The encompassing forest shrouded me in a mysterious feeling. I was surrounded by statues, tree-like in stature, but painful in emotion. I inspected the nearest one to me, confused by its off-putting facial expression. Across the stone cold face was a shriek of pain, yet recognizable. I casually inspected the rest of the statues surrounding me, each time giving me a sense of recognizability. I knew these men and women from somewhere, and yet their appearance appeared fresh to me. I shuffled back to my house with haste, falling asleep and forgetting the scene.

The next morning I did not receive my standard wake up call from a friend. Instead, silence was throughout the neighbourhood, with even the birds stone cold. Walking out of my house, I realized something was very wrong. The entire town appeared dead, unbeknownst to the entire rest of the universe. I ran back into the house and looked at the calendar. A day had passed, but it appeared as if apocalypse had occurred. As I walked out of the house again, I noticed something odd but inconsequential. There was a small smear of blood across my bed, and seeing as I have a cat, he likely just cut me with his sharp claws. Realizing the danger, I quickly ran upstairs to find my cat perfectly fine, acting without a care in the world.

I slowly drove down the street, taking in the strangeness of this new world I lived in. Figuring that perhaps such an outbreak couldn’t have hit the zoo. I entered to find what appeared to be a diorama of sorts, with each animal frozen in its habitat. An elephant towered over me, but it didn’t move a muscle, seemingly petrified to stone. I quickly drove home to gather my supplies and leave town, as perhaps I was the next to die. As I hurriedly rushed in, I grabbed my basic necessities, put them in the car, and drove away. I quickly realized I had forgotten the cat. As I drove back, I realized just how quiet my house looked. I rushed inside to find the cat sitting on my old bed. He had an intense look in his eyes. He jumped upon me, sucking the life out of me. I felt all emotion leaving me, and I was disappearing from reality. In my fright, I became a dead statue and rest here eternally.