This is MADNESS!!...

Hey guys, hope everyone had a great 4th! Today I've got a special treat for you all... It's STORY TIME!

So yeah, I wrote this short story a while back that was inspired by a song written by Gary Jules, you have probably heard it before, it's called "Mad World." Anyways, I wrote this story and I don't want to give too much away right now, but I will say it's a mystery/thriller (kind of Twilight Zone-ish) tale, so if you are easily spooked you may want to send this link to your mommy and let her tell you about it! Haha.. I joke, I joke.. Without further a due, this is Mad World. Hope you enjoy.

--(Part 1)

This is the story of Eric Winters and the events that eventually lead him to discovering the dark truth about civilization. Upon reaching a destination of thought, he will unknowingly become forever trapped in a place filled with one of two cognitive realms of existence, pure insanity or absolute freedom.

Eric Winters was your everyday elementary school math teacher; he had a wife named Josie, two kids named Adam and Samantha, and a golden retriever named Butterscotch. He woke up every day at 4:30 am to make the finishing touches on his lessons for his classes. Next he would get the kids ready at 5:30, and by 6 am breakfasts was already steaming and prepared. Josie loved to cook, which always made Eric feel like the luckiest man alive.

One morning as Eric was preparing his lessons he had a weird feeling, as if he shouldn't go to class this day. He quickly dismissed this feeling as ridiculous because his duties as a teacher must always come first. All of a sudden he hears a loud BOOM outside, almost as if the moon suddenly decided to belly flop down into the earth’s atmosphere. He barreled up the stairs to check on the kids only to notice that they were sleeping soundly as if nothing happened at all. Thoroughly shaken by the noise he rushed to his closet and yanked out his 1978 autographed Louisville Slugger and bolted to the front door.

Upon opening the door there was nothing to greet him more menacing than the early morning birds chirping away as usual. This was the disturbingly odd welcome to the most mind bending day of his life.

(Part 1 end)

(Part 2)

After the morning's strange occurrence there was nothing Eric could do to help shake the feeling that something was wrong. Classes went on as usual and students were just as eager as always, to learn where to place all those pesky zero’s and finding out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop.

Finally after grading the seventy-fifth math quiz, he was ready to pack up and head home. On the way to his 2005 Honda Accord he spotted an oddly proportioned man heading in his direction, tall, long arms, a broad chin, with cold eyes that melted the very core of his being. Eric’s first instinct was to run but for some reason he wanted to see what this bewildering creature of a man wanted.

“Eric Winters?!” the man shouted from about five feet away, “How do you know my name?” Eric stuttered as he replied. “We don’t have time for introductions, follow me if you want to live,” said the man, Eric clinched his brief case and was prepared to strike the man with it, just as he heard another loud BOOM go off in the distance. “What on earth is going on,” Eric shouted at the man! “No time to explain” said the man, “just follow me, they know you can hear it!”

Dropping his school supplies Eric walked towards the man, just seconds as he stepped away from his Honda Accord, it exploded into larges flames that could only be imagined by the most sinister, yet clever pyrotechnician. “Oh God Help me!” shouted Eric as he jolted behind the man down the street.

Just as Eric was about to run completely out of breath the man stopped and led him into a fence covered with Ivy and towards a house that would have almost seemed abandoned if it weren't for the lights shining through the windows. Just as he entered the home and slammed the door behind him it hit Eric like a ton of bricks, “My wife, and my kids! I have to go back for them!” The man looked into Eric’s eyes with his cold and haunting gaze and said “They only want you; your family is not in danger. I brought you here to let you know the truth. The sounds that you have been hearing are the transmitters implanted into your mind by the "dark cloud" suppressing your knowledge of what is really happening here on earth. If their hold on you was to break it could mean the end of their power as they know it. The reason I know this is because I broke free two years ago. It didn't make sense to me either but I understand everything now!” Eric looked at the guy with a puzzled face and said, “Wow you’re insane, this must be some kind of a mad house!” The creepy man pulled him close and yelled into his face “No it’s a mad world! They're all mad! If you don’t believe me it’s because the final transmitter hasn't broken yet, but once it does you will see the truth!” BOOM, and as the dimly lit room spins Eric falls to the ground.

(Part 2 end)

(Part 3 conclusion)

            *Buzz buzz* It’s 4am and the alarm is going off, Eric jumps up out of his bed only to find that Josie is laying there in her nightgown and Butterscotch is looking up at him as if he were a ghost. Eric runs to the bathroom mirror and washes his face. He hurries down stairs and turns on the TV and for some reason no matter which channel he turns to they all have the same multi-colored patterns flashing on the screen. “What is this, I know I paid the cable bill!” he yelled and tossed the remote into the wall breaking it. Josie stumbles down the stairs and asked him “Honey are you ok?” He notices that her pupils are dilated shockingly larger than normal, he screams and runs out of the front door with nothing on but his boxers. He hurried to his next door neighbors home and nearly banged in their front door, his good friend Ted opens the door with his pistol hidden on the side and mumbles “Eric its 4:30 in the morning, what’s wrong?” Eric looked into his eyes and they are also dilated to a shockingly large size, “No this must be a dream,” Eric yelled as he ran to the only place he could think that might bring him some answers, the ivy covered house with the stranger from his dream.

            After miles of running he finally made it to the home only to find that the door is cracked open, he pushes it in and there lies the man on the ground with a bullet in his head. As Eric tries to turn out of the door he is tackled to the ground by a hefty police officer.

Five months later**

“Mr. Eric Winters you are charged with first degree murder of Andrew Cane, how do you plead?”

As Eric looks up around the room in handcuffs at all the people staring at him, with sadness and regret, he sighs and begins to eerily sing a song that started with these words, “All around me are familiar faces…”

(The End)--

That's all folks! Hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to respond! I'm also including a link to the original song at the bottom because I believe it ties the whole experience together. If you'd like to check it out give it a listen! 

Until next time, Adios!