examined the row of houses. After looking left-right-left, although he wondered why he even bothered, he crossed the street. He peered through one of the windows and saw a table with two cups of coffee and two small plates with a slice of cake on them. It looked like a couple had drunk from the coffee and eaten from the cake, but he couldn’t see them. He went to the door and rang the doorbell, the shrill sound of it pierced the silence and he cringed. Even though the bell was loud enough, no-one came to answer the door. After waiting for a half a minute he rang again. And again. He turned around and went back to the sidewalk, rubbing his arms although he wasn’t cold. For a moment he stood there, looking at the area around him. How could no-one be here? He decided to go to the next house; the gravel under his feet crunched with every step he took and when he rang the doorbell a gently melody sounded on the other side. No-one came. Mike raked his fingers through his hair as he looked around. He couldn’t be the only one here. “Hello,” he called, “is anyone there?” His words sounded unnaturally loud in the silence around him, but after the sound disappeared the silence returned, seemingly more present than before he broke it. He went to the next door, and the next. Soon he ran over the sidewalk, trying to find someone, anyone. When he stopped he found himself in a shopping street, but no-one walked the cobblestone road. He went to the nearest store and peered inside through the open door. The lights were on and shop was filled with clothes of the latest fashion, but that was it. He pulled up his shoulders and wrapped his arms around him as he continued walking through the street. This place should be filled with people shopping, but it wasn’t. Only the mannequins stood in the windows, silently observing him. “Hello!” Mike called out again. The silence was deafening. His stomach felt as if it turned to stone and his nails dug in the flesh of his arms. He couldn’t be the only one here. He continued to walk, slowly making his way to the other end of the street, his shoulders hunched, but his eyes frantically moving from door to door, from window to window. At first he hummed to break the silence, but that didn’t help and soon he just walked in the overwhelming silence. He cast his eyes to the ground and shook his head. His heart was beating faster and he felt both warm and cold. “Come on,” he muttered to himself as he looked around him a final time, “I can’t be the only one here…” When he reached a bench he sat down, trying to keep his breathing calm. Slowly he lay down and covered his face with his hands. Maybe whoever took them would take him soon as well. He wouldn’t be alone for much longer… When he opened his eyes it was dark, and he was unpleasantly warm. He pushed the blanket away and looked around in the room until he noticed a digital alarm clock. He blinked a few times. “A dream…” he muttered, letting out a sigh of relief. “It was just a dream.” Somewhere in the distance he heard a car, a rare sound at this hour of the night, but a welcome one. He turned to one side, listening to the silence in his room. He turned to his other side. He turned on his back and looked to the ceiling, but soon he turned to his side again. Maybe it had been just a dream, but the loneliness he had experienced lingered. And while he knew he wasn’t alone anymore, the car he had heard was proof of that, he couldn’t shake the restlessness that had built up during the nightmare. He was still alone in his room. He closed his eyes, telling him to go to sleep, that his parents were sleeping in their bedroom, so he wasn’t alone. But he knew he was and he couldn’t convince himself otherwise. And he didn’t want to be alone. The silence wrapped around him like a blanket and he hugged himself. How he hated being alone. After a few more minutes of tossing and turning, he got up, grabbed his blanket and opened the door of his room. The house was dark, his parents were sleeping. He went to their room and opened the door. All he could hear was their calm breathing and he lingered in the doorway. After looking back to his room he went in as silent as he could, sat in the comfortable chair in the corner and wrapped himself in the blanket. It had to be a decade ago since he had last done this and he felt silly for doing it now that he was twenty, but knowing there were other people in the room made him relax. He soon fell asleep.[/hider]