The Town

Once upon a time, there was a man who entered a small town named Robbinsville. It was a town hidden away from society, not a lot of people were aware of it, nor did they know where it was located. It was an incredibly quiet town where everything was organized. Every morning the people would wake up, brush their teeth, take a shower, eat breakfast, and go to school or work at the same time and when they came home, they would eat dinner, brush their teeth, and go to bed all at the same time. They all had the same soap, same toothbrush, etc. They all sounded the same and wore the same clothing. Women would wear a simple gray dress and men would wear a gray shirt with gray pants. Everything in the town was one solid color gray. The man was not aware of this. He was traveling and had gotten lost when he stumbled upon the town. Being that he did not know where he was, he decided to stay in the town for at least 3 days to rest and get some direction. When he entered, he got a weird vibe from the town but decided to ignore it, it did confuse him that everything was gray but shrugged it off. He stopped one of the townsmen on the street and asked for directions towards a motel. The man looked at him for a couple of seconds then pointed in direction of one and continued what he was doing. The man nodded a thank you and headed in that direction. On his way to the motel, he looked around he noticed that everyone was in gray. From men to women to even their children. He stuck out like a sore thumb in his blue jeans and black sweater. He picked up the pace and made it to the motel. When he got to the motel he noticed that there were a lot of cars parked in the lot. Some of the cars still had keys in the ignition. The man walked up to the front desk and dinged the bell. “How can I help you,” asked the worker at the desk. Behind the worker, the man saw that all the keys were there but didn’t think much of it. “I would like a room please” responded the man. The man handed him a key and showed him his room. “Thank you,” said the man. He entered the room, put his bag down, and headed to the bathroom to shower. In the bathroom, he noticed dried blood on the side of the bath. Hmmm, he thought, took a shower, and went to bed. The next morning the man woke up to a loud siren. He got up frantic thinking something was wrong. He heard banging at his door which he quickly ran to open. It was the man at the front desk. “Is everything alright?” he asked the man from the front desk. “It’s time for you to get up and get ready” he replied. “Excuse me,” the man said confused. “It’s time for you to get up and get ready” the front desk man repeated, he handed the man some gray clothes and left. The man stood there still very confused. He realized the sirens had stopped blaring. The man went to shower and got ready. After he went to have breakfast. When he got there, he saw 2 men standing in front of the entrance. When he tried to walk through the one on the left stopped him and told him to go back to his room. “But I’m hungry,” the man said. The man on the left again told him to go back to his room. “When can I get breakfast?” He asked. The man on the right answered him saying “when the time comes you will know.” The man went back to his room and sat there. What is going on he thought. After about 30 minutes another siren when off. He heard knocking at his door. He answered it and saw the man who was standing on the right side of the breakfast door. “You can come down now,” he said and left. The man followed him to the breakfast area. He was showed to a table and told to sit down, which he did. 5 minutes later he saw a server coming out with food. She stopped at his table and sat his food down. The man looked around and it was only him. He ate his food and went to leave the motel. On his way out he was stopped by the man at the front desk who told him he could not leave until it was time. The man sat down on the bench next to the door and waited. An hour later a siren when off. He saw people walking in the streets and he followed them. He saw gray all over the place. After the weird morning, he just had he really wanted to leave the town as soon as possible. He asked the man in front of him for some directions to Rosewater which was the town he was traveling to. The person he asked looked him in the eyes and said, “Once you come here you can’t leave.” The color left the man’s face. “What?” he said. “Once you come here you can’t leave,” he said again. “W-what is this nonsense,” the man said shocked. “He’s trying to leave” the man he asked screeched. All of a sudden everything stopped, and all eyes were on them. “He’s trying to leave” the man screeched again. Gasps were heard all around. Whispers “He’s trying to leave”, “Why is he trying to leave”, “Who is he”, “but he can’t leave”, “we must stop him.” They started to surround the man yelling “you can’t leave once you come you have to stay.” The man pushed himself through the crowd and ran. The crowd started to follow him. Wherever he ran to in the town the crowd would follow him, and the size would increase. The man was so scared and didn’t know what to do. He ran into some alley and was able to hide for some time before the crowd would find him. He took deep breaths and started to think. By now there was somebody guarding the entrance of the town to make sure he wouldn’t leave. Could he go back to the motel? No that wouldn’t be a good idea most likely people would be there. He knew what he would do: he would wait until night then make his escape. He already looked like one of them thanks to the clothes he had gotten at the motel and thankfully he remembered his way back to the entrance. When nightfall came the man was ready. The man left the alley and looked like a townsman walking in the street. He passed the motel and continued to have his head down while walking. Since he was in gray and looked like everyone else the people in the town didn’t pay much attention to him. Sirens started blaring again and the man noticed that it seemed like everyone was going in the opposite direction he was going in. He started to pick up his pace. He was so close to the entrance of the town. He continued not stopping or slowing down when he heard someone yell “hey you’re going the wrong way.” And with that, he took off running. He heard yelling behind, he assumed it the person calling more people to help stop him. But he wouldn’t be stopped. He was leaving this town today and now. He saw people coming at him from the sides and he started dodging left and right. Only to be attacked right at the entrance. They dragged him to the basement of the motel. The man fought with all his might but it simply wasn’t enough.