Beyond the fact that I never thought anything this illogical would ever happen in my whole existence, I was bestowed with a problem no human being has ever experienced before. I feel as though I should explain before I get into my story. My name is Sean Weathers. I'm a nobody 21 year old, brought up in a small Pennsylvania suburb with my 2 brothers and my parents. I'd always been a pretty big fan of video games and Football, my favorite football team being the Pittsburgh Steelers. I suppose I'd lived a pretty nice life before all of what I'm about to explain to you happened. So, let's begin.
I began my morning with a loud ringing noise coming from my left ear. I opened my left eye, trying to make myself aware of my surroundings. I was almost immediately blinded with the light coming from my window. I sighed, I'd forgotten to close my blinds the night before. I slowly lurched forward, opening my right eye. I viewed my room, a small humble little place. The walls where colored white, with a desk that held my PC, trophy case, and book case opposite my queen sized bed. I slowly moved my feet to the left of my bed, putting my hand on my alarm clock, and shutting it off to stop the incessant ringing noise. I picked up my phone to check the time, it was 8:30 AM. I heard the birds chirping outside and I knew that it was time for my day to begin.
"Hmm, Monday morning is always a pain." I said to myself in a somber voice. At the very least, I didn't have to go work today. I had called in sick the night before, as I'd come down with a killer cold on Friday that'd effected my weekend plans. I'd recovered in the morning, but still had the day off, and had nothing to do. I was at the very least happy that I could put some time into playing a bit of Counterstrike or reading before the big Football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Washington Redskins tonight. Anyways, after contemplating a few more minutes of sleep, I jumped out of bed and walked over to my mirror.
I looked at myself in the mirror, viewing myself. I was in boxers, my hair was a blondish-brown color, and very disheveled, obviously being effected by a bit of bed head. My skin was white, with freckles splotched all over my face. My eyes were a steel like blue color. I had always been quite skinny in the stocky frame of my body, only being 195 pounds to match my stature of 6'1. I took one last look at myself before opening my door and heading down the hallway to my bathroom. I opened up my bathroom door, and turned on the light. I walked in, took my boxers off, and hopped in the shower, mirroring my normal morning routine.
I turned on the shower, and felt the water hit my hands. Ah, a refreshing warm feeling resonated inside me. I happily jumped in and began lathering myself with Body Wash. I then moved onto my hair, treating it with Shampoo and Conditioner. I began humming a song to myself as I continued to briskly clean my body. I felt astounding as I hopped out of the shower.
"Hygeine is penultimate" I said to myself. I then picked up my towel that'd been sitting on a hanger near the shower waiting to be used. I cleaned the water off of myself, then put on my boxers again. I walked over to the counter and picked up my toothbrush, and my toothpaste. I put the toothpaste on my brush and began brushing with utmost care, motioning them around my teeth and gums. After this, I put some deodorant on so I smelt good, and happily walked out of my bathroom. I was content with my day to say the least as of now.
I walked back down the hallway to my room, and opened my closet. I decided then and there that today I was gonna go take a run. So, I put on some black sweatpants over my boxers and a T-shirt on my torso that was from the band Alt-J that had a Delta symbol adorned to it. I then put on my black Steelers Starter Jacket which came with a nifty hood that I could put up if it was raining or normally, if I felt like it. I lastly put on my glasses, which I have to fix a astigmatism that's affected me ever since I was born.
I walked to my kitchen, and opened up the pantry to pull out some "Cherrios" cereal.
I sighed.
"I guess it's Cherrios or nothing". I went over to my fridge and pulled out some milk. I then picked up a bowl and spoon from the counter that hadn't been used yet. Now that I had everything I needed, I walked over to my table and put everything down and made some cereal. I'll admit, I wasn't exactly the best cook of all time, so most of my days were either spent by me making some cereal or eating over at my parents who lived only 4 miles away from my apartment. I began to chuckle as I picked up my spoon, remembering the time I went over to their house at like 7:30 AM two weeks before hand and woke both of my parents up. I asked them both if I could have breakfast with them. To be honest, I don't they were anywhere near as amused as I was at this very moment.
I began to dive into my cereal, eating it while thinking about the day ahead of me and planning out a schedule before the football game. I decided it was about time for me to go out and buy some new food to stock my house which had hilariously enough, only had a bag of half-eaten bag of Salt & Vinegar Chips, a favorite of mine, three chocolate bars, a 12 pack of Coca-Cola, some bread, and some lunch meat. I also thought I might as well get a new charging pack for my I Phone so I could charge it while running and biking in the mornings. I don't how many times it'd died before hand while in the middle of listening to a song that I'd really liked. It ruined the whole entire mood for the rest of the run, making me quite bored as well as less active. I also thought about making a trip over to my parents house to ask if they needed help with anything, but then I remembered that my Mom and Dad had went camping on Sunday Night and hadn't planned to be back until Wednesday. I finished my cereal, and walked over to the counter to drop my bowl and spoon in the sink so I could clean it later. I put my milk and cereal back as well.
I began to open my apartment door, but then jumped backwards, remembering that I'd in fact forgotten my headset and I Phone on my counter in my bed room. I ran past my kitchen and down the hallway to my bedroom, retrieved my phone and headset, than walked back to my door. I opened up my phone with a swipe and went to my music section. I mulled over some albums before I finally found a song that suited my mood. And with that, I put my headphones on my ears, pushed play, put my phone in my pocket, pulled my hood and opened the door to my apartment. And with that I was off to run.
I began by running down the sidewalk to my street, turning into a cornfield and running on the side of the crops near the forest that bordered my apartment complex. I had ran this path many days beforehand. It was about 8 miles of nothing but me and my own thoughts. I pondered many questions, and enjoyed my loneliness throughout my run. I really felt as one. It was one of the few times in my day when I could let go of all my stresses and be myself. As I edged near the end of the corn field, I headed towards another corn field. After crossing this one, I turned back onto a street which would lead me back to my apartment complex. I entered and walked up my stairs, opened my door, and laid down on my couch in my living room next to my kitchen. I sighed and checked the time on my phone, 10:45. I pulled out my headphones.
I decided now I'd go out and pick up the stuff I needed. So I picked up my car keys and walked outside to my 1996 Chevy Silverado. Even though it was outdated about 20 years, it still worked for everything that I used it for. It also was my first car. I'd gotten it when I was 18 as a birthday present from my Parents. I have to admit, it was a gas guzzler though. I didn't drive very much because of this. I simply couldn't afford it. But anyways, I hopped in my truck, closed the door, fired up the engine, and left my apartment complex for the store.
So, I suppose I've forgotten a small detail about myself. I've always had a bit of a social phobia. I never have liked being in large crowds, I don't like speaking to people unless they're my parents or other family members, and I certainly have never been very good at speaking with others. I suppose this might be one of the reasons why I was never really successful or popular as a person. I simply could never have been, I wasn't ever meant to be.
So, I never really liked to going to Grocery Stores, or out anywhere in public. I've had panic attacks many times out openly just because of being in crowds. So, I suppose what I'm trying to say is, however embarrassing it is, I was a small amount afraid of going to the grocery store.
When I entered the store I was relieved to find that there was barely anyone in their. So, I scoured the aisles, looking for food that I could eat. I bought 4 cereal boxes, a bottle of lemonade, some Orange Soda, a few bags of chips, the charger I needed for my phone. and a pack of protein drinks. I rang my stuff up at one of those "do it yourself" cashiers and walked out of the store. I filled the back of my car with the few bags of groceries I had and made it back home. It was 12:00 PM now. I decided I might as well prepare lunch.
So I made myself a sandwich with some Salt & Vinegar chips and Lemonade. I began eating as I turned on my TV and began watching the news...
"Hello, and welcome to WNEP 16 TV, I'm your host John Hanop and today in the news, a freak booming noise coming from the skies around Scranton. With the story is Nikki Aswell." The TV Station alternated over to their main story.
"Today, at around 4:30 AM over the skies of Scranton a loud noise was heard by all the citizens in the city. No one knows where this noise came from or originated. It awoke many from their sleep. I've interviewed many people today and not one person could even tell me if they had any idea where the noise came from. There was no military tests going on in the area, so many people are left wondering, what was it that made this booming noise, and why was it so loud that everyone in the city could hear it? Back to you John." The TV transitioned back to the anchor.
"In other news today, the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Cleveland Browns yesterday 7-38 in a blowout game no one saw coming. Carson Wentz threw 4 interceptions in the first half, 2 to Joe Haden. He was replaced by Chase Daniels who only threw 1 for 7 and 11 yards. It doesn't very good for Philadelphia fans this year, who lost the starting QB Sam Bradford with a deal to the Minnesota Vikings." And with that I turned my TV off.
I'd finished my food and began sitting there questioning myself. I'd wondered why I hadn't been woken up by the loud noise that was heard so prevalently by everyone else in the area around my household. I supposed that because I was so tired and sick I didn't notice it. I decided I'd get up from my couch and walked down the hallway to my bedroom. I put my phone on the charger and charged my battery pack. I began to move over to my PC when I tripped on my backpack that I dubbed "The bag of useful items!". It contained some snacks, a flashlight, a survival booklet, some batteries, a magnesium block, a handy Swiss Army knife, an epic machete and sheathe, and a few other choice books I took on camping trips with my father. I'd forgotten to move it into my closet after I'd went camping with my father 3 weeks ago. So, I went about moving it back to my closet.
After this, I sat down in my desk chair and booted up my computer, and opened up my Steam library. I opened up Counterstrike and began playing the addictive game. I played for about 4 hours. I will tell you, I raged many times throughout my game time, Today I was a little bit out of my zone and not really using my abilities to the fullest potential. I still won a few matches with the last kill though, which made up for my incompetence I suppose. After playing I moved on to reading a book. I decided on the book "Of Mice and Men". Though I'd read it over 100 times, I still enjoyed reading it over and over again, a wondrous piece of literature that never got old I suppose. I'd finished reading it and again checked the time, 6:55.
6:55.
6:55.
Wasn't there something important I neede-
Oh shit, the Football game was going to be on in fifteen minutes. I rushed into the living room and prepared a bowl of chips and some soda. I decided my best course of action was to turn on the ESPN pre-game show and see if anything important had happened. Obviously, nothing of any importance had happened though, as they where not even talking about the game when I tuned in. I sat there and waited for the game to start. Within two minutes, the commentators had switched and Monday Night Football had begun. They opened with a cool video talking about both football teams history and everything leading up to tonight. Then Sean McDonough and Jon Gruden began commentating...
"Hello, and welcome to Monday Night Football, I'm your host Sean McDonough and with me tonight is my friend and fellow commentator Jon Gruden. Tonight is the first night of Monday Night Football 2016, and boy have we got a game for you. Ben Roethlisberger vs Kirk Cousins in a game that is destined to set the pace for the rest of the season. The Steelers have been affected by many suspensions this offseason, hitting their starting running back Leveon Bell and Martavis Bryant. For Washington, this offseason has been a season of renewal after winning a spot in the playoffs that no one saw coming. Will Kirk Cousins be a viable QB this year or will he go back to his old way? Will the suspensions have any affect on how the offense of the Steelers works? This will all be answered tonight on Monday Night football!" He then cut over to Jon.
I began to get lost in thought as the commentator spoke. Will we win? Most likely yes, we're a superior team with a superior QB. Nothing could go wrong, right? Ha, it'd be if anything hilarious to see us fall to such a horrible team as the Washington Redskins. But I was soon dumbfounded when kick off happened. Washington was to receive the ball.
Their returner, Rashad Ross, made it all the way up to the 50, making it much easier to score a TD. At the very least it wasn't a full TD return I suppose. But, then, in one play, everything changed. The ball was snapped, Kirk Cousins threw the ball deep 45 yards to Desean Jackson, who caught the ball, juked William Gay and Mike Mitchell and ran in for the TD. I began to feel sick to my stomach. This was gonna be a long night
3 hours later...
We were down 10-24 at the end of the game. If anything, the start to the Steelers season was atrocious. That's all I could say about it really. Bummed about how my day went I general, I headed back to my room. At the very least, there was 15 other games to be played, this one was just a fluke, I thought to myself. I took of al my clothes except for my boxers and laid down in my bed. As I shut off the light and fell into my bed, I heard a noise a noise that sounded like a firework flying up into the air, but much louder than normal. I picked my head up out of my pillow and began to get up. As I got up, I heard a large booming noise and with that, I rushed over to my window and opened it. I saw a bright light over by the cornfield where I ran every morning. The thing is, nothing was over there in that cornfield ever. That's the reason why I always ran through there. I decided then and there that I was going to check out what was going on over there.
I began to put on the clothes I wore from the day before, contemplating exactly what would, be over there? Like what would be that bright, an be making that much noise? It also came out of nowhere. How could something like that happen? Was it a meteorite? Maybe a piece of debris from an old satellite? Maybe someone just lit a fluke illegal firework? All of these seemed unlikely, but at the very least, I needed to check. After I'd gotten my clothes on, I walked over to my phone and picked it up with my charger. I also pulled out my camping bag, thinking that maybe if my illegal firework theory was correct, I might get into a scuffle and need a weapon. With everything I thought I needed, I walked out the door of my apartment. Little did I know, I wasn't going to return.
I began to run down my street as fast as possible, knowing exactly where to go from the hundreds of times I'd ran this same trail beforehand. I knew even in the pitch black exactly where I was going. I also knew that what I was doing was very stupid, and probably pretty dangerous. Anyways, I ran straight into the cornfield and almost immediately tripped on a downed stalk of corn. I can only imagine how idiotic and clumsy I looked. Here I was, Sean Weathers, landing face first into dirt while running through a cornfield in the middle of the night while chasing a random light that was none of his business. At the very least, I didn't lose my glasses in the fall, which meant that I didn't have to stop and search for them.
I got up and resumed running, being more cautious of my surroundings trying to prevent the blunder that happened beforehand. I began to get closer to the bright light, it shining beautifully and making the most fantastic colors I'd ever seen with my own 2 eyes. As I edged nearer to this light, I noticed it wasn't in fact coming from the cornfield, but from the forest nearest to it. I began to question if it was a good idea to go into this forest. I thought, hey I got this far, why not check?
So, I carefully walked over to the forest, and noticed that the forest had a huge ravine edging from the tree line inward. I began to scale slowly down the ravine, trying not to fall down all the way. After if made it, I began walking through the woods. I took my flashlight out of my pack, thinking, hey, it's probably brighter than my phones flashlight at the very least. So, I began to walk through the forest, the illumination of my own Flashlight guiding me to the illumination of another light in the distance. After walking about 100 yards, I made it to the light.
I was very fucking surprised, to put it brashly. It was a monolith in the shape of an obelisk, and for how bright it was, I wasn't expecting it to be a pitch black color and immaculately smooth. Like, how could this be happening? How? How and why and how and why and how? This reached beyond the realm of anomalous and went straight into the downright physically impossible category. I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the stone. My whole entire body shook at how insane and impossible this feat could be. How could this be? Was this of human creation? Was this of alien origin? I began leaning towards the latter of the two.
I walked closer to the monolith, staring it down. I wondered what would happen if I touched it. So like the big idiot I was, I decided, yes, let's touch the monolith that appeared here like 20 minutes ago out of thin air and has no reason to even to even exist in the first place. So, I slowly put my index finger out towards the monolith, wondering why I'd ever do something this idiotic. I began to question my own sanity and if I'd possibly just imagined this whole thing or was still sleeping in my own bedroom. My finger finally touched the smooth surface, which melded to the form of my finger. Then, the monolith began to meld to my arm, pulling me in. I began to scream, asking for help, to no reply. No one was out here. No one was going to hear me. I was all alone. I was helpless. I was going to die.
"PLEASE, SOMEONE, HELP ME!" was the final words I said before the Monolith enveloped my head. And with that, Sean Weathers was no more.
I lost consciousness completely when I entered the void. I don't know how long I was there, but when I woke up, I knew something wasn't right. I'd awoken, laying down in a forest that'd looked surprisingly like the one I was in when I was devoured by the monolith. I began to think, maybe I fell down the ravine and hit my head. Yeah, that'd make sense. That's the reason why my head didn't hurt at all or have any injuries to it. Maybe I was still dreaming? But, if I was dreaming, I would have woken up after being consumed by the monolith like I always do when I die in a dream. Maybe I've just gone insane. Bingo, that's the ticket. I've completely lost it. All of this is just my imagination. I began to get up and check my surroundings.
"How did this happen? HELLO, CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!?!?!" I said aloud, hoping maybe my first theory was true. My voice echoed threw the woods but the only response I got was more birds tweeting.
"Ah, goddamnit. What've I gotten myself into this time?" I said to myself. I began to walk the direction in which I'd came from. I decided that I just needed to get back home, and that everything would be better if I could just do that. I knew where I was, I thought, so it shouldn't be that difficult to get home. That made me feel somewhat better, until I came onto the ravine I'd trekked up beforehand. Though it was the same height, I looked as though it was much more challenging to get up than get down.
So, I began to scale up the ravine, almost falling at least 2 times while attempting the climb. At the very least, I made it out of the woods unscathed and happily alive. I began to notice something wasn't right . This field wasn't filled with corn, it was filled with nothing but tall grasses and a few trees. There was nothing here that looked discernibly like home at all. All that I could notice was familiar was in fact the ravine I'd trekked up previously. This is when I began to cry.
"Holy shit, what've I done? Where am I? WHEN AM I?". I began to break down, I was having something between an existential crisis and a panic attack.
"WHAT'D I DO TO DESERVE THIS?! WHAT DID I DO?!" I began hitting the ground below me.
"I DON'T DESERVE THIS! I DON'T! SOMEONE, SOMETHING, HELP ME!" I knew no one would come to my aid. I was alone now. I was trapped, in somewhere I didn't know, with no help and no way of anyone finding me. I was going to die alone. No one would ever know where I went. No one would ever know what happened to Sean Weathers. My parents would search for me. I know that, but I would never be found by them. They'd never know what became of their youngest son, and would die never knowing. My brothers would never know. My grandparents would never know. My aunts, uncles, cousins, would never know. I began to cry on the ground. I was dead to everyone I ever knew or loved. I was never going to get back.
I got up, my sadness turned to rage almost instantly. I pulled out my machete and ran wildly at the tree in front of myself in the field. I began chopping at the base of it vigorously. I was full of rage. I chopped and chopped and chopped until the small tree finally gave way onto the ground. I began to get tired as I chopped it into smaller pieces of wood. I eventually sat down on the stump and just put my head in my hands. I was completely hopeless, I thought to myself.
But then I noticed the Sun was beginning to go down rather quickly. I began to get up and think about my predicament before I finally realized what I'd did. I'd chopped down a tree, and in my rage, made myself a campfire to survive the night. But the real question was, did I want to survive? I thought, maybe a bit to optimistically, that I could maybe get back to where I once was before. In that idiocy, I decided yes, I'll make a campfire. So I pulled out my magnesium block and ferrocerium rod. I bundled some of the sticks I'd chopped into a small fire like arch. I then pulled some dead tall grass from the field surrounding me. Lastly, I picked up some rocks to border the fire and prevent the field from going completely ablaze. I put the dead tall grass on my fire and began swiping with my ferrocerium rod onto my magnesium block. Eventually, a fire was set.
As I looked into the fire, I began to brood. Maybe I should just end my suffering now I though, maybe I should just kill myself with my machete. I'm sure it'd hurt, but I doubt it'd be as painful as what was ahead of me. I decided against this, hoping maybe there was still a way back. As the Sun went down in the East, I looked up to the sky. I noticed almost immediately every star I'd ever studied in Boy Scouts wasn't there. I couldn't find any of the constellations either. It was all just a jumbled mess of stars and blackness. This scared me. I knew I wasn't on Earth. I was somewhere completely alien.
But what scared me even more was the moon. It had one large mare, that which looked like a unicorns head. I almost automatically noted how improbable a moon of this size could be this close to a planet. It was almost exactly like Earths moon in every single way other than that one mare though, making me think possibly that this planet might just have formed exactly like Earth. How impossibly specific could that be? I would guess in the range of literally impossible. Also, this planet could support life, as viewed by the various flora and fauna around me. If you'd like to go by Drake equation, this was beyond impossible. I was sent by something or someone, and I don't know why.
Then I noticed how lucky I was to be alive and not dead right now. I realized how idiotically unthankful I was to not be dead right now. I began to cheer up a small amount, noting that I could've teleported into the infinite wastes of space and frozen to death. I should be happy I was here, fate was with me. I began to eat, pulling a Twix bar out of my bag. It wasn't the most filling thing ever, but it surely made me feel at the very least not hungry anymore. I then put the wrapper back into my bag, and turned it around and put it up to my head as a makeshift pillow.
"I'm not going to die today" I said to myself, then yawned. I slowly closed my eyes, breathing in and out. Eventually, I completely passed out. I was at peace for the first time since I arrived here, at this place, this planet I'd have to begin to call home.
