John woke up that morning on May 24th an energetic and well rested man. At 52, John was as limber and strong as he had ever been; while most men his age had begun having chronic back or shoulder pain, John was about as healthy as a 35 year old, his motto that he often repeated was “Use it or lose it”. Getting out of bed he headed to his dark oak wardrobe and put on a white t-shirt with jeans covered by a blue flannel. It felt like a blue flannel kind of day.

Making his way downstairs he met his wife who had been preparing him breakfast, his favourite: oatmeal with blueberries. Sitting down with her, he would have a lengthy conversation about what their plans were for the weekend, maybe they would go out on a car ride, or maybe they would just relax at home and watch a movie. Soon though, John stood up to get ready to leave for work, his cat brushing past his leg on the way out, implying that it was about time it got a head scratch, which John was more than happy to provide. Heading outside and opening the door to his truck, he had a feeling he was forgetting something, but after checking his bag and realising he had all he needed, decided to ignore the feeling and left for work.

Waking up from a dreamless sleep, Vanessa felt even more tired than she had been the night before. Remembering her tendency to wake up late, she immediately rolled over to face her bedside clock, 8:08 AM glowed on the display and a wave of relief overcame her; she still had over an hour before class started. Taking her time to get out of bed, she eventually shuffled her way downstairs to the kitchen and lazily made herself a peanut butter and jam sandwich which she promptly devoured while watching videos on her phone.

Getting dressed and heading out, she got ready to run the directions through her head like usual. “Left on Sussex…. Left on Sussex” she thought to herself, however after some time she began noticing houses that normally came after her street. “... Did I miss it?” she thought to herself. Turning around she headed back to where Sussex should have been but found that it simply was not there. Vanessa stood there on the sidewalk in confusion, there was no way she could have missed an entire street, and she definitely went the right way after leaving her house. Was a house built without her realizing, or was she just going insane? Checking her phone for the time, she saw that it was 9:00 AM, only 15 minutes left until class started, she thought to herself, anxiety welling up inside of her, when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Looking up she was met with a tall chimpanzee dressed in a wonderful bright purple generals coat, with golden epaulettes, decorated in shining medallions declaring heroic feats in battles past.

“May I help you, my lady?” the monkey said at last

“Uh..” Vanessa stuttered, staring at the affront to reality that stood before her, a shocked expression on her face

“Prince Monkey, my lady.” said Prince Monkey, noticing her stunned gaze, “Pardon my intrusion. I noticed you looked quite lost.”

“Um.. Y-yeah I.. uh, I was just trying to get to school, but I couldn’t find the street I was supposed to be on” she said, alternating between staring at the anthropomorphic ape and the place where Surrey should have been.

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“Ah, yes, I see. Follow me, my lady.” he insisted, before strolling onto the nearest front lawn.

“Where are you going?” asked Vanessa, hesitantly taking steps to follow the Prince

“To take you to school,” he answered, continuing forward

As he kept walking, Vanessa saw that the houses facing him seemed to “step” out of the way, they bent, twisted and turned, defying their physical forms to allow the Prince to continue, followed closely by his consort. Together they walked through the neighbourhood as gods of their space. Vanessa noticed the newly painted red fire hydrant on the corner of Surrey, and pointed it out to Prince Monkey, indicating that needed to turn right. They travelled through the tight maze of houses that continued to contort in increasingly creative ways: lawns and driveways raised into archways, roofs kneeled down forming bridges over the properties they covered, and roads bent between houses that seemed to suck in their guts as they passed. Vanessa could partially make out people inside going about their business as if nothing was the matter. Occasionally she would look up at the Prince, who looked forward steadily as if commanding the obstacles in front of them to arrange themselves in ways that suited them best.

Eventually, they reached the street Vanessa’s school was on. As they stepped onto the sidewalk, the house behind them, which had just bent 90 degrees, bounced back into position like an elastic that had been stretched too far. Standing next to each other, the Prince whistled, and his multicolored horse arrived before them, this time a dark auburn.

“Thank you for helping me,” said Vanessa, a smile on her face

“It was my pleasure, my lady. If you’re ever again in a position where the world simply isn’t going your way, I will be at your side before long.” the Prince responded, before bowing and mounting his horse.

“Okay! Thank you again!” she cried, and soon after, Prince Monkey and his blue steed were galloping into the air.

Checking her phone one more time, she saw that it was 9:10 AM, and she hurried down to the front door and went to class.

Darkness. Or perhaps another word that hadn’t yet been thought of. Darkness describes the partial or total absence of light, indicating that it’s the product of a lack of another element. What word could possibly describe a space that had never known anything else, a space where there could be no lack of another element because there was only one to begin with? Darkness. In this space floated Dan, he didn’t remember ever arriving there, it was as if he had always been there and he only recently pulled back the curtains on the reality that obstructed it. An inordinate amount of time passed in the span of an infinitesimally small fraction of a second, he was surrounded by infinity, yet he felt somewhat claustrophobic.

Dan never questioned his current situation, he wasn’t even fully sure if he was capable of thought, or if he was simply participating in the collective consciousness of the void; an uncertainty he was perfectly comfortable with never having an answer for. He felt relieved of any and all stresses once imposed on him, and so instead of pondering the meaning of his current situation or lamenting the loss of the reality he was once so sure of, he floated. And so he floated for infinity, oblivious to the passage of time or space, an entity of the purgatory that consumed him.