A Simple Underground

What was that smell? Daniel’s eyes felt unusually heavy and his nostrils burned, but he couldn’t tell if he was still awake or just starting to fall asleep. He began rubbing his head, coming to while trying to convince himself to open his eyes so he may get up to investigate his home. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep with such a disgusting odor floating about his apartment; especially if it woke him in this drunken stage of sleep. “Christ, what is that?” he said aloud, irritated as he sat up, drunkenly opening his eyes. They slowly began adjusting into focus of his surroundings which were currently unfamiliar…and he questioned himself and his current location; dumbfounded because he remembered going to bed. From where his bed was positioned in his bedroom, he would have a direct view of his bathroom which now appeared to be a blanket of blackness without his nightlight. He groggily turned to see there was no television at the foot of his bed or a nightstand to his immediate left nor was there a wall closet to his right, accompanied with the faded dresser his mother had given him when he’d first moved out. He could feel himself drunkenly swaying whilst noticing there were no walls to his room, causing him to start hiccupping which began to stir the booze in his stomach. His clouded thoughts weren’t mixing well with his confusion and he could feel himself becoming dizzy as he sat there in the darkness. He stood up hoping it would relieve his vertigo, constantly rubbing his eyes as he tried remembering his actions throughout the night. He retraced his steps and distinctly remembered crawling into bed after having a few too many with some coworkers once they’d decided to call it a day. They’d invited him to The Corner, a mediocre bar that was usually filled with college students and enjoyed the happy hour before having dinner at Hooters to watch the UFC fight. The fight sucked and by eleven o’clock half of the guys wanted to go to a skin bar and Daniel joined the bandwagon because he had nothing better to do. Daniel did the drinking math for the night, covering everything from the three drink strip club minimum that cost him twenty bucks to the forty he’d spent during happy hour. A couple of rounds and a couple of dances and they were all ready to call it a well spent evening. Matt, a buddy from work, had dropped him off around three or so and Daniel recalled going into his apartment, making some instant Mac-n-cheese, watching Family Guy while putting on his pajamas, and falling into bed after he was through stuffing his face. His tab wasn’t too bad for eight hours of “guy drinking”, although he was currently feeling every bit of the one hundred forty nine dollars he’d spent on booze and thankful that he had the foresight to spend some of that on food. He still came up empty for any type of an explanation as to where he was now or how he’d gotten here, because this was not home and definitely didn’t correspond into his evening. “This can’t be real” he told himself, trying to sound as confident and convincing as possible while he gave the underside of his arm a hard pinch; hoping he would immediately wake. It hurt, he was awake and this was real he realized noticing he was still wearing his pajamas. Had he been sleepwalking, if so, he wasn’t exactly sure where he’d walked to as he looked around again? He’d never sleepwalked before and even if he had; wherever this was outside wasn’t anything that he was used to seeing.

His apartment building was on the outskirts of downtown; close enough that he could walk to any bar or market in ten minutes or less, but far away enough that he rarely heard the noises that accompany downtown. He had a nice view of the river from his balcony at the back of his apartment while the front allowed him a view leading into the city with all the beauty of green landscaping any outskirts provide. His spot was perfect for him in every way that he needed it to be. The rent was cheap for the amount of space he had available to him, big enough if he ever wanted to start a family or something, and every fair and festival that came set up directly below the hill at the front of his complex; so he could get totally obliterated and still walk home. That was definitely not this he thought noticing the sky had a color similar to dried blood with the surrounding air having a factory type of heaviness to it with a foul, aggravating odor that he could only compare to ammonia and rancid meat instead of its usual block out the stars black with river and smog smell mixed. He wasn’t sure if it was the booze or the odor, but it didn’t matter; one of the two made him vomit. As he stood up wiping his mouth, he looked around again; having it immediately affirmed…there was absolutely nothing here. He looked up at the night sky, watching the wispy clouds racing by, barely visible under the low light of a well hidden moon. Closing his eyes he tilted his head back while holding his arms outstretched…and waited for the wind to come. 10 seconds passed, 30 seconds passed, 60 seconds gone and counted…”I don’t’ feel anything.