That street over there

Account not found 

You know that feeling when something is not quite right? Well, that’s how I’m feeling right now. And to be honest, I’ve been feeling so every time me and my best friend walk past this little street on our way back to the train station. He doesn’t believe in this kind of stuff, yet we never remember to even glance that way when walking to his home. He thinks everything supernatural is hogwash, while I know the world beyond is very real. He laughs at me for knowing that there’s something eerie about that street. But how can we forget its existence every other time we walk past it.  

I know you’re laughing at me the same way my best friend does every time I bring up that street. But rest assured dear reader, this is very real. I have been going to my friend's place for years and years but only noticed that street about a year ago. There was nothing extraordinary in that day. It was late spring, maybe April, maybe May. We were walking to the train station just as streetlamps had begun to shine their light and I just happened to glance to my left. I didn’t say anything that time as I thought I had imagined it all. But after a while it began to bug me.  

What I keep seeing feels otherworldly. Like that street is a portal to another universe. I know that by now you are trying to at least suppress a giggle. But I solemnly swear, dear reader, that I am telling the truth. I will try to explain what I see. Though, even I sometimes doubt myself, as that parallel reality changes with the seasons according to our world – I think it’s trying to fool me. Alas, that street looks normal, yet like it doesn’t belong. It looks like those model pictures you see when they’re designing new neighborhoods or parks. Except, the people are missing. You know those still images of photoshopped children running after a ball, and adults walking hand-in-hand to their car, smiling so wide that it must hurt their faces. It looks like that, just without life. I have yet to see a single person there. I have yet to see a single window open with curtains flying out with a gust of wind or even the changing flashes of lights as a scene changes in a movie. I haven’t heard anything from there either. No dogs barking or children screaming as they get ready for their next big adventure. That street just sits there – empty and beautiful. Completely unfitting to the neighborhood which once was dubbed the most dangerous in the city.  

Every time we walk past that street, he tells me that next time we’ll venture up there, as we’re sure to remember on the way to his place. I’ve come to doubt this promise. And to fear it. I feel threatened by it, if I’m being completely honest. You cannot blame me for it. How would you feel if I told you I’d take you to a place where you might not return from? He seems reluctant to venture there in the evenings. At first, I thought it was because he thought I had to get home quickly. But on summer evenings, when the sun fails to set and the outside is welcoming, he just briskly walks me to the train. Maybe it’s because he has his dog with him. Does the dog’s presence make a difference? I must be overthinking this… there just simply is no way that alternate universes – or portals to them – would exist out in the open like that? Right? 

I asked him once if he had ever been there. He chuckled and told me stories of his kindergarten and elementary school along that street. “I did grow up here, you know.” I did know. But we pass an elementary school and a kindergarten on our way to his place. Those are on the real side. Also, if there were a kindergarten and an elementary school on that street, where are the kids? This is so frustrating; I know something is amiss here. There’s something, there must be something, he’s not telling me. But why would he not? We’re besties after all, we’ve never even fought. And his stories of his adventures on that street when he was a kid sound so real that they must be, right? 

Dear reader, I am going to his place again tomorrow. Place your bets, will we remember to explore the street on our way to his place? I’m placing an alarm this time; it’ll remind us in the train, so, we are sure to remember this time. I’ll be back with an update, rest assured.