Marionne clumsily stepped off the bus at the stop in front of the village... the village she'd lived in for as long as she could remember. She couldn't say what time it was now—only that the sky had turned black. But when she looked around, she saw people still going about their lives as if it were midday.
Normally, she'd walk about 400 meters from the village entrance, then turn left at the sixth alley to reach her street. Along the way, shops and residences alternated on both sides.
"Why are there so many people today?" she muttered to herself.
The road ahead should have been clear enough for two cars to pass comfortably, even during the daytime. Even during the busiest morning hours when the street turned into a market, it had never been this crowded. This looked more like some kind of festival was being held.
Except her village had never held any festival like that... not once in over twenty years.
She squeezed through throngs of people she didn't recognize. Voices shouted and called out across the crowd—some calling to customers, others yelling for people to make way. The shops on both sides had their orange lights on, all matching as if by agreement. Some had been in business since before she'd moved here, but others she was certain had never existed in this spot before. Everything looked familiar yet strangely off, in a way she couldn't explain.
After pushing through the bewildered crowd for about two minutes, everything suddenly went quiet. The path ahead emptied of people as if severed from the walkway moments before, as if it were a completely different world. The shops on both sides closed dark and quiet, with only orange bulbs hanging at intervals every 3-4 meters.
Marionne saw scraps of newspaper blowing in the wind, giving the impression she was walking through a ghost town.
The left turn ahead led to her alley. The closer she got to the alley entrance, the darker and quieter everything became.
Her feet didn't stop or even slow down—in fact, she walked faster because she wanted to get through this small, dark, desolate alley as fast as possible. What she felt now wasn't fear, but a vague discomfort.
Unfortunately, her house was the last one, so she had to grit her teeth and walk all the way to the end of the alley, because something very important was waiting for her there.
Marionne walked until she could see her own front gate. About 20 meters more and she'd reach her house. Strangely, today she didn't see the neighbor's car that regularly parked in front of her house.
Forget the car—not even a single person, or the dogs and cats the alley residents kept that usually made noise or darted about were anywhere to be seen, as if they'd never lived here at all. Though everything seemed off, she thought this might actually be a good thing.
Finally, Marionne reached her house. She stood staring at her own front door in confusion, certain that her door wasn't the one she was looking at now.
When she looked up at the house itself, the confusion only deepened. The two-story house she'd lived in her entire life—right now she couldn't even tell how many floors it had. The right half of the house had become a pitch-black void, as if light itself was being sucked away. Even the dark sky looked bright in comparison to that strange darkness, and she couldn't even make out the boundaries of the ceiling or roof. Meanwhile, the left side remained the familiar house she knew.
She didn't know when the gate had been opened, but she walked slowly into the house compound, her eyes fixed on the black void, unable to tell what might be inside. And what about her parents? Where were they? Were they safe?
Though her heart overflowed with worry for her family, her gaze couldn't break away from that black hole.
Just then she heard something like footsteps descending stairs from within that unseeable darkness. The footsteps came down slowly, drawing closer and closer until finally they stopped, and she could make out the shadowy silhouette of a young woman in a knee-length skirt dress.
Marionne couldn't make out the woman's face at all—it was still shrouded in darkness. But in the woman's arms, a baby lay motionless, bundled in cloth.
"Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" The question came out of Marionne's mouth. She felt some indignation, though confusion and bewilderment dominated.
She heard a voice—she couldn't tell if it was male or female, far or near, loud or soft. The voice answered:
"This isn't your home anymore. Now it belongs to me."
"How is that possible? I was still in this house this morning. I need to see my parents. I'm going inside."
Unfortunately, she would never know who that woman holding the child was or what she would have answered, because suddenly she felt her body being sucked back into the crowd pushing and shoving along the street filled with shops on both sides once again.
Marionne stood stunned for a moment before turning left and right, looking for the direction back to her own alley. But no matter how hard she tried to find landmarks, there was no way to guess which way her house should be. She tried to push through the crowd to break free from this spot, but no matter how far she walked, she couldn't escape.
In a flash, she felt her body being pulled again, and when she steadied herself, she was standing on the sidewalk in front of a department store. Ahead was an eight-lane road with an elevated train track running down the middle, so high she wasn't sure people could actually reach it.
She didn't know where this was. Despite the mall and the train, she didn't feel like it was the city she lived in at all. It might not even be in this country. Everything looked familiar, yet completely strange. She couldn't tell what the large mall behind her was called. She couldn't bring herself to approach anyone waiting for transportation or walking around to ask them—she didn't even know why, just knew she couldn't.
She just wanted to go home. She just wanted to be sure her parents would be safe. She just wanted to know who that woman holding the baby was, why she claimed to be the new owner of the house.
But in the end, she couldn't do anything at all.
She kept circling, searching for a way out of places that seemed entirely familiar, but when she really tried to remember, she couldn't say where they were. And the path home felt farther and farther away.
Marionne still held hope that she'd return to see her parents again someday, on the day she could find her way out of here. And she hoped that day would actually come.