Better Live - A Short Story
She was no fool, but this couldn’t be real. The car rolled to a stop as she tried to clear her mind. Hadn’t she just been at the grocery store? Bread, milk, and a bag of those mini candy bars… yes. She had just been at the store. And, yet here she was.
She shakes her head, she doesn’t know why but she remembers seeing people do it on television when things were out of whack. She looks around to try and figure out just where she is. Trees, the road, a fence off to the side. But, this isn’t real. There are no trees, hills, pastures anywhere near the grocery store.
She steps out of the car, and things just seem different. The sounds are different, it smells different. “What the hell…” She says under her breath. She hears something in the bushes and jumps back into her car. A shudder runs through her body that reaches all the way to her toes. She starts the car and drives down the road. That’s when she sees the sign.
WELCOME TO ALABAMA!
“Alabama!?! How the hell did I get here!?!?” she screams. She’s shaking now. Violently. Was she dead? Was her life passing before her eyes? She’d never been to Alabama, she’d never been south of Kansas! If this is Alabama, she must be 2000 miles from home. And, that’s not possible.
“This isn’t happening… this isn’t happening…” she repeats over and over.
For three days she drives. Trying to make her way home. As she finally sees the familiar skyline, the welcoming sign of the town she’s known all her life, the reality of what just happened becomes all too real.
She drives to where her house is…. supposed to be. But, it’s not. It’s the wrong neighborhood. She’s confused and begins crying. She goes back to town, and then works her way back to her house. It isn’t there.
She stops at the grocery store she visited 3 days ago, and calls her house.
A recorded voice answers, “The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”
“The hell it is!” She yells in frustration.
“The life you left has been given to someone who will do something with it. Please make a note of it.”
She hangs up the phone slowly. Very slowly. And stares at the Alabama State Liquor Store she stands in front of.
She shakes her head, she doesn’t know why but she remembers seeing people do it on television when things were out of whack. She looks around to try and figure out just where she is. Trees, the road, a fence off to the side. But, this isn’t real. There are no trees, hills, pastures anywhere near the grocery store.
She steps out of the car, and things just seem different. The sounds are different, it smells different. “What the hell…” She says under her breath. She hears something in the bushes and jumps back into her car. A shudder runs through her body that reaches all the way to her toes. She starts the car and drives down the road. That’s when she sees the sign.
WELCOME TO ALABAMA!
“Alabama!?! How the hell did I get here!?!?” she screams. She’s shaking now. Violently. Was she dead? Was her life passing before her eyes? She’d never been to Alabama, she’d never been south of Kansas! If this is Alabama, she must be 2000 miles from home. And, that’s not possible.
“This isn’t happening… this isn’t happening…” she repeats over and over.
For three days she drives. Trying to make her way home. As she finally sees the familiar skyline, the welcoming sign of the town she’s known all her life, the reality of what just happened becomes all too real.
She drives to where her house is…. supposed to be. But, it’s not. It’s the wrong neighborhood. She’s confused and begins crying. She goes back to town, and then works her way back to her house. It isn’t there.
She stops at the grocery store she visited 3 days ago, and calls her house.
A recorded voice answers, “The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”
“The hell it is!” She yells in frustration.
“The life you left has been given to someone who will do something with it. Please make a note of it.”
She hangs up the phone slowly. Very slowly. And stares at the Alabama State Liquor Store she stands in front of.